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Referral Factory uses a few specific terms to describe the people, actions and results inside a referral program. Understanding these terms makes it easier to set up your campaigns, follow our help guides, configure rewards and integrations, and understand your reporting.
The most important terms are Campaign, Referrer, Lead, Referral, Pending, Qualified, Qualification and Reward.
Your own business may use different words for some of these people or stages. That is completely fine. Referral Factory uses consistent terminology inside the platform so the referral journey can be tracked clearly.
What is a Campaign in Referral Factory?
A Campaign is an individual referral program you create and manage in Referral Factory.
Each Campaign has its own configuration and data, including its:
For example, you might create separate Campaigns for:
If you run more than one Campaign, each can have its own referral journey, messaging, rewards and rules.
Think of a Campaign as the container for one referral program.
- Referrers
- Leads
- referral links
- rewards
- emails
- integrations
- qualification rules
- tracking
- settings
- performance data
- customer referrals
- partner or affiliate referrals
- different brands
- different products or services
- different locations or markets
What is a Referrer?
A Referrer is the person who recommends your business and introduces someone else to your referral program.
Depending on your business, a Referrer might be called a:
In most referral journeys, each Referrer receives their own unique Referral Link so Referral Factory can identify which Leads they generate.
Referrers can join the program themselves, for example through the Branded Referrer Portal, or your business can add, upload, sync or create them through another supported method.
A Referrer does not necessarily need to already be a customer. In an affiliate or partner program, for example, someone may join specifically to refer new business.
- customer
- member
- affiliate
- partner
- ambassador
- advocate
- agent
- employee
What is a Lead?
A Lead is the person who has been referred to your business.
| Example: Sarah is already part of your referral program and shares her Referral Link with James. Sarah is the Referrer. James is the Lead. |
|---|
Referral Factory keeps the Lead separate from the Referrer who introduced them so you can follow the Lead through your normal sales, booking, application, payment or onboarding process.
Depending on your industry, you might call a Lead a:
Inside Referral Factory, we use Lead consistently to describe the person who was referred.
- prospect
- referred customer
- friend
- referee
- applicant
- buyer
- contact
- user
What is a Referral?
A Referral is the tracked relationship between a Referrer and the Lead they introduced.
The easiest way to think about the difference is:
One Referrer can generate multiple referrals, and one Campaign can contain Leads from many different Referrers.
- Referrer = the person making the recommendation
- Lead = the person being referred
- Referral = the introduction or relationship between them
What does Pending mean?
Pending means a Lead has entered your referral program but has not yet met the criteria you use to recognise a successful referral.
For example, a Lead may have submitted their details but still need to:
Pending does not mean the referral failed. It means the Lead has not yet reached the business outcome you have defined as successful.
- make a purchase
- complete a booking
- start a paid subscription
- have an application approved
- sign a contract
- reach a particular stage in your CRM
What does Qualified mean?
Qualified means a Lead has met the condition your business uses to recognise a successful referral.
For example, you might mark a Lead as Qualified when they:
Once the required event happens, the Lead can move from Pending to Qualified.
- make a purchase
- become a paying subscriber
- complete a booking or service
- sign a contract
- have an application approved
- reach Closed Won in your CRM
- complete another meaningful action defined by your business
What is Qualification?
Qualification is the process of confirming that a Lead has completed the action that makes the referral successful for your business.
Qualification can happen manually or through a connected system. Depending on your setup, Referral Factory can receive the qualification signal through options such as a CRM, payment integration, API, webhook or automation workflow.
Qualification is particularly important when rewards are involved. In many referral programs, you want to reward a successful business outcome rather than simply reward someone because a Lead submitted their details.
You may also hear the word conversion used in referral marketing. In Referral Factory, we generally use qualification to describe the point where a Lead meets your success criteria.
What is a Reward?
A Reward is the incentive given when the reward conditions you have configured are met.
Depending on your referral program, you can reward:
Rewards might include:
For many referral programs, the Reward is linked to Qualification so the incentive follows a meaningful outcome.
- the Referrer
- the Lead
- both the Referrer and the Lead
- a fixed monetary amount
- commission
- a gift card
- account credit
- a coupon or discount
- points or another custom unit
- another custom reward
What is a Reward Rule?
A Reward Rule defines the conditions around a Reward.
It determines things such as:
For a double-sided referral program, you can configure separate Rewards for the Referrer and the Lead. This means each person can receive a different incentive or have different reward conditions.
- who receives the Reward
- what they receive
- when the Reward becomes due
- what event triggers it
- whether it is reviewed manually or issued automatically
- how the Reward is issued
What is a Referral Link?
A Referral Link is the unique, trackable URL associated with a Referrer.
The Referrer shares this link with someone they want to recommend to your business. When the referred person follows the link, it opens that Referrer's Referral Link Page.
Once the referred person submits their details through the referral journey, Referral Factory can record them as a Lead and connect them to the correct Referrer.
Referral Links are the standard sharing and attribution method in Referral Factory.
What is a Referral Link Page?
The Referral Link Page is the branded page a referred person sees after opening a Referrer's Referral Link.
Its purpose is to:
After the Lead submits their details, the Campaign might show a thank-you page, redirect them to your website, send them to a booking journey or continue into another configured process.
The Referral Link Page is designed for the Lead, not the Referrer.
- explain the referral offer
- give the referred person context
- collect the information your Campaign needs
- connect the Lead to the correct Referrer
- guide the Lead to the next step
What is the Branded Referrer Portal?
The Branded Referrer Portal is the Referrer-facing part of the referral program.
Depending on how your Campaign is configured, Referrers can use the portal to:
The portal can be used as a standalone referral destination or made available as part of another customer experience.
A useful distinction to remember is:
- join or log in to the referral program
- access their unique Referral Link
- share their referral assets
- access a QR code
- see referral activity
- see qualification or reward information
- Branded Referrer Portal = built for the person making referrals
- Referral Link Page = built for the person being referred
What is the difference between a Referral Link, Referral Code and Promo Code?
These terms can sound similar, but they are not interchangeable.
Referral Link
A Referral Link is a unique URL associated with a Referrer. It is the standard way for someone to share and track a referral.
Referral Code
A Referral Code is an identifier that can be used when a URL is not the best fit for the referral journey.
For example, a business may need to capture a code and pass it through an API, webhook, upload or integration so the Lead can still be connected to the correct Referrer.
A Referral Code does not automatically mean a discount is being offered.
Promo Code
A Promo Code in Referral Factory is connected to a Stripe promotion-code setup.
It can be used at checkout to give the referred customer the configured offer while linking the redemption back to the Referrer.
Promo Codes are therefore different from standard Referral Codes and are only relevant when the Campaign uses the Stripe promo-code functionality.
What does Users mean in Referral Factory?
You may see the term Users in Referral Factory analytics or plan allowances.
Users is a combined term that can include both:
When you are looking at a specific Campaign or discussing referral performance, it is usually clearer to use Referrer or Lead rather than the broader term Users.
- Referrers
- Leads
What terminology might my business use instead?
Different industries often use different names for the same roles.
| Referral Factory term | Other terms you might use |
|---|---|
| Referrer | Customer, partner, affiliate, ambassador, advocate, agent, member |
| Lead | Prospect, applicant, referred customer, friend, referee, buyer, contact |
| Pending | Open, in progress, awaiting conversion |
| Qualified | Converted, approved, purchased, completed, Closed Won |
| Reward | Incentive, commission, bonus, credit, benefit |
You can still use the terminology that makes sense to your customers in your Campaign copy.
Referral Factory uses consistent internal terminology so your team can clearly distinguish the person making the referral, the person being referred and the point where the referral becomes successful.
What are the key Referral Factory terms in simple language?
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Campaign | The referral program you create and manage in Referral Factory |
| Referrer | The person who recommends your business and generates referrals |
| Lead | The person who was referred to your business |
| Referral | The tracked relationship between a Referrer and the Lead they introduced |
| Pending | A Lead that has not yet met your success criteria |
| Qualified | A Lead that has met your success criteria |
| Qualification | The process of confirming that a referral has reached the outcome that matters to your business |
| Reward | The incentive given to the Referrer, Lead or both according to your Reward Rules |
| Referral Link | The unique tracked URL associated with a Referrer |
| Referral Link Page | The Lead-facing page opened from a Referral Link |
| Branded Referrer Portal | The Referrer-facing area used to access and manage their referral experience |
| Users | A combined term that can include Referrers and Leads |
What does a referral journey look like in simple terms?
A simple Referral Factory journey could look like this:
| Sarah joins a Campaign as a Referrer -> Sarah receives and shares her Referral Link -> James follows the link and becomes Sarah's Lead -> James completes the action your business considers successful -> James becomes Qualified -> the relevant Reward Rule is applied. |
|---|
That core flow:
Campaign -> Referrer -> Lead -> Qualification -> Reward
is at the heart of how Referral Factory tracks and manages referrals.