Using Referrer Fields as Merge Variables in Emails

Understanding Referral Fields

In the Lead Gen & CRM platform, a referral is lead information that is passed into the platform through specific form fields. Forms in Lead Gen & CRM use two field types: standard and referral.

In forms, standard fields are those fields that request that a user fill out certain expected information, like their name or email address. Standard fields are for your primary users. Referral fields request the same information, but they are for users who receive the forwarded form from the primary user. Referral fields add a contact record based on the information—but do not establish tracking between the device and the contact’s record.

Referral fields can be used with many Lead Gen & CRM features, though they are mostly used with forms and emails. When paired with emails, referral forms can be a valuable asset. Referring or forwarding emails can be used to gather more leads. As the person forwarding the email is most likely a friend of the person being referred to the email, this reinforces the credibility of your message.

If you want your message to be heard by as many people as possible, consider adding referral functionality to all of your forms and emails being sent through Lead Gen & CRM. When the custom referral form is submitted, a created custom field will populate to the referred person's profile, which will then trigger that email to go out to that referred person.

When using referral fields, be aware that the fields do not establish tracking. That said, referral fields do create a second contact record for that referral. When using referral fields, send an email to that referral stating that they were referred. This encourages the referred visitor to visit your website or fill out a form to establish tracking.
 

Creating Referrer Fields

For the entire email process to function, you will first need to create a custom referrer field.

To create a custom referrer field, complete the following steps:

1. Click Settings.
   
   

    

2. Click Custom Fields, located under Features in the left panel.
3. Click Add Field > Lead Field.
   
   

    

4. Enter a name for the field in Field Label.
5. Click the following checkboxes:
   
      •   Visible in Contact Manager
      •   Available when creating forms
      •   Email merge variable
6. Click the Text input radio button.
7. Enter text that asks how the user was referred in the Placeholder text box.
8. Click Create Field. 
   
   

    

Creating Referrer Forms 

Once the referrer field has been created, you will need to attach it to a form.

To create a referral form, create or edit a form from the Forms page in the left toolbar. 

1. In the Fields section, under Referral Fields, click the Referral Fields drop-down menu.
2. Click the Custom section.
3. Select the created referrer field.
   
   

    

4. Click Save Changes.
5. Click    Actions > Embed Code.
   
   

    

Add the tracking code to the webpage that the form is hosted on

Creating Referrer Emails

Once the referrer form has been created, you will need to create the email that will be sent after a user fills out the form.

To create emails with referrer fields, create or edit an email from Email in the left toolbar. 

1. Design the email to fit your needs then click Merge.
2. Select Custom Fields.
3. Select the custom referrer field. 
   
   

    

4. Optionally, enter a field description.
5. Click OK.
6. Click Save.
   
   

    

Once you've created your form and email, you'll need a workflow that joins them together. Visit Creating Referrer Workflows to learn how to build a referral workflow using your form and email. 

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