How to generate referral link only after user has confirmed opt-in

A user's referral link is automatically generated by Prefinery as soon as they get added to your project (e.g. on signup or when imported). This means even if the user's status is still unconfirmed (if you have double opt-in enabled) or imported (if importing users into your project with no predetermined status), they would have a referral link already. It's just a matter of whether their link has been communicated to them or not.

With double opt-in enabled, this also means that if you've used the default setting for your form which is to show the user their referral page after submitting (which would show them their referral link) they could start sharing it even if they haven't confirmed opt-in yet. In this case, their referrals will not be attributed to them until they confirm opt-in (their status changes to applied). Once they opt-in, they will get credit for any referrals prviously made through their link.

The same goes for the referred user (the person who signed up through another user's referral link). Even after signing up through the referral link, until the referred user confirms opt-in via email, their status remains unconfirmed and the referral won't be credited to the referrer.

This may be resolved by editing the referral page and adding verbiage telling the user to check their mailbox for the opt-in confirmation email. 

Much better, you can setup the onboarding in a way that the user will get to know their referral link only after having confirmed opt-in. 

How it works

• User fills out and submits your form, then is shown a message telling them to check their mailbox to confirm opt-in. 
• User checks their mailbox, finds and opens confirmation email, and clicks on the opt-in link inside it. 
• Upon clicking the opt-in link, user gets directed to their referral page where they can see their referral link (that they can share) as well as other information like their waitlist/leaderboard position, milestone progress, click-to-share buttons, etc.
• User also gets another email - a "welcome" email - containing information like their referral link, click-to-share buttons, etc.

How to set it up

1

In your project dashboard, go to Signup Form > Settings. You'll want to set your signup form to Show a thank you message on form submit instead of redirecting or showing user their referral page which contains their referral link. The message should tell the user to check their mailbox for the confirmation email. 

Alternatively, you can redirect them to a specific page on your website e.g. your own thank-you page, which would let the user know to check their mailbox to confirm opt-in. 

2

Next, create a page on your website (e.g. mywebsite.com/referral) where you'll embed the referral page following our guide here: Embed the Viral Referral Page on my Site Option 1 (do steps 1-3 only, make sure NOT to do step #4). 

Then, you set that page as your custom email opt-in confirmation page as described here: How to Redirect User to Your Custom Email Opt-in Confirmation Page

3

In Email > Messages, make sure you have an opt-in confirmation email message. When you chose to enable double opt-in for your project, Prefinery generates this email message for you, but you can always edit it or create one from scratch. 

In its Settings, the email message should have the Trigger = Send when a user applies (opt-in confirmation requested). 

In its Content, make sure you have the {{user.confirmation_link}} variable on a link or button the user clicks on to confirm opt-in. This variable is automatically replaced by the recipient user's actual confirmation link. 

4

Lastly, make sure you have some kind of welcome email message sent to users that have opted in. Prefinery generates this email message for you, but you can always edit it or create one from scratch. 

In its  Settings, the email message should have the Trigger = Send when a user applies (opt-in confirmation completed). 

In its Content, make sure you have the {{user.referral_link}} variable. This variable is automatically replaced by the recipient user's actual referral link that they can share. 

Other variables like {{msg.referral_buttons}} (social share buttons) and {{user.referral_status_link}} (link to user's viral referral page) can also be added here.