Using Referral Fields in Forms

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Understanding Referral Fields

In Lead Gen & CRM, 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 can gather the same information, but they collect the data for a second contact who is being referred on the form by the primary contact. 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. 

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.
 

Setting Fields

You can add referral fields to forms as necessary. The Email field is the minimum requirement when adding referral fields to forms. To create a form with referral fields, create or edit a form:

1. Under the Add Fields tab, click to add a Referral Field.
   Note: Referral field data is designed to accept information about new leads. For example, "Refer a friend for a chance to earn $100 dollars!" would be an accurate use of the referral form fields, however, "Who referred you to our company?" is not a good case for the field.
2. Select the desired referral field options in the drop-down menu.
   
   

    

3. Drag and drop fields to rearrange them as necessary, and click Save Changes.
   Note: Referral fields will be identified with the     icon next to the form label.
   
   
   

    

4. Click   Actions > Embed Code.
   
   

    

5. Copy the available embed code.
   
   

    

   Note: Constant Contact offers Professional Services to assist with custom coding.

Once copied, paste the form's embed code onto your site. 

When the referral form is submitted successfully by the lead, two separate profiles are created in Lead Gen & CRM. Only the referrer is matched with a tracking ID, since only that lead was on your site. Your team should prioritize reaching out to referred leads so that you can begin tracking them as well.

Form data submitted into referral fields can be used in automations. You can fire an automation using the When a contact is referred on the form trigger. 

Exporting Referral Form Data

Form data can be exported easily. Navigate to your Referral Form and complete the following steps:

1. Click View Submissions. 
   
   

    

2. Filter your submission data as needed. 
3. Click Export Leads. 
   
   

    

To download the exported file to your computer, you'll need to go to the Export Manager. The Export Manager will contain all recently exported files.

Clicking the files in the Export Manager will automatically download the file to your computer's default download folder. Read Accessing the Export Manager to learn more. 

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