Winding Down the Referral Program

William Harper Updated by William Harper

Overview

When it comes time to remove the Friendbuy integration from your site, although we're sorry to see you go, we want to make sure you cover all the bases you need. This help article will cover everything you need to do in order to wind down the referral program.

How to Stop Sharing Activity

The following steps will ensure that your customers will no longer be able to share out the referral program:

  1. Remove the integration code (Sitewide Code) - For an example of what the integration code looks like, this can be found under Developer Center > Friendbuy Code.
  2. Refer-a-Friend Landing Page - In the page where the Refer-a-Friend Landing page is located (e.g. www.website.com/refer-a-friend), remove the Friendbuy Widget HTML element. You can find what element the widget is inserted into by navigating to Referral > Campaigns > Widgets > Advocate Landing Page. Here, you can also turn off the widget's visibility. Be sure to also remove the 'Advocate Landing Page URL', 'Advocate Landing Page Page Name', and 'HTML Element to insert widget into'.
  3. Post-Purchase Overlay - Navigate to Referral > Campaigns > Widgets > Post Purchase Overlay. From here, remove the setup under 'Post Purchase URL', as well as the 'Post Purchase Page Name'. This will prevent the widget from appearing on the order confirmation page on your site. Be sure to also turn off the widget's visibility.
  4. Account Page and Referral Dashboards - On your site, you can remove the "friendbuy" div from the page to remove any "blank spots" on relevant pages.
  5. Once you've done all of the above, be sure to click 'Publish Changes' to apply your changes.

How to Stop Referred Friend Offer Redemption

While in the previous section we discussed how to stop Advocates from making new referrals, this won't prevent Referred Friends who have already been referred from clicking through referral links that have been previously sent out. Until the account is fully deactivated (30 days after your final payment), referred friends will be able to receive referral offers. To stop this:

  • If you are using a Friend Homepage Overlay - Turn off the Friend Homepage Overlay widget's visibility. This can be done under Referral > Campaigns > Widgets > Friend Homepage Overlay. Please note that Referred Friends will still be sent to the destination URL you have set up in the widgets found under your Friend Incentive settings.
  • If you are using a Friend Landing Page - In the page where the Friend Landing Page is located (e.g. www.website.com/referred-friend), remove the Friendbuy Widget HTML element. You can find what element the widget is inserted into by navigating to Referral > Campaigns > Widgets > Friend Landing Page. Here, you can also turn off the widget's visibility. Be sure to also remove the 'Friend Landing Page URL', 'Friend Landing Page Page Name', and 'HTML Element to insert widget into'.
  • If you have a specific URL that triggers an automatically applied discount - Be sure to change the Destination URL set up in the widgets found under your Friend Incentive settings. You can change this to something such as your homepage.

Once you've done all of the above, be sure to click 'Publish Changes' to apply your changes.

How to Stop Advocates from Receiving Referral Rewards

Advocates who have previously shared the referral offer with their friends will still be able to receive referral rewards automatically until the program has been deactivated. To stop this manually:

  • Option 1: Remove the Track Event code - This is most typically installed in the Order Confirmation page of your site, or wherever the conversion event for the referral program was set to take place. You can see an example of this code under Developer Center > Friendbuy Code.
  • Option 2: Clear the Advocate Reward Settings - To stop Rewards going out before removing the Conversion Tracker code, you can navigate to Referral > Campaigns > Advocate Reward, and then clear the Advocate Reward Settings. This can be easily done by choosing 'Select' under 'How will you reward your Advocates?', and then clicking 'Publish Changes'.
Note: If you have pending rewards or incentives in place, be sure to Approve these rewards before turning off the campaign. Any unapproved rewards or incentives left in a Pending state will not be distributed once the campaign has been turned off.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: How do I remove my integrations?

A: Navigate to Developer Settings > Integrations. Any current integrations can be unlinked here.

Q: How can I download a list of emails captured by Friendbuy?

A: Navigate to Analytics > Reports > Emails. From here, you can select a date range of emails to export from, then click 'Export'!

Q: How do I export my analytics?

A: Navigate to Analytics > Reports, select the report you'd like to export, and then click 'Export'!

Q: Will coupons that have been already sent out still work?

A: Yes, coupons sent out by Friendbuy will still work until they have been disabled in your eCommerce platform.

Q: What happens if a Referred Friend clicks on a referral link after Friendbuy has been deactivated?

A: The customer will be sent to your Site URL, which can be set up under Settings > Account > Site URL.

Q: Can I log back into my Friendbuy Account after it has been deactivated?

A: The Friendbuy account will no longer be accessible once the account has been deactivated. If you need any assistance, please contact us at support@friendbuy.com.

How did we do?

Contact