How to create sign-up forms and referral links?

Voucherify can automate communication with your customers at every stage of your referral campaign. Using the dashboard, you can create a referral campaign, dedicated customer touchpoints, and distributions with referral links. In this guide, we will show you how to build a complete referral experience for your customers.

Contents

1. Create event-based referral campaign
2. Create a landing page with a signup form
3. Invite users to join:
   1. Share referral links
   2. Create a dedicated landing page
   3. Schedule automatic distribution.

Create a referral campaign

We will create an event-based referral program. A successful referral is defined by a custom event added in the Voucherify Event Schema beforehand. Later, a dedicated landing page will trigger this event every time a new customer with a referral code successfully completes the registration form.

Step 1: Add a custom event to Event Schema

First, add an event that will be triggered every time a new customer is approved as a referred person. Go to the Project Settings → Event Schema.

Choose  Add event definition and add the name of your event. Please note that you cannot use blank characters in the event name. Providing the name is the only required step while adding a new event. 

By default, the event will carry information about a customer and a referral code. If you would like to extend the event data with additional attributes, choose  Add new property. As a result, you will be able to map these properties to custom fields in the signup form that we will create in the next step. 

In the example below, a custom property (Login) has been added to the event schema. Each new property can be optional or mandatory and represents the following data types: text, number, date, date-time, or flag (true/false).

To confirm the added event, click  Save. Then, go to the Campaign Manager to create an event-based referral program.

Step 2: Create a referral program with a custom event

First, go to the Home section -> Dashboard -> Create Campaign or the Campaign Hub section -> Campaigns -> Create Campaign.

Choose the promotion type – Referral Codes.

In the Campaign Manager, you need to go through the following sections:

1. Program size

Set mandatory details: campaign name and the number of referral codes. If you are unsure how many codes you are going to need, leave the auto-update mode enabled; this way, new codes will be replenished automatically when needed.

In the remaining fields, you can add optional details and set a code's redemption limit. By default, redemptions per referral code are set to unlimited. You can read more details here. When ready, go to the Next step.

2. Timeframe (optional)

You can add a campaign timeframe (start and expiration date) and set more advanced time-related limits for referral code redemptions. Read more here.

3. Incentive workflow

First, set a Conversion Event and choose a custom event that defines a successful referral using the magnifying glass icon. It has to be the same event that was defined and added to your Event Schema in the 1st step. 

Second, decide if you want to reward both referee and referrer (double-sided) or just referrers (single-sided).

4. Referee reward

You can add limits and rules for customers redeeming referral codes. By default, a validation rule, Redeemable Once per Customer in Campaign, is added to your referral codes. As a result, each new customer can make only one redemption in the whole referral program. If you want to change default validation rules or add more limits, click Edit.

Remember to confirm validation rules with Save if you decide to edit them.

Besides validation rules attached to the referral codes, in a double-sided mode, you need to choose a reward for a referee. The reward is attached to the referral code and will be triggered by its redemption. A referee's reward can be:

• a discount coupon
• gift card credits or
• loyalty points.

When ready, go to the Next step.

5. Referrer rewards

Choose Create tier to add rewards and limits for referrers. Tiers enable you to create different criteria for specific rewards.

Go here to learn more about tiers. 

Creating a tier is always a three-step process (Criteria, Reward, Notifications). 

• Rewarding Criteria

The referrer can be rewarded every time a new customer triggers a custom event or after a specified number.

The second option enables you to define how many times an event needs to be performed to trigger the reward. With Advanced options, you can define additional criteria for the referrer to meet to receive a reward. 

When rewarding criteria are set, choose Next set rewards.

• Rewards

Add reward(s) that will be assigned to the referrer every time tier criteria are met. You can choose from the list of existing rewards using the magnifying glass or define a new reward on the spot using the plus icon. When a reward is added successfully, you can see it on the rewards list.

When rewards are added, click Next set notifications to continue. 

• Notifications (optional)

You can design a message that notifies the referrer about the reward every time it is triggered. If you do not need to set notifications, you can skip this section with Done. Notifications for referees are set in the 6th step of the Manager. 

When you confirm your tier with Save, you will see a list of already added referral tiers. Add all needed tiers and then go to the Next step. 

6. Notifications (optional)

You can set automatic notifications to send referral codes and/or notify referees about successful referrals. 

A message with a referral code will be triggered every time you publish a referral code to a referrer.

When notifications are ready, you can go to the Next step.

7. Metadata (optional)

You can assign custom attributes defined in the Metadata Schema to your referral campaign. 

8. Summary

Lastly, you can see a summary of your referral campaign. Check the settings summary and confirm with Save.

When referral codes are ready, you can create a dedicated landing page for new customers to sign up with a referral code.

Create a landing page to sign up with a referral code

Go to the Landing Pages in the Engagement section and click the plus to add a new landing page.

Select a landing page goal (Successful Referral) by clicking Create.

Scroll down and click Create at the bottom of the template.

Step 1: Landing page settings

In the Creator, start from the landing page settings:

• Name of your landing page.
• Description (optional).
• Source ID mapping.

• Double opt-in (enabled by default).
• The crucial part is to set a Custom event schedule. Below the double Opt-In section, you need to add a custom event that will be triggered after submitting the form. It needs to be the same event that is set as a conversion event in the referral campaign.

The remaining settings enable you to design your landing page (add logo, colors, and font).

When the Settings are ready, go to the Elements tab and edit the Form.

Step 2: Sign-up form

Decide which fields are mandatory and visible for users. 

Step 3: Final design 

• Banner.
• Bottom call to action.
• Footer.
• Logo bar.
• Promotion rules.
• Rewards container.
• Share links.

1. Successful status informs a customer that the form was submitted.
2. Failed status is displayed to a customer if the form submission fails.
3. Double Opt-In informs customers about required confirmation due to the enabled double opt-in. 

Step 4: Landing page release

1. Choose Release.
2. Set landing page live. 
3. Customize URL.
4. Confirm release with Set.

From now on, your sign-up landing page will be available online. 

Invite users to join your referral campaign

Inviting referrers using referral links is a two-step process: 

1. Build referral links.
2. Schedule distribution that publishes referral codes to referrers and sends referral links to referrers. 

Build referral links and share them with your audience.

To build referral links, you need to use a URL from a landing page created in the previous section ( step-by-step instructions).

To build a referral link, use the following syntax: URL /your_alias?code=referralCode.

• Exemplary landing page URL: voucherify.io/landing-pages/ella-referral-signup
• Exemplary referral link: voucherify.io/landing-pages/ella-referral-signup?code=DdgdsNrZ

When a customer opens a referral link, a field for the referral code is filled automatically.

You can use referral links in Voucherify distributions and referral program notifications. 

Schedule automatic distribution

If you would like to deliver referral links to specific customer segments or use an automatic trigger, use Distribution Manager and add referral links to the message template. When a message is triggered, Voucherify will automatically generate a new referral link and assign a code to the referrer. 

A referral link can be added to the email template and direct customers to the sign-up form.

Read more about Voucherify distributions.

Referral program notifications

You can use referral links while creating referral notifications. To do so, go to the detailed view of your referral campaign and click the  Edit tool.

Go to the 6th section (Notifications) to create messages with referral links triggered every time a new referral code is published to a user.

This type of distribution comes in handy if you use the API publish method to assign codes to your users. As a result, every time a publish method is called, a notification with a referral link is sent to the user to whom the code was published. 

You can also publish referral codes manually using the dashboard or via a dedicated landing page.

Go here to read more about publishing codes to your users.