{"id":1056,"date":"2026-08-16T10:30:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T10:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/?post_type=docs&#038;p=1056"},"modified":"2026-08-16T10:30:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T10:30:43","password":"","slug":"how-do-i-set-up-referrals","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/pointics\/how-do-i-set-up-referrals\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do I Set Up Referrals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are Referrals?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Referrals<\/strong> let existing customers invite friends and earn points when those friends join. Every customer gets a permanent referral <strong>code<\/strong> and a shareable <strong>link<\/strong>. When someone arrives through that link and registers, the referrer is credited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is no separate referral settings screen. Referrals become active when you create an earning rule using the <strong>Referral signs up<\/strong> trigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Do You Need It?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A low-cost acquisition channel:<\/strong> You reward a real signup instead of paying upfront for traffic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rewards bring customers back:<\/strong> Referrers earn loyalty points instead of cash.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It is self-serve:<\/strong> Customers can copy their own referral link or send their own invites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prerequisites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An Administrator account to create the earning rule.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An earning rule using the referral signup trigger. Without it, referrals do not award points.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Any logged-in customer can refer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Any visitor arriving with a valid referral code can be referred.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where to Find It<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Audience<\/th><th>Location<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Setting it up<\/td><td><strong>Pointics \u2192 Points Program<\/strong> \u2192 New Rule \u2192 Referral signs up<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Customer view<\/td><td><strong>My Account \u2192 Points &amp; Rewards \u2192 Referrals<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Reporting<\/td><td><strong>Pointics \u2192 Analytics \u2192 Referral Funnel<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step-by-Step Instructions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: Create the Referral Earning Rule<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Go to <strong>Pointics \u2192 Points Program<\/strong> and create a rule with the trigger <strong>Referral signs up<\/strong>. The default award is <strong>500 points<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Configure the Referral Award<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Field<\/th><th>Purpose<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Points Awarded \u2014 Referrer<\/strong><\/td><td>What the inviter receives<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Points Awarded \u2014 Referred Person<\/strong><\/td><td>What the invited person receives<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Share Method<\/strong><\/td><td>Referral Link, Referral Code, or Link &amp; Code<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Referral Link Base URL<\/strong><\/td><td>For example <code>yourstore.com\/ref\/<\/code><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Referral Code<\/strong><\/td><td>For example <code>SAVE20<\/code><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 3: Publish the Rule<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Until the referral rule exists and is published, the customer panel shows no reward figure. This prevents Pointics from promising referral points that your site does not actually award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 4: Point Customers to Their Referrals Tab<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Customers can open <strong>My Account \u2192 Points &amp; Rewards \u2192 Referrals<\/strong> and copy their referral link or code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An example referral link looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>https:&#047;&#047;yourstore.com\/?ref=ABC12<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Referrals panel also displays a QR code for the referral link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 5: Let Customers Send Email Invites<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Customers can enter an email address to send a referral invitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Part<\/th><th>Content<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Subject<\/strong><\/td><td>{Your name} invited you to join {Site name}<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Body<\/strong><\/td><td>You&#8217;ve been invited to join! Sign up here: {link}<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 6: Watch the Results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Referrals panel displays four stat cards:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Invited<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pending<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Completed<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Points Earned<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A referral history table also shows each invite&#8217;s email address, status, invited date, completed date, and points awarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Functionality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Happens Behind the Scenes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A visitor arrives on your site with a referral code.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pointics checks whether the code is valid.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An invalid or modified code is ignored and nothing is stored.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A valid referral code is remembered in the visitor&#8217;s browser for <strong>30 days<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When the visitor registers, Pointics completes the referral.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The published referral earning rule awards the configured points.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Referral Statuses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Status<\/th><th>Meaning<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Pending<\/strong><\/td><td>The person was invited but has not registered yet.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Completed<\/strong><\/td><td>The referred person registered and the referral was completed.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How a Referral Completes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A referral follows this process:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A customer copies their referral link or sends an invitation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The friend clicks the referral link.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pointics validates the referral code.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If the code is invalid, nothing is stored.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If the code is valid, Pointics remembers it for 30 days.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The friend registers on the site.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pointics checks whether the customer is referring themselves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Self-referrals are rejected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pointics checks whether the person has already been referred before.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If they have already been referred, the referral is rejected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If they are eligible, the referral is marked as completed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The referred person is marked as having used their one allowed referral.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pointics checks whether a referral earning rule is published.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If no published rule exists, no points are awarded.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If a published rule exists, the configured points are awarded to the referrer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The completed referral is recorded in referral history.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Settings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Referrals have no separate options on the Pointics Settings screen. Their behaviour is fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Behaviour<\/th><th>Value<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>How long a referral link is remembered<\/td><td><strong>30 days<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Invites a customer can send<\/td><td><strong>10 per hour<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Referrals a person can be credited for<\/td><td><strong>One, ever<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Validation Rules<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Invite Email<\/strong> must contain a valid email address.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each customer can send a maximum of <strong>10 invites per hour<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Self-referral is blocked by both account and email address.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inviting your own email address is ignored.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each person can be referred only <strong>once<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An existing customer can still be eligible for their first referral, but never a second one.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Re-inviting the same email address resends the existing invitation instead of creating a duplicate record.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Customers can only view their own referral history.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Referral history does not expose another customer&#8217;s account information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Limitations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Referrals complete only when the friend registers.<\/strong> Rewarding a referral after the friend&#8217;s first purchase is not currently supported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Referral attribution depends on the visitor&#8217;s browser. Clearing browser data, switching devices, or using private browsing can remove the referral attribution.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The referral attribution window is fixed at <strong>30 days<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The invitation email is plain text and cannot be styled from Email Automations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Referral stat cards read up to 5,000 referrals for a customer. Beyond that, Pending and Points Earned figures can be understated.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Referral codes are short identifiers. They identify who referred someone but do not provide account access.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>Referrals<\/strong> tab remains hidden until a referral earning rule exists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Troubleshooting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Problem<\/th><th>Solution<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><em>&#8220;A valid email is required.&#8221;<\/em><\/td><td>Enter a valid email address.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>&#8220;Too many invites sent. Please try again later.&#8221;<\/em><\/td><td>The customer reached the 10-per-hour limit. Wait before sending more invitations.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>&#8220;Could not send that invite.&#8221;<\/em><\/td><td>The invitation address belongs to the customer sending the invite.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Referrals tab is missing from the account panel<\/td><td>No referral earning rule exists. Create one in Points Program.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>The panel shows no reward figure<\/td><td>No published referral earning rule exists, so Pointics has no referral reward to display.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>A referral completed but no points were awarded<\/td><td>The rule may still be a draft, its conditions may not match, or its frequency limit may already have been reached.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>A signup did not credit the referrer<\/td><td>The referral may no longer be remembered because browser data was cleared, a different device was used, private browsing was used, or more than 30 days passed.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Referring the same person twice did not award points<\/td><td>This is expected. Each person can only be referred once.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Referring yourself awarded nothing<\/td><td>Self-referrals are blocked by both account and email address.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>The Referral Funnel shows zeroes in Analytics<\/td><td>No referral activity occurred during the selected period. This is valid data, not an error.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>The invitation email was not delivered<\/td><td>Check your site&#8217;s mail configuration and test email delivery with an SMTP plugin.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The referral reward shown to customers comes from the same Ways to Earn data used by the Earn tab, so the wording and eligibility remain consistent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The QR code is generated in the customer&#8217;s browser, so no QR image is sent from your server.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Was This Article Helpful?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Articles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"03-points-program.md\">How Do I Create Point Earning Rules?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"12-storefront.md\">How Do Customers See Their Points?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"08-analytics.md\">How Do I Read the Analytics Dashboard?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"07-transactions.md\">How Do I Read the Points Ledger?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are Referrals? Referrals let existing customers invite friends and earn points when those friends join. Every customer gets a permanent referral code and a shareable link. When someone arrives through that link and registers, the referrer is credited. There is no separate referral settings screen. Referrals become active when you create an earning rule [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[84],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-1056","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-refferal"],"year_month":"2026-08","word_count":1139,"total_views":0,"reactions":{"happy":0,"normal":0,"sad":0},"author_info":{"name":"nafila","author_nicename":"nafila","author_url":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/author\/nafila\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Refferal","term_url":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/docs\/refferal\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"knowledge_base_info":[],"knowledge_base_slug":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/1056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/1056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1057,"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/1056\/revisions\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=1056"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themewinter.com\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=1056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}