referral code question

[Rasyr]

In the admin section, under Configuration|Customer Details there is a line that says Customers Referral Status

and the block on the side says:

Customers Referral Status Please make any necessary changes
Customers Referral Status
Customers Referral Code is created from
0= Off
1= 1st Discount Coupon Code used
2= Customer can add during create account or edit if blank

NOTE: Once the Customers Referral Code has been set it can only be changed in the Admin Customer

But I have no idea what this means or what it is used for or how it works.

Can somebody please explain it to me?

[Rasyr]

Anybody?

[Ajeh]

This is a very simple system of tracking customers who come to your shop with a Discount Coupon ...

Let's say you give Discount Coupons with a unique code for:
TOM
HARRY
FRED

Customers can come to your shop and either add that Referral Code during Create Account or it will be picked up on the Checkout with the first Discount Coupon used ...

So if Tom has the Discount Coupon Code to give to people of: TOM02052008

and Sally comes to the shop and buys anything and enters that Discount Coupon code then for now on all purchases that Sally makes will be reflected in the report for the Discount Coupon: TOM02062008 ...

This is not a complex system, but just a way to track First Coupon used or the Customer entering that Discount Coupon as the Referral code when creating an account ...

[CaroleAs]

Does that mean that i will have to create a coupon Code for each current customer i have? Lucky, i only have about 30 but that would still be a lot.

For example, i want to do a promo where "for every NEW customer you bring in to the store, YOU will get a coupon worth 25% of this new customer's first purchase". Can that be handled with that referral tool?

Worse comes to worse, with this number of current customers, i can simply ask them to tell their friends to include their name in the comment box and do that manually, but it would be nice if it was automated, somehow.

Cassel

[Ajeh]

The referral code is very simplistic in that it generates a report based on the first Discount Coupon a person uses on your shop to know where the First Discount Coupon came from ...

You could customize the code to generate a "referral coupon" for new accounts to "tell their friends" and when that coupon is used you could get a list from the referral report ...

Or, you could look into the affiliate programs and see if they might work for you in the way you want to do this ...

[CaroleAs]

I guess i might be still too new to this as some terminology is eluding me. Could you clarify (or refer me to a dictionary) for these:

- when you mention a discount coupon, is it an actual coupon like those i create (say for $5 or 50%)?
- the "code", is it created by me or self generated by the system?
- how do i "customise the code"? (i guess maybe if i can figure out what is the "code" and the "coupon", it might make more sense)
- "when that coupon is used", are you refering to the "coupon code" or "discount coupon", i am lost there

Either way, is there a step by step explanation somewhere on how to use the referral code thing as i am not yet grasping the concept of how to set it, how it will execute and what it gives in the end.

Thanks for your patience.

[Ajeh]

The simplistic Referral Code method used in Zen Cart is nothing more than creating a normal Discount Coupon(s) and turning on the Referral setting so that the 1st Discount Coupon used by a customer is added as the Referral Code to the Customer's record ...

This can then be called up with the Referral Report to see all orders made by any customers who were initially setup with that Discount Coupon code as their referral code ...

In the report, you can also see what order(s) the Discount Coupon was applied to for each of the customers who used them ...

For your purposes of wanting to give XX amount off to these people who hand out these Discount Coupons you would probably want to customize the report further to manage things easier ...

You can test this out by turning on in the Customers settings:

Customers Referral Status
Customers Referral Code is created from
0= Off
1= 1st Discount Coupon Code used
2= Customer can add during create account or edit if blank

NOTE: Once the Customers Referral Code has been set it can only be changed in the Admin Customer

Then create a Discount Coupon for testing with ...

Now, create a customer ...

If you set the Referral Code was set by 1st Discount Coupon used, once the order is complete the Discount Coupon will be added to the customer's account as the Referral Code ...

If you set it where the Customer can add the referral code during the creation of the account, it will be asked for during creating the account ... until it has been filled in, the customer can still add ...

Writing code to customize the existing creating of an account where a new code is generated to give to a new customer to hand out to friends would mean changing the existing code to add in this feature ...

1 create a new discount coupon for the customer to have a referral code to hand out to friends

2 include an explination to the customer in the email that they now have this code to pass out to friends

3 customize the report as needed to track usage of the Discount Coupon

4 Decide if you are manually giving the referring customer 25% of the customers that come to the store and use the coupon to the referring customer in the form of either a Discount Coupon or Gift Certificate ...

Be aware, Discount Coupons can be setup expire and Gift Certificates are "cash" and never expire ...

This would be a neat project to write ... but it would take some time and thought to manage it all ...

[CaroleAs]

Thanks for answering.

Now i will re- re- read it, over and over again. It should eventually sink in (i guess i am waiting for the "click" sound in my head). If not on time, i will simply ask the current customers to write the name of their referrer in the comment box and do the rest manually. At least i have the "advantage" of having very few current customers... for now (hoping this strategy will change that).