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How to Give Your Contacts Their Unique Referral Links Without Requiring Sign Up
How to Give Your Contacts Their Unique Referral Links Without Requiring Sign Up

Learn how to add users to your referral program without needing them to sign up for links.

Updated over a week ago

Are you looking for a way to bypass the pages for the Person Referring? Discover how to add users to your referral program without requiring them to register in order to generate their own referral links.

The Pros and Cons of Bypassing Registration for the Person Referring

Referral Factory was designed to make referrals incredibly easy for both you and the people you're asking to refer their friends. The most straightforward way to encourage people to refer your business or brand is by sending out your campaign join link. When recipients click on the link, they will be directed to what we call the "Pages for the Person Referring." The first page they encounter is a registration page, where they can easily sign up to get their unique referral link. The second page then provides them with their personalized link and offers multiple simple methods for sharing it.

Here is why we recommend using the Pages for the Person Referring to get people to participate in your referral program:

πŸ‘‰ You can use these pages to provide information about your referral program, including what's in it for the person referring and what you may be offering their friend.

πŸ‘‰ Encouraging people to opt in ensures that only those who genuinely want to refer will register, eliminating the presence of inactive users in your campaign.

πŸ‘‰ Step 1 for the Person Referring includes a checkbox for Terms and Conditions. This allows you to obtain informed consent regarding the rules and regulations of your referral program.

πŸ‘‰ After signing up, you can automatically send an email notification to the person, containing their unique referral link. This makes it convenient for them to locate and share the link when they think of someone to refer.

If you prefer not to have users register, there are alternative options to bypass the Pages for the Person Referring. This means that users will not need to register to receive their referral links. Instead, you can manually add them to the campaign, which will automatically generate their unique referral link. It's important to note, however, that you will need to ensure that each user receives their referral link either through our once-off email feature or through your own communication channels.


Option 1: Sync Your CRM Contacts and Store Their Referral Links Inside Your CRM

If your CRM is connected, you have the option to synchronize your CRM contacts with Referral Factory. This allows for the automatic generation of referral links for your contacts, which can then be distributed through your usual communication channels in your CRM.

πŸ’‘ Want to know more about Referral Factory's CRM integrations? Check out our growing list here:

Before you configure the sync between Referral Factory and your CRM, you will need to create custom fields or properties in your CRM for the referral data you want to sync:

  • Referral Link

  • Referral Count (optional)

  • Converted Referral Count (optional)

You can sync your CRM contacts from two places in the Referral Factory dashboard:

πŸ‘‰ From the Users Tab.

β†’ Click Add Users.

β†’ Click Sync Your CRM Contacts.

πŸ‘‰ From the Promote section inside the campaign builder.

β†’ Click Generate links for your contacts by syncing them.

πŸ’‘ You have the flexibility to set up your CRM sync to run either as a one-time event or on an ongoing basis. This means that whenever you add a new contact to your CRM or a specific list, they will be automatically enrolled in Referral Factory and given a unique referral link.

❗️CRM contacts that you sync will not be automatically notified or sent their referral link. If you would like to notify them, please use your own marketing channels or Referral Factory's once-off email feature. You can learn more about once-off emails here:

For detailed instructions on how to sync your CRM contacts please consult the help guide article for your specific CRM:


Option 2: Upload a Database of Contacts To Generate Their Referral Links

Easily add users to your referral program by uploading your contact database. This allows you to automate the process of assigning each user their own unique referral link and getting them involved in your campaign.

Step 1: Prepare your CSV File

β†’ Create a CSV file with your contact data or simply copy your data into this template.

A CSV file is a type of file format that stores data in a table-like structure, similar to a spreadsheet or database. It is a simple and widely used format that can be created using programs like Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, or Numbers.

Here is a very basic idea of how the table might look:

Our software requires that you upload the "First Name" and "Email" for each contact you'd like to add to your campaign. You can upload additional details, like "Last Name" or "Company Name," if you have added the accompanying form fields in the pages for the person referring. Add an additional column for each additional field.

πŸ’‘ Need some additional help with exporting your CSV file?

This πŸ“– WikiHow article πŸ“– teaches you how to create CSV files using Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc, Google Sheets, and a text editor.

Step 2: Upload your Contacts into Referral Factory

❗️ Before you can upload your contacts, you will need to have created at least one referral campaign. Note that users in Referral Factory are always associated with a campaign. If you want to add users to multiple campaigns, you'll need to repeat these steps for each one.

β†’ From your Referral Factory dashboard, navigate to the Users tab.

β†’ In the top right-hand corner, click Add Users.

β†’ Select Upload Users (CSV File).

β†’ Choose the Campaign that you'd like to add your contacts to.

β†’ Click Import.

β†’ Click Browse.

β†’ Select your CSV file from your computer and click Open.

β†’ Click Next.

β†’ If you have a header row in your CSV file, select the option to ignore the first row.

β†’ If there is a possibility that some of the contacts in your file are already enrolled as users in Referral Factory, they will be skipped by default. If you'd prefer to overwrite these users (thereby creating new referral links for them) select the option to overwrite.

πŸ“ Referral Factory identifies each unique user by their email address πŸ“§

β†’ To match the data in your CSV file with the correct fields in Referral Factory, map the corresponding data field from the dropdown list above each column in the preview.

β†’ Click Next.

β†’ Check that the number of users matches the number of contacts you want to upload. If this number seems incorrect, please check the troubleshooting section πŸ‘‡

❗️The contacts that you upload WILL NOT be notified. If you want to email them their referral links, πŸ“– read this guide πŸ“–.

β†’ Click Confirm and Save.


Option 3: Embed your Referral Program Directly Within a Logged-In Environment

If your customers or users have access to a dashboard or portal where they log in, you can seamlessly integrate your referral program within that environment as a user-friendly widget or pop-up. This convenient feature enables your users to refer others with just one click, making the referral process quick and effortless.

How To Embed Your Referral Program as a Widget

β†’ Select the campaign you want to use for the widget.

πŸ“Œ The script for the widget is unique to each campaign. If you have multiple campaigns, be sure to copy the correct script!

β†’ From inside your campaign builder, navigate to the Promote tab.

β†’ Select Promote your campaign in a logged-in environment.

β†’ Make any desired changes to the widget text and/or color scheme and click Copy to copy the script.

β†’ Replace {first name of logged in user} and {email of logged in user} with the variables you use in your own system.

β†’ Paste this exact script right before the </body> tag on the pages you want the widget to show on.

Here is an example of how the widget might look inside your user dashboard or web app once installed:

How To Embed Your Referral Program as a Pop-Up

β†’ Select the campaign you want to use for the pop-up.

πŸ“Œ The script for the pop-up is unique to each campaign. If you have multiple campaigns, be sure to copy the correct script!

β†’ From inside your campaign builder, navigate to the Promote Your Campaign tab.

β†’ Select Promote your campaign in a logged-in environment.

β†’ Copy the pop-up class name and paste it into the button you want to trigger your pop-up.
β†’ Copy the pop-up script and paste it right before the </body> tag on the same page as the button.

β†’ Replace {first name of logged in user} and {email of logged in user} with the variables you use in your own system.

For more information on installing a referral campaign pop-up on your website, please consult this help guide article:


Option 4: Use Zapier to Add Contacts From Your CRM or Other Software

With the "Add New User" zap on Zapier, Referral Factory provides a convenient way to add contacts from another app or software to your referral program. This zap not only generates a unique referral link for each contact but also allows you to send the link back to your other app or software. The great advantage of this strategy is that it can be set up to run continuously, so whenever you acquire a new contact, their referral link can be instantly generated.

β†’ From your Zapier dashboard, select the app or software where your contacts are stored under the dropdown "Connect this app...".

β†’ Select Referral Factory under the dropdown labeled "with this one!"

β†’ Choose a trigger or event in your app that will initiate the zap from the dropdown under "When this happens...". This trigger could be "New Customer", for example.

πŸ’‘ Not sure what a trigger is on Zapier, learn more in their knowledge base:

β†’ Choose "Add New User" under the dropdown for "then do this!"

β†’ Follow the prompts inside Zapier to set up the Zap.

For more information as well as a video walkthrough, consult this help guide article:


Option 5: Use the Referral Factory API to Add New Users

One option is to use our API, which allows you to seamlessly enrol users in your referral program, thereby generating their unique referral links, based on a trigger of your choosing. For instance, you can automatically add users when they register on your website or perform a certain action in your custom built CRM. To access detailed information on this functionality, refer to our developer documentation:

πŸ’‘ When adding a new user, you have the option to include the "notify" property in the request. Including this property will trigger an email notification for The Person Referring (When They Join Your Campaign). It's important to note that in order for the "notify" property to work, the email must be enabled and created in the campaign settings, not through the API. You can learn more about email notifications in this article:


Option 6: Add Users Manually (One-by-One)

If you'd like to add only a few users to your referral campaign, it might be easiest simply to add them manually, one at a time.

β†’ Navigate to the Users tab in your Referral Factory dashboard.

β†’ Click Add Users.

β†’ Click Add User Manually.

β†’ Select the campaign you want to add the user to.

β†’ Enter the user's details.

β†’ Under Source, select Direct to add the user as the Person Referring.

β†’ Click Add User.

Please note that when you manually add a user to your campaign you can select if you want to notify them or not. If you toggle this on the user will receive an email.


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