Create a referral program for your newsletter in 17 minutes.
Create your campaign on SparkLoop
Step 1. Connect your ESP
Connect your ESP (Email Service Provider) to SparkLoop. We currently support Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Campaign Monitor and MailerLite.
Step 2. Create your campaign
Create your campaign. Enter your newsletter's name, your website URL (this should be where your sign up form is) and, in case you've connected with MailChimp or Campaign Monitor, choose a list.
Step 3. Install it on your website
To install SparkLoop on your website simply copy the Tracking Code and paste it in the <head> tag of your website. If Google Tag Manager is your thing, you can go ahead and use it.
Be Careful During Major Design Changes. If your website undergoes a major design change where themes and template files are replaced or content in your <head> tags or anywhere else the tracking code is installed are replaced, it's a possibility you will need to re-install the Tracking Code.
Step 4. Verify installation
To activate your campaign you need to verify the installation. Enter the URL of your website and click on "Verify installation".
If the Tracking Code is found on that page, you will see a success message for 3 seconds and then you'll be taken back to the setup page where you'll see a success message.
Set up the rewards
To add, edit and delete the rewards of your ambassador program go to the Rewards page.
To create a reward, click on Add first reward. Enter the reward name (short and sweet is best, e.g: "Free ticket to Tech Conference"), how many referrals your subscribers need to get this reward and optionally a reward image.
To edit or delete a reward, simply click on it.
What should the rewards be?
Not sure what your rewards should be? Don't worry, we got you covered: our guide will help you find the right rewards for your business, plus a simple framework to brainstorm ideas and some off-the-shelf strategies for your reward structure.
After you have installed the Tracking Code on your website it's time to test everything works as intended.
In particular, you need to test three things:
new subscribers are added to SparkLoop
referrals are tracked correctly
custom fields are updated correctly in your ESP
New subscribers are added to SparkLoop
To test this simply:
sign up on one of the forms on your website
if you've enabled double opt-in for your MailChimp/ConvertKit list make sure to click the link in the confirmation email
If everything goes well you should see your sign up in your SparkLoop's dashboard within a few minutes.
Referrals are tracked correctly
Go to your campaign's dashboard > Subscribers
Click on a subscriber to see their profile. Underneath their email address, you will find their unique referral link.
Copy that link, open another tab and visit that page.
Sign up again.
IMPORTANT
To test referrals you should use another email address you own. Alias emails (e.g: [email protected]) won't be tracked as referrals.
If everything goes well you should see your sign up in your SparkLoop's dashboard within a few minutes and in their profile page you should see a badge "Referred" and the email address of the referrer.
Custom fields are updated correctly
When people sign up to your newsletter they are immediately added to SparkLoop, which generates a referral link and updates the corresponding custom field in your email platform (so that you can use it in your newsletters).
MailChimp
To make sure custom fields are updated correctly in MailChimp:
go to your MailChimp account > Your list > Manage Contacts
click on a subscriber that is also present in your SparkLoop's campaign
if the sync went well, the custom fields under "Profile information" should be populated with data.
Please be aware that MailChimp is notoriously slow in updating custom fields. So if you don't see something immediately, give it 5-10 minutes and try again.
ConvertKit
To make sure custom fields are updated correctly in ConvertKit:
go to your ConvertKit account > Subscribers
click on a subscriber that is also present in your SparkLoop's campaign
if the sync went well, the custom fields on the right-hand side should be populated with data.
Errors
If any of the tests above were not successful, get in touch. Someone from our team will immediately look into it and fix the problem.
Import your existing subscribers
After you have tested that everything works correctly, it's time to import your existing subscribers into SparkLoop.
Why? Because by importing your existing subscribers, SparkLoop will generate a unique referral link for each of them and you can kick-off your ambassador program straight away.
To import your subscribers go to your campaign's dashboard > Subscribers > Import and click the button Start Import.
NOTE
This process might take from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the size of your list. Don't worry, we'll send you an email once the import is over.
Import subscribers using a CSV file
To import your existing subscribers via CSV file, click on the link Import via CSV file in the Import page.
The CSV file must be formatted in a specific way to be uploaded successfully. Your file must have at least one column whose header is Email.
There are other, optional, columns that you can use:
column
description
Name
Subscriber's name
Registration Date
Subscriber's sign up date (DD/MM/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM)
IP Address
Subscriber's IP address. SparkLoop uses IP address to determine the location of the subscriber.
Referrer
If the subscriber you're importing has been referred, provide the referral code or email address of the referrer.
Source
Subscriber's sign up source. E.g: Facebook, Twitter, myblog.com
We highly recommend using our example file below as a starting point.