Some say that "word of mouth" is the best form of advertising. That makes sense, as it is essentially free and can have exponential effects.

That's why it's always a good idea to give your customers a little incentive to spread the word about your store. And edrone can help you with that in a way that you, your customers, and their friends will all benefit from: the Refer-a-friend Program.

It works in just four steps:

It's a simple, but incredibly powerful strategy to grow your revenue, expand your contact base, and increase customer satisfaction.

Let's set it up!

Before you set up your Refer-a-friend Program, the very first step would be to invite your subscribers to join the Program in the first place by giving them their unique referrer link.

That will require setting up another newsletter scenario, such as Dynamic Newsletter or After Sale, and using the merge tag *|REFERRER_LINK|* on a text.

Alternatively, you can also use a landing page for this. In this option, the landing page URL should be: yourstore.com/landing-page?e_ref=*|REFERRAL_CODE|* (substitute "yourstore.com/landing-page" for your landing page's URL). See our Refer-a-friend landing page documentation before creating this landing page.

Once that's set up, you can start working on your Refer-a-friend Program!

To begin, login to your Mission Control and go to ENGAGEMENTS > REFER-A-FRIEND. The first page is just an overview, so we'll skip that. Click on the next step: opt-in button or select OPT-IN from the progress bar on the top of the page.

If you haven't already set it up in other scenarios, your first step will be to determine how you deal with new users. Please note that, since opt-in is a global parameter in edrone's system, any change here will affect all scenarios.

There are four opt-in options:

Once you choose an option, select LANGUAGE on the progress bar to continue.

On the LANGUAGE section, you will see one the left side an overview of your customers (audience size, number of languages, and most popular language).

Based on this information, you can choose whether you want to send your Refer-a-friend Program e-mails in only one language (Single language), or more than one (Multi language). You can choose as many languages as you want.

Click on the NEXT: ADJUST button, or choose ADJUST from the progress bar.

Here you will determine the minimum order value for the referrer to get a reward, and when that will happen. For example, if you set the "minimum order value" to 200 PLN and "Time to reward after purchase" to 1 day and 6 hours, here's how that would look like in two different situations:

If you want the reward message to be sent right away, just set 0 days and 0 hours.

Once you're done, click on the NEXT: SENDER button, or choose SENDER from the progress bar.

Here, you will set up who is sending the e-mail: Name, E-mail, and Reply-to E-mail. You can input new data, or choose from a predefined sender (for example, the same sender you have previously used in for other newsletters).

Click on the NEXT: COUPONS button, or choose COUPONS from the progress bar.

You will use discount coupons as a reward to your referrer and his friends. You will need to upload them in CSV files.

We'll come back to this section shortly. For now, click on the NEXT: DESIGN button, or choose DESIGN from the progress bar.

Time to craft your messages! In this section you will see our Drag 'n' Drop Editor, which will help you easily design beautiful e-mails.

Depending on which option you chose on Step 1, there will be one or more messages to create. For the purpose of this tutorial, let's assume you took our advice and chose Double Opt-In edrone, which will require three distinct e-mails. Design each e-mail by choosing from the drop-down menu on the top left of your screen.

When the referrer's friends use his referral link, they will be invited to join your newsletter in order to get their discount coupon. Once they accept, they will receive this confirmation message (this is the double opt-in).

When creating this email, insert a button and choose Action type "Confirm Refer A Friend Participation Link".

After the referee confirms, they will receive their discount coupon. To set this message up, insert the *|COUPON|* merge tag inside a text field.

Alternatively, if you also set up a coupon reminder (see Step 9), you can create a button with the following URL: https://yourstore.com?coupon=*|COUPON|* (replace "yourstore.com" for your own domain name). That way, the coupon will be automatically displayed on the weblayer. If you don't set up a reminder, it's better to use the merge tag on a text.

This is the e-mail in which you give your referrer a reward in the form of a discount coupon. This process is exactly the same as the previous one. Just insert the merge tag *|COUPON|* inside a text field, or a button with the URL: https://yourstore.com?coupon=*|COUPON|*

Don't forget to hit SAVE every once in a while to make sure you won't accidentally lose your progress!

Now you need to go back and set up your coupons. Select COUPONS on the progress bar.

You are free to include a coupon in any e-mail, but as we've covered above, standard practice for the Refer-a-friend Program is to include a coupon in the After confimation message (coupon for the referee) and Reward message (coupon for the referrer after referee makes a purchase).

You can choose between Static (same coupon for all customers) and Dynamic (each customer gets a unique coupon). We recommend using Dynamic coupons.

As mentioned on Step 5, you need to upload a CSV file with your coupons. It's important to use separate CSV files with different and unique coupons for each message type. If you need help with creating them, there are several free online coupon generators.

Once your files are ready, select each message type from the drop-down menu on the top-left corner and then click on UPLOAD (CSV). Select which column contains the coupons, check the box if you wish to ignore the first line of your file (column titles, for example). If everything is OK, click on CONFIRM COLUMN. A green confirmation message should appear at the top right corner of your screen.

Onward! Since Design is already taken care of (or at least should be), jump straight to WELCOME POPUP (ONSITE) on the progress bar.

Now we'll set up the welcome message for the referees when they come to your website using the referral link. As we've seen at the very beginning, there are two ways to achieve this:

Once you're done, select COUPON REMINDER (ON SITE) on the progress bar.

In this step you can set up a reminder for referees who confirmed participation but haven't used the discount coupon yet. This reminder will be set up as a Web Layer that is opened with no delay once the Referee enters the website. It displays a coupon code that may be copied with a single click.

As with Pop-ups, there are many variables involved in creating a Web Layer, so please click here for more information on how to set up Web Layers.

Select REVIEW / RUN on the progress bar to reach the finish line!

Alright! Now your Refer-a-friend Program is all set. Send a test e-mail to double-check if everything is working properly, and when you're ready, click on the RUN button.

Congratulations! Enjoy your "new subscriber generating machine".

As with any automation tool, setting it up is only half the job. You also need to check its performance regularly to make sure you are getting the results you expect.

To view your Refer-a-friend Program's performance, go to the REPORTS section on the progress bar. Here you will find the main metrics such as Engagement revenue, Sent, Opened, Clicked, Orders, Orders with Coupon, Unsubscribed, and CTR.

Apart from the regular metrics, you will also find:

By clicking on the SHOW ADVANCED button, you will see an additional 37 performance metrics such as Hard Bounce, Soft Bounce, Spam, and others.

Need more help?

If you have any further questions about Refer-a-Friend Program, please do not hesitate to contact us at hello@edrone.me