Referral Links

Create referral links to track the orders and pledges they generate for your project. Review the results on the Referral links page or export the data to Excel.

In this article

To create a referral link, open the project you want to manage:

  1. Click the tool button in the top right corner and select your project.
  2. Go to Project > Referral links.
  3. Click add a referral link.

Use Display name to give the link an internal name that helps you identify it and filter the list.

The Referral links page shows each link’s status and performance. Use the following table to understand the fields and metrics.

Table 1. Referral link fields and metrics

Field or metric Description
Display name An internal name that helps you identify the link and filter the list.
Status Indicates whether the link is active or inactive. An inactive link does not work. To change the status, click the three-dot button next to the link.
New orders The number of new orders placed through the referral link. Changes to existing orders do not affect this number.
1 day The value of pledges made within 24 hours after clicking the link.
7 days The value of pledges made within 7 days after clicking the link. Includes pledges counted in 1 day.
Income The value of all pledges attributed to the link, with no time limit and without subtracting pledge reductions.
Total The value of all pledges attributed to the link, with no time limit and with pledge reductions taken into account.

Canceled pledges are also reflected in the data.

How referral attribution works

Referral attribution determines which link receives credit for a transaction. If a backer clicks more than one referral link, the last link they click receives credit.

How the referral is stored depends on whether the backer is logged in:

  • Logged-in backers: The referral is associated with their account. The order is attributed to the last referral link they click, regardless of the device they use.
  • Backers who are not logged in: The referral is stored in a browser cookie. If they pledge in the same browser within 28 days after clicking the link, the pledge is attributed to the referral stored in that cookie.

Export referral link data

Export referral link performance to an Excel (.xlsx) file to review new orders and income by date and six-hour period.

To download the report:

  1. Go to Project > Referral links.
  2. Click Export above the referral links list. The file downloads to your device.

The report includes data for all referral links with performance data, regardless of the filters applied on the page. Links and periods with no performance data do not appear in the report.

Each row contains data for one referral link, date, and six-hour period. All periods use UTC: 00:01–06:00, 06:01–12:00, 12:01–18:00, and 18:01–00:00.

Table 2. Columns in the exported report

Column Description
Display name The name shown on the Referral links page.
Link The referral link URL.
Date The date the data refers to.
Period (UTC) The six-hour period the data refers to.
New orders The number of new orders attributed to the referral link during the period.
Income The amount collected from those orders during the period, in the project currency.
Currency The project currency.

Note: The Export button is unavailable if the project has no referral links.

Did this answer your question? Thanks for the feedback There was a problem submitting your feedback. Please try again later.