How to Automatically Text Referred Friends their Coupon Code with Iterable Journeys

Emma Kimmerly Updated by Emma Kimmerly

This article walks through how to automatically text referred friends their coupon code using Iterable Journeys, after they enter their email address into a Friendbuy friend incentive widget.
This recipe requires that you have active Friendbuy and Iterable accounts.

Create your SMS

  1. Login to your Iterable account
  2. Navigate to Content, then click Templates
  3. Then, either make a copy of an existing SMS template, or create a new template. To make a copy of an existing template, click the three dots on the right hand side beside a template, and click Make a copy. Rename your template, and click Save template.
  4. On the next screen, click Edit, and update your SMS Sender, and Message content. In the message content, be sure to include the coupon code snippet, like the example below.
  5. Click Save in the top of the editor, and then click Preview to double check your message looks ready to go.
Referred friends will also automatically receive their coupon code via email through Friendbuy.

Create your journey

  1. Navigate to Messaging, then click Journeys
  2. Click New Journey in the top right corner
  1. Name your journey, and click Create Journey
  1. On the next screen, double click on the square that says Start, API Call. A sidebar will open on the right-hand side. In the Entry Source dropdown, choose List Subscribe, then from the List dropdown, choose your Friendbuy Referred Friend list. Then select Update.

Set up SMS

  1. Next, click on SMS in the right hand side bar, and drag and drop it onto the journey, underneath the Start box.
  2. Double click on SMS, name your campaign, and then click on Choose a template.
  3. Select a template from your SMS template gallery, and click Attach Template in the bottom left corner. Then, click Create Campaign.

Set a delay

  1. From the right hand side bar, drag and drop the Wait option underneath SMS.
  2. Double click on Wait, and set the amount of time you want to wait until re-sending referred friends their coupon code through email. Five days is a good rule of thumb. Then, click Update.

Create a yes/no split

  1. Next, drag and drop Yes/no split underneath the Wait box.
  2. Double click on Yes/no split. Select All user properties and events in the first section. Then, beside the MUST HAVE section, select "Find contacts that meet any of the following clauses". In the Choose a property dropdown, select SMS Click.
  3. Next, in the dropdown beside "where", select Campaign. In the Campaigns dropdown, select the name of the journey you've created for this workflow. Then click Update.

Create a reminder email

  1. Navigate to
  1. Select friendbuy_purl to add it to your email.
  1. Once your email is ready to send, scroll down and click SAVE TEMPLATE.
  1. Navigate back to Content, and click Templates. Click the three dots beside the template you just created, and click Make a copy.
  1. This email is for subscribers without a PURL. Replace the PURL merge variable with a link to your referral program landing page, and click SAVE TEMPLATE.

Create the Journey to send the emails

  1. Navigate to Messaging and click Journeys
  1. Click New Journey
  1. Name your journey and write a description, then click Create journey.
  1. Double click on Start and in the Entry Source dropdown, select Schedule.
  1. Then, in the Select a list drop down, pick the list you want the dedicated referral program email to be sent to.
  1. Pick the start date and time you want it to send, as well as how many times a contact can receive the email. Then, click Update.
  1. Drag and drop Attribute split from the right hand side bar and place it underneath Start.
  2. Double click on Attribute split to edit the details. In the Attribute dropdown, select friendbuy_purl. In the Values dropdown, select an example of a PURL. Then click Update.
  3. Drag and drop Email from the right hand side bar and place it underneath Attribute. Do this twice so that you have two emails side by side like the below.
  1. Then, double click on the left email. This is the draft you'll send to customers that have a personal URL with Friendbuy. Name the campaign, then Choose a template.
  1. Select the Dedicated Referral Email with PURL template you created, then click Attach Template.
  1. Click Create Campaign
  1. Then, click the right hand side email and take the same steps. This time, choose the template without the PURL, and click Attach Template, then Create Campaign.
  1. Click the white dot at the bottom of Start, and connect it to Attribute split. Click the white dot on Attribute split with the PURL example, and drag it to the Email box titled Email with PURL. Then connect Everyone else to the Email without PURL box.
  1. When you're ready to schedule your email, click Publish in the bottom right corner, and then click Publish again on the pop-up.

Then take a deep breath, and celebrate that you're done!

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