Referral Program in Marketo? Yes, It's Possible!

Are you looking to set up a "Referral Program" in Marketo but not sure how to do it? Don't worry, I have a solution. A few days ago a client wanted to set up a referral program in Marketo to double the registrants for their upcoming event. The requirement was:

1. The Offer – An additional chance to win their Grand Draw of a pair of tickets to an upcoming grand event.
2. The Rules – For every peer or colleague referred and registered, the referrer gets an additional chance at the grand draw.
3. So I needed to track who refers how many, and who actually registered.

My team and I worked out the following workaround in Marketo:

1. The client sends an email to records in their database asking them to refer others, offering a gift voucher.
2. The email links to a dedicated "Refer a Colleague/Friend" form to capture the referred person's information.
3. To sync new folks to SFDC, include at least: First Name, Last Name, Email, Company, Country, State (US/Canada).
4. Add hidden fields to capture the referrer's information. Create three custom fields: Referrer First Name, Referrer Last Name, Referrer Email.
5. Pass the referrer information in the link included in the email — e.g. www.yourwebsite.com/refer-a-colleague?rfn=aaaa&rfl=bbbb&re=abc@test.com.
6. Capture that referrer information in the hidden fields from the query string.
7. When someone refers a colleague, you capture the referrer's info on the new/updated record.
8. Use a trigger smart campaign on the form fill to: create/update the referred lead, send them an email saying who referred them, and send an alert/thank-you email to the referrer.
9. To count how many referred leads registered, export the records referred by someone who have registered — this tells you who referred how many.

I know it sounds a bit complicated, but as of now I can't find a better solution in Marketo — even Marketo runs almost the same approach for its own referral program. Hope this helps you build your own referral program. Happy Marketing 🙂