A referral link is a personal share link you make for one of your customers. When a friend opens it, they land on your online booking page, and if they book as a new customer SalesThumb credits the referral to that link. Referral links are part of Loyalty, a Growth-plan feature (Growth and Pro).
This is for your customers referring their friends to your shop. If you want to refer another shop to SalesThumb, see How the Refer a shop program works instead.
Creating a referral link for a customer
- Open Customers in the sidebar and click the customer.
- At the top of their profile, click Referral link.
- SalesThumb makes a new link and copies it to your clipboard. The button briefly reads "Link copied!".
- Paste the link into a text or email to the customer so they can share it.
Each click on Referral link makes a brand-new link, so you can give the same customer more than one. If you don't see the button, your shop's plan doesn't include Loyalty.
What happens when a friend uses the link
- The friend opens the link (it looks like your SalesThumb address followed by /refer/ and an 8-character code).
- They briefly see "You were referred to [your shop]!" and "Taking you to booking...".
- They land on your online booking page, with the referral code carried along.
Each time the link is opened, it counts as a click. If the friend then books online as a new customer, they're saved with Referral / word of mouth as their source (with the link's code as the detail), and the link's signup count goes up by one. Signups are only counted when the booking actually goes through, and only for the customer's first appointment. A friend who is already your customer isn't counted again.
If a link no longer works, for example because your shop's plan no longer includes Loyalty, the friend sees "This referral link is no longer active" and is asked to get a fresh link from their friend.
Tracking your referral links
Go to Growth & Marketing and click the Loyalty card (or open Customers and pick the Loyalty tab). The page is headed Loyalty & referrals.
At the top, two of the four tiles are about referrals:
- Referral Links: how many links you've created.
- Referred Customers: total signups across all your links.
Further down, the Referral Links card lists each link with the customer's name and the link's code. Click the copy button next to a code to copy the full link again. Each link shows three numbers:
- Clicks: how many times the link was opened.
- Signups: new customers who booked through it.
- Rewards: rewards recorded for the link.
Links with the most signups are listed first. If you haven't made any yet, you'll see "No referral links yet".
About referral rewards
The Referral Links card says both sides get a reward, but SalesThumb doesn't issue referral rewards on its own today. The Rewards number isn't filled in automatically, and no discount, stamp or credit is given to either customer when a referral signs up.
If you promise a reward, give it yourself. For example, when you see a new signup on a link, you could give the referring customer a loyalty stamp from the same page. See Setting up a customer loyalty (stamp card) rewards program for how stamps work.
Seeing referral revenue
Because referred customers are saved with Referral / word of mouth as their source, they're counted under that source in the Referral Attribution report, alongside your other lead sources.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Which plan includes referral links?
A: Referral links are part of Loyalty, which comes with the Growth plan and up. Below that, the Referral link button doesn't appear on customer profiles.
Q: Does the referring customer get a reward automatically?
A: No. SalesThumb counts clicks and signups for each link, but it doesn't give out referral rewards on its own. You'll need to give any reward yourself.
Q: Why didn't a referral count as a signup?
A: Signups only count when someone books through the link as a new customer and the booking goes through. An existing customer, or someone who opened the link but didn't book, isn't counted.
Q: Can one customer have more than one link?
A: Yes. Every click on Referral link creates a new link with its own code and its own counts.