This article helps you troubleshoot typical issues around referral detection.
Purchases not detected
ReferralCandy is not detecting your test referred purchases:
Referral detection can take up to 12 hours.
Referral detection is not immediate. The system needs time to ensure accuracy of referral detection. In some cases it can take up to 12 hours. If you recently setup or tested your referral or affiliate program you might have to wait 12 hours before you see the referral appear in your ReferralCandy dashboard.
Check if your store's integration with ReferralCandy is working correctly.
Make sure that you follow our Integration articles step-by-step. If you have chosen Email Integration, check these two points: (i) for email forwarding, check that the referred friends purchase appears on your account's Purchases & Referrals page, (ii) for the tracking code, check that the last detected time is later than the time that the friend's purchase was made on your Integration page.
Check that your referral test was carried out correctly.
Read more about testing the referral process.
Your referral test may have been blocked by our fraud detection measures.
As long as you follow steps in testing the referral process you should be able to test successfully. To troubleshoot again, ensure that:
The referred friend's name is not the same as the advocate's name.
The referred friend is not already an existing customer in your ReferralCandy account.
You cleared cookies before conducting the referral test and you used different computers and a different network to make the referred purchase.
Check that the referred purchase meets the criteria for a reward.
The referred purchase should be:
For an amount that is higher than the minimum purchase amount.
Check if the referral reward is valid.
The referral reward may have expired, if you set an expiry date.
Your single use coupons may have run out. Just add more coupons.
Your campaign may have stopped.
Make sure that your campaign isn't stopped. If there are issues preventing your campaign from being activated, please resolve them first before carrying out the referral process test.
Still having trouble? Contact our support team. Contact us through the contact form in your dashboard with the following information.
Reporting a problem
Reporting a problem
Advocate's email address
Advocate's name
Referred friend's email address
Referred friend's name
Referred friend's purchase time
Referred friend's purchase amount
Did you follow the instructions on testing the referral process?
Was the referred friend a new customer?
Did you carry out the test on different computers?
Did you carry out the test on different networks?
Advocates not receiving a reward
An advocate in your referral program claims that they did not get a reward for a referral that they made:
Check if the referred friend is already an existing customer at your store.
Check if the referred friend met the minimum criteria set for a referral reward.
The referred purchase should be:
For an amount that is higher than the minimum purchase amount.
The referral may have been blocked by our fraud detection measures.
This means that the referred friend made the purchase using the same name as the advocate, used the same computer to make the purchase as the advocate, and similar cases.
Referred friend may not have clicked through from the advocate's referral link.
Referrals are not being detected.
Please see Section A first to troubleshoot why your referrals are not being detected.
Resolving an advocate's reward claim
Resolving an advocate's reward claim
If you are satisfied that the advocate has made a legitimate referral, you can ensure she gets her referral reward by following these steps.
Reporting a problem
Reporting a problem
If you would like ReferralCandy to investigate further into your referral detection issue, please contact us with the following:
Advocate's email address
Advocate's name
Referred friend's email address
Referred friend's name
Referred friend's purchase time
Referred friend's purchase amount
Was the referred friend a new customer?
Employee orders detected as referrals
Orders placed by my employees are detected as referrals:
This is probably caused when your employees view an advocates referral link before placing an order. ReferralCandy may consider this a referral.
To prevent this from happening, ensure that your employees view all referral links in a different browser from the browser used to place an order on behalf of the customer.
You can also contact us with the IP address of your office or call center. We can ban that IP address from making referrals for your campaign. However this will not allow you to test the referral process from your office or call center in the future.
To remove a referral that has been detected accidentally:
Delete a purchase and disqualify a referral.
This is possible while the purchase is within the review period. Learn more
Contact us to remove the referral.
If the referred purchase has passed the review period please contact us.
Note: ReferralCandy won't be able to recall any rewards that have already been issued.
Referral detection FAQ
Are successful referrals detected automatically?
Are successful referrals detected automatically?
Yes. Once set up, the ReferralCandy app monitors and detects* successful referrals automatically.
However, it may take a couple of hours after a purchase has taken place for the platform to run through all the necessary verification checks, so it isn't instantaneous.
Each advocate receives a unique referral link to share with their friends. A successful referral is tracked when a friend clicks the referral link, the JavaScript tracking code on the purchase completed page is triggered, and the purchase information is sent to the system.
*Note: For eCommerce platforms with specific integration plugins (e.g., Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce), the ReferralCandy app obtains information directly from the platform. The unique referral link together with the information obtained from the platform enables the app to track sales that come from referrals.
Does a referred friend need to click the referral link again to use the friend offer discount?
Does a referred friend need to click the referral link again to use the friend offer discount?
When referred friends or referees click an advocate's link but don’t make a purchase immediately, they may still be able to apply the friend offer coupon without using the referral link under certain conditions.
ReferralCandy tracks referrals using cookies, which typically expire after 30 days. If the referred friend returns before the cookies expire, they can still use the friend offer without clicking the referral link again, as long as they accepted the cookies, didn’t clear them, and are on the same device and browser.
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