How to set up referral tracking in Bubble.io: Step-by-Step Guide

Setting Up Referral Tracking in Bubble.io

Tracking referrals is crucial for understanding user acquisition and leveraging word-of-mouth marketing for your Bubble.io application. This guide will offer a thorough, step-by-step process to set up referral tracking in Bubble.io, aiding you in monitoring and managing referral campaigns efficiently.

Prerequisites

• An active Bubble.io account with a project ready for the implementation.
• Basic understanding of Bubble.io's editor, workflows, and its database functionalities.
• Familiarity with Bubble.io's dynamic data and URL parameter handling.

Understanding Referral Tracking

• Referral tracking involves capturing and analyzing data on new users referred by existing users.
• This functionality typically requires creating unique referral links that track who referred a new user.

Setting Up Your Database

• Open your Bubble.io project and navigate to the "Data" tab.
• Create a new data type called “User” (if not already existing).
• Ensure that your “User” data type has these important fields:
  • referralCode (text): A unique code assigned to each user for referral purposes.
  • referredBy (text): Stores the referral code of the user who referred them.
  • referralsCount (number): Counts the number of users they have referred.

Generating Unique Referral Codes

• Navigate to the “Workflows” tab and create a new event when a user signs up.
• Add an action to generate a unique referral code for each new user:
  • Set the referralCode field by utilizing Bubble’s "Calculate formula" feature to generate unique strings (e.g., by combining user ID and a random string).

Creating Referral Links

• Design your email or shareable link format. The link should incorporate the referral code.
• An example referral link format could be: https://yourapp.bubbleapps.io/version-test?referralCode=[User's referral code]

Capturing the Referral Code

• When a new user lands on your site using a referral link, capture the referral code from the URL parameter.
• In workflows:
  • Create an "On Page Load" workflow to check if a referralCode parameter exists in the page URL.
  • Store this referral code in a custom state or pass it along to a sign-up form.

Linking Referrals Upon Sign-up

• In the sign-up workflow, after creating a user, add an action to link them to a referrer if a referral code exists:
• Use the fetched referral code to find the referring user and update their referredBy field.
• Increment the referralsCount of the referring user by 1.

Validating and Testing Referral Tracking

• Ensure that the referral codes are unique by testing duplicate entries.
• Test all links to verify that referral information is properly captured and stored.

Incorporating Referral Benefits or Rewards

• Create workflows to offer benefits (e.g., discounts or credits) to referring users upon certain conditions (e.g., successful sign-up using their referrals).
• Ensure these workflows are automated and checked for accuracy during testing phases.

Deploying Your Referral Tracking System

• Once thoroughly tested, deploy the changes in your live environment.
• Monitor the system post-deployment to ensure data is tracked accurately and workflows execute correctly.

By following these steps, you can effectively set up a referral tracking system in your Bubble.io application. This implementation aids in leveraging user-driven marketing strategies, boosting your application's growth through effective referral management.