What is a referral link?

What a referral link is

Every customer in a referral program gets a short unique code, and their referral link is the business's web address with that code attached. They send it by message, post it, or show it as a QR code. When a friend opens the link, the website notes the code. If the friend then does the thing the program rewards, usually signing up and making a first purchase, the business records that this friend was referred by that customer and gives the reward. Referral programs work because a recommendation from someone you know carries more weight than an advertisement, and because the reward gives people a reason to make the recommendation they might have made anyway. A referral link differs from a general discount code in one key way: it identifies who sent the customer, so the reward goes to a specific person rather than to anyone who finds the code online.

How the code is captured and credited

When someone arrives with a code, the site stores it in the browser for a set period, commonly 30 days, so a friend who comes back a week later still counts. A sensible rule is that the first code wins: a later link from someone else does not replace it. When the friend creates an account, the site claims the referral once, linking the new account to the referrer, provided the account is genuinely new and the code does not belong to the friend themselves. The reward then waits for the qualifying event. Paying out on sign up alone invites throwaway accounts, so most programs reward a first paid order above a minimum amount, and only once the payment is confirmed. The referrer sees a list of their referrals and rewards, showing friends only by a first initial so one customer's purchases are not exposed to another. Commission programs track amounts owed and pay them separately.

When a referral program works

Referral programs work best for businesses customers already talk about: food boxes, gyms, salons, subscriptions, local services and products people use in front of friends. They work when the reward is worth sharing for and the product is good enough that sharing does not feel awkward. A two sided reward, where both the referrer and the friend get something, usually performs better than rewarding only the referrer, because the person sharing feels they are giving a gift rather than earning a fee. Referral programs suit repeat purchases better than one off sales, since the reward is usually spent on the next order. They are a poor fit for products bought rarely or privately. Separately, an affiliate program pays creators or partners a commission for sales, often for months; it is closer to a sales arrangement with disclosure duties than a friendly recommendation, and needs clearer terms and payment records.

Common mistakes

Rewarding a sign up rather than a paid order, which gets gamed within days. Letting customers refer themselves with a second email address. Allowing a later link to overwrite an earlier one, so credit goes to whoever shared last. Showing referrers their friends' full names or order totals. Encouraging customers to email their whole contact list, which can make the business responsible for spam it did not send itself; a share button the customer controls is safer than the business emailing friends on their behalf. Rewards so small nobody bothers, or so large they attract people who only want the reward. No end date or terms, so a promotion that should have closed keeps paying. And no way to reject an obviously fraudulent referral, so the business either pays it or argues with a customer about rules that were never written down.

Where it shows up in OneCraft

When a site is generated with a referral program, the AI builds it into the site's own database from its referrals guide. Each signed in customer gets a code and a refer page with their link, Copy and Share buttons, the reward rule in one sentence and their referrals with friends' names masked. A code in the link is kept in the browser for 30 days and never replaces an earlier one, and a referral can be claimed once, right after a new person signs up. Rewards follow a paid order only, as points, a one use discount code or a commission tracked in the database and paid by the owner outside the site. Admins can reject self dealing and export referrals. A launch queue that moves people up by referrals is a separate waitlist capability. Card payments use Stripe on the owner's connected account.

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