Using Referral Fields in Forms

Referrals close at a much higher rate than any other type of lead. Visitors help you get in touch with new leads by adding referral fields in your SharpSpring forms. This article will detail how to use referral fields in forms. Article Contents Understanding Referral Fields Setting Fields			Available with:
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Understanding Referral Fields

In SharpSpring, a referral is lead information that is passed into the platform through specific form fields. Forms in SharpSpring 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 SharpSpring 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 SharpSpring. 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

To create a form with referral fields, do the following: