What's the new Referral Link format about?
The new format, available from 28 Nov 2016 onwards, makes it much easier for your advocates to remember their referral links and refer friends.
Benefits:
Easier to remember: Advocates' referral links are automatically generated based on their first and last name, or email. Instead of an unreadable referral link (e.g. http://acmetoys.refr.cc/DYRF0CN), they now get a personalized one that is easy to remember (e.g. http://acmetoys.refc.cc/johnsmith, http://acmetoys.refr.cc/johns1, etc).
Never expires: The new referral link always points to the latest Friend Landing Page, which means advocates don't have to share a different link whenever you change the Friend Offer.
I signed up for ReferralCandy before 28 Nov 2016. How does the new Referral Link format affect my current referral program?
All existing Referral Links will not be affected.
Existing Referral Links that are shared by your advocates will continue to work as before. This also means that those existing links will expire when (1) you update your Friend Offer with a new incentive, or (2) your Friend Offer expires. Expired Referral Links will direct to a page that informs the viewer that the referral coupon has expired.
Your advocates will start receiving new Referral Links.
Advocates who join your referral program from 28 Nov 2016 onwards will automatically receive the Referral Links in the new format. We will be rolling out the new Referral Links to advocates who've joined your referral program before 28 Nov 2016 gradually over the next few months. They will eventually be able to obtain their new Referral Links:
In their next Reminder Email (if you have enabled it in your referral program), or
When they log in to their ReferralCandy Portal
Optimizing your referral program for the new Referral Link format is optional.
There is no need to make major changes to your emails and pages since they will automatically reflect the new Referral Link with the existing liquid variable {{ referral_link.url }}.
You may want to add a small disclaimer on your Friend Landing Page, Referral Email and Reminder Email, to help your customers understand that the Friend Offer may change from time to time even though the Referral Link remains the same:
Friend Landing Page: Under "Header Subtitle Expiry Note", change "Offer expires on" to "Note: Offers may change from time to time. Current offer expires on".
Referral Email and Reminder Email: Add "Note: Offers may changes from time to time" into the email content.