How to Send One Time Emails with Referral Links through Braze

Connor Johanning Updated by Connor Johanning

Overview

This guide walks through how to send a dedicated, one-time email featuring each Advocate’s Friendbuy Personal Referral Link (PURL) using Braze.

Once the Friendbuy–Braze integration is active, Friendbuy syncs referral data to each user profile as Braze custom attributes. This allows you to build segments, personalize email content, and deliver one-time sends that include dynamically populated PURLs.

Step 1: Confirm PURLs Are Flowing Into Braze

When the Braze integration is enabled, Friendbuy automatically sends data to user profiles as custom attributes. The attribute used for PURLs is typically:

  • friendbuy_referral_link
    (Exact casing may vary depending on your schema setup)

You can confirm this on any user profile:

  1. Navigate to User Profiles
  2. Search for a test email that exists in Friendbuy
  3. Scroll to Custom Attributes
  4. Verify an attribute similar to friendbuy_referral_link appears and contains a URL

If you do not see this field present, confirm the Braze integration setup in Friendbuy and check that the user profile exists in both systems.

1. Navigate to Segments

In Braze:

  • Go to Segments in the left navigation
  • Click Create Segment
2. Define Your Segment Criteria

You want to target users whose profile includes a PURL.

Under Filters:

  1. Choose Custom Attribute
  2. Search for friendbuy_referral_link
  3. Choose "is not blank" as your condition

Your final logic should look like:

3. Name Your Segment

Example:

Advocates With Referral Links

4. Save the Segment

You will now have a dynamic group of users who have a PURL available for use in messaging.

Step 3: Create Your One-Time Email Campaign in Braze

1. Navigate to Campaigns
  • Click Campaigns
  • Click Create Campaign
  • Select Email
2. Name Your Campaign

Example:

Dedicated Refer-a-Friend Email With PURLs

Step 4: Build Your Email Content

Braze gives you multiple email builders. The most common is the drag-and-drop editor.

1. Choose a Template
  • Select Build with Drag & Drop or Template
  • Choose a Braze template or start from scratch

Wherever you want the referral link to appear:

  1. Place a Text block
  2. Insert the PURL using custom attribute Liquid:

This will dynamically insert each Advocate’s PURL when the email sends.

Optional: Save as a Reusable Block

Braze supports Saved Blocks via the Drag & Drop editor.

To save this PURL block for future campaigns:

  1. Hover over your block
  2. Click Save Block
  3. Name it something like Referral Link Content Block

Step 5: Review and Send / Schedule Your Campaign

Before sending:

  1. Verify:
    • Sender name
    • Sender email
    • Subject line
    • Preview text
  2. Use Preview & Test:
    • Send a test email to yourself
    • Verify the Liquid variable populates correctly
  3. Continue through the Campaign Email steps:
    1. Schedule
    2. Target
    3. Assign
    4. Review

Braze will deliver each email with the correct Advocate referral link automatically.

How did we do?

How To Enable The Braze integration

How to Send Referral Links Post Purchase Through Braze

Contact