Create a recruitment link with the following details:
- Create a new single recruitment code
- Set the maximum usage to 0 for no maximum or an exact number if you want to cap it.
Note: Use multiple links if using this to track IDs in another way
- On the next page, set the Qualification Page to "Internal".
- On the last page, enable “External Tracking” & enter “ID" for the Tracking Parameter.
- You can fill in the Success/Failure/Over Quota fields like you would for any other recruitment.
- Click Save.
- Export the recruitment URL file.
Notice that there will be one link, and inside the link, you will see “ID=XXXX.” What you will need to do is to replace the “XXXX” part with the member’s username or user ID: If the member’s name is SP_Test, you will need to have “ID=SP_Test” if you're using Username or "ID=1234" if using a User ID.
This can be done by first, splitting up the link using “Text to columns” in the Data tab of Excel:
Select “Fixed width” and then use the XXXX as the area you wish to single out in a column:
Your link should now look like this:
In the XXXX column, copy and paste in the Usernames or User IDs for the exact members you would like to send links to, double click the cells to the left and right of XXXX to copy them down the sheet:
Then use a “CONCATENATE” formula to combine the links back together:
Each link should have that member’s username in the “ID=XXXX” field, and any member that they recruit with that link will show up in the user exports/community overall reports with that original member’s username or User ID in the Recruitment Tracking ID field.
As for uploading these links to the platform and distributing them, you will need to utilize the Campaigns to email out these links to members. First, in the body of the email, you will add a Custom Variable that will insert each member's unique link in their email. Customer Variables allow you to link any data to a member and then pipe it into their email using an Excel file. This Custom Variable can be named whatever you wish and typed in directly to the body of the email, but it must be all caps and have underscores where there are spaces (i.e., ${REFER_A_FRIEND_LINK}).
For ease of copying and pasting the link when distributing, we recommend inserting this as text, but it can be linked in an image or button:
To distribute these links, head to the recipients tab and choose User Distribution List: This option allows you to create a custom email recipient list using User IDs and optional custom parameters. Click the “Download Sample” link to download a sample CSV file. The first column should contain all the User IDs you wish to send them emails and it should be titled "User Id."
The next column in your spreadsheet will contain the recruitment links you created and will have the corresponding User ID within it. This second column should be titled matching exactly the custom text between the brackets that you created for the Custom Variable in the email campaign. Your file should look like this:
When done creating the file, save it as a CSV file and then upload it.
For more information, read the article about Adding Custom Variables to Email Campaigns.
Track New Recruits
Once new members start to come through these links, you'll be able to track who referred them this helps for both incentives and for fraud. To conduct this tracking, pull a Member Export of your community and open it. You can filter by Recruitment Name in Excel so you are only viewing those who joined through this specific recruitment.
In the Recruitment Tracking Id column, the member's User ID who referred them will display. You can use a formula like =COUNTIF to tabulate the number of referrals each member has in the community. This formula will count each instance of their User ID in the column and you can tie this back to their profile.
Review our suggestions for maintaining member integrity and fraud checks.