A refer-a-friend campaign lets your visitors share an offer with their friends through channels such as WhatsApp, Messenger, or a link. The friend gets their own onsite message with a reward when they open the link, and the visitor who shared can get a reward too. This article walks you through setting up a refer-a-friend campaign in the legacy editor, and describes every referral and friend setting.
How a refer-a-friend campaign works
A refer-a-friend campaign has two flows in the same onsite message:
- The visitor's flow: the visitor who shares. They see the message on your website, fill in their details, choose a channel, and send the offer to a friend.
- The friend's flow: the friend opens the link, lands on your website, and sees their own message with the friend reward.
In the editor, the visitor's steps come first in the flow bar, for example Minimized → First page → Success Page, followed by the friend's steps, Friend maximized → Friend minimized.
Set up a refer-a-friend campaign
- Go to Onsite > Messages and select New onsite message.
- In Choose Preset, select Refer a friend. Referrals and Friend reward are turned on for you.
- On the General card, fill in the Name, Brand name, and Site.
- On the Referrals card, choose the sharing channels. No channels are chosen by default.
- On the Friend flow configuration card, set the Friend landing page.
- On the Friend reward card, set up the friend's reward.
- To reward the visitor who shares too, turn on Reward. To send emails, turn on Sendouts for the visitor and Friend sendouts for the friend.
- Write the texts on every step, for both flows, and on the Exceptions tab.
- Select Save as draft, and preview both flows before you publish.
To set up the visitor's reward and emails, see Rewards and sendouts (Legacy). To design the steps, see Design the message steps (Legacy).
Referrals
Sharing channels
Turn on the channels visitors can share through: Messenger, Native Mail, Native SMS, TrueCaller, Whatsapp, Shareable Link, X, Telegram, Line, Kakaotalk, WebShare, PageShare, Skype, WeChat, Instagram, Discord, and Signal. Some channels only work on mobile phones and tablets.
Referral settings in advanced mode
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Include sender's email and name in the friend link | Adds the sharing visitor's email and name to the link the friend gets. On by default. |
| Disable friend links when onsite message reaches expiry date | Stops the friend links from working after the message's end date. Off by default. |
| Enable separated UTM tags for each channel and link | Gives each channel its own UTM tags, so you can see in your web analytics which channels bring in friends. Off by default. |
| Direct friends to landing page without presenting an onsite message | Sends friends straight to the landing page without showing them the friend's message. Off by default. |
| Flow type | Whether the visitor fills in their details before, after, or at the same time as they choose a channel: Identity and channel combined (the default), Channel first then identity, or Identity first then channel. |
| Add contact information as URL parameters | Adds the visitor's contact information to the link as URL parameters. |
| Show channel selection as regular CTA buttons and Animate channel buttons | Change how the channel buttons look and behave. |
In advanced mode, you can also change the texts of the sharing step, such as the Data collection header, the Channel selection header, and the texts on the Send referral, Copy link to clipboard, and Get code buttons.
Friend flow configuration
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Friend landing page (required) | Where the friend link takes the friend. Choose Fixed page (the default) and enter the URL, or Same page as referred from to use the page the visitor shared from. Use an HTTPS address that doesn't redirect. |
| Dismissal time (days) (required) | The number of days before a friend who has completed the friend's message sees it again on the same device. The default is 0. |
| Minimized message dismissal time (days) (required) | The number of days before a friend who has seen the minimized friend's message sees it again. The default is 0. |
In advanced mode, the card also has:
- Specific attribution time (days): the number of days after a friend visits through the link during which their purchases count as conversions. The default is 30.
- Allow existing contacts/members to successfully complete friend flow, Allow minimizing completed onsite message, and Allow existing contacts/members who give a missing marketing preference: the same as the visitor's settings, for friends. All off by default.
- Under Custom actions: Show a different onsite message for existing contacts/members, Show a different onsite message if identified, and Show another onsite message after completion (each takes a script tag), and Redirect after completion (a URL).
Friend reward
The friend reward works like the visitor's reward. Choose Static code (the default), Unique codes, Multichannel promotion, or Bonus points, fill in the code or the details, and set the Reward expiration and Code delivery delay. See Rewards and sendouts (Legacy).
Turn on Add "Your code will be shown here" visual hint and make data collection mandatory in first step to show a placeholder for the code, and ask the friend for their details before they get it.
Friend reward settings in advanced mode
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Maximum number of friend rewards available from same referral link (zero = no limit) | How many friends can get a reward from the same link. The default is 0, which means no limit. |
| Friend reward mechanism | When the friend gets the reward: When flow is successfully completed (the default) or On friend conversion, that is, when the friend makes a purchase. |
| Enable reward code to friend | Gives the friend a reward. Turn it off to run the campaign without a friend reward. On by default. |
| Show reward (i.e. reward code or such) directly in the onsite message | Shows the friend's code in the message. On by default. |
| Add "Your code will be shown here" visual hint and make data collection optional in next step | Shows a placeholder for the code, and asks for the friend's details afterwards, as an optional step. |
| Activate mobile swipe for redeeming reward and Allow multiple rewards to same contact/member | The same as for the visitor's reward. |
Friend sendouts
Turn on Friend sendouts to send the friend a confirmation with their reward and reminders before it expires. The settings are the same as for the visitor's sendouts: Enable confirmation sendout, Enable reminder sendout(s), and the days left for the first and final reminder (14 and 2 by default). Write the emails on the Friend sendouts step.
The friend's steps
Friend maximized
The message the friend sees when they open the link. It has two parts:
- First page: the Header, the Body, an Additional explanation text, and the texts on the Continue, Get offer, and Show code buttons.
- Success page: the Header and Body shown with the reward, the Terms and conditions, and the texts on the Finish, Close, Save & remind, and Save for later buttons.
The friend's data collection, opt-in, and contact card settings work like the visitor's. Turn on Skip friend info (hide opt-in and email input) to give the friend the reward without a form. The friend's message uses the styling of the visitor's First page.
Friend minimized
The minimized widget the friend sees. Set its Initial text. It uses the styling of the visitor's Minimized step.
Friend exceptions
On the Exceptions tab, write the texts a friend sees if they're stopped because they're already a contact or member, or because the message has reached its end date. Also check the reward exception texts, since some of them start with placeholder texts.
Preview both flows
Save the message, and then use Preview in the header to check both flows. Choose Initial message for the visitor's flow and Friend's initial message for the friend's. See Preview, publish, and manage onsite messages (Legacy).