Referrals
Reward clients who send you new clients. Set up the program and rewards, credit or remove a referral, use rewards at checkout, and track results.
Your referral program rewards clients who send you new clients. Every client gets a personal referral code and a link to share. Their friend gets a reward on their first visit, and the client who referred them gets one once the friend pays.
Owners and admins
Set up your referral program
- Go to Marketing → Referrals.
- Select Create referral program. The program starts right away, with 15% off for both clients.
- Select Settings and choose your rewards (see below).
- Select Save changes. You'll see Referral program saved.
In the Lilo app, go to More → Referrals. The rewards are on the Configuration tab.
Reward settings
Referrer reward is what your client earns. New client reward is what their friend gets.
- Reward type: Percentage off gives a single-use code for a percentage off one invoice. Loyalty points adds credit to the client's points balance, and needs a loyalty program.
- Percent off or Credit amount: the size of the reward. Lilo turns a credit amount into points at your loyalty redemption rate.
- Description shown to clients: how the reward is described to clients, for example on the client portal's Refer a friend card. Lilo writes it for you until you edit it.
- New clients get the same reward as the referrer: turn this off to give the friend a different reward.
- Percentage rewards expire after: how many days a percentage reward lasts.
Pause the program
- On Marketing → Referrals, select Pause.
- Select Pause program.
To restart it, select Resume.
Track results
Overview shows your results for the Last 30 days or All time:
- Revenue from referrals: what referred clients have paid you, before discounts and without tax or tips.
- Rewards cost: what the program has given away. Points count when they're given, and percentage rewards count when they're used.
- Net return: revenue minus rewards cost. It can start out negative, because points count before the visits they pay for.
- New clients referred: referred clients who've paid for a visit.
Top referrers ranks clients by what their friends have paid. The list below shows every referral. It's Pending until the friend pays for a visit, then Converted.
How clients share their code
- Each client's code is on their profile. Select Copy code or Copy link to send it for them.
- In the client portal, clients see a Refer a friend card with their code and a Share button.
- On your booking page, a new client selects Referred by someone? and enters the code. Your client's link fills it in for them.
Credit a referral at checkout
- On the checkout page, select Referred by someone?.
- Search for the client who sent them, or type their referral code.
- Select the client, then select Attach referral.
The friend's reward is ready to use right away. Referred by someone? only shows for clients who are new to you (see How it works).
You can also credit a referral when you add a new client, with Referred by someone? on the form.
In the Lilo app, Referred by someone? is on the checkout screen, and a client's referrals are on their profile.
Log a referral you missed
- Open the client from Clients. Select More, then choose Referrals & Loyalty.
- Select Log referral and choose who referred whom.
- Search for the other client and select them.
- Check the rewards, then select Log referral.
Both clients get their rewards right away, even if the friend has visited before. Lilo doesn't email them about it. Let them know.
Remove a referral
- Open either client's Referrals & Loyalty tab, as above.
- Select Remove next to the referral, then select Remove referral.
You can also select Remove next to Referred by on the checkout page. Lilo takes back any rewards the referral gave that haven't been used. If one has been used, you can't remove the referral.
Use a referral reward at checkout
A client's referral rewards show on the checkout page. Select Apply next to a Referral reward. By default, anyone who checks out can apply it. A points reward is already in the client's loyalty balance, so select Redeem points to use it. For the rest of checkout, see Check out an appointment.
How it works
- A referral only counts for a new client. That's someone who has never paid you or had an appointment completed, on this profile or any other with the same email or phone.
- Each client can be referred once, and nobody can refer themselves.
- Lilo creates the friend's reward when the referral is added. It creates the referrer's the first time the friend pays for a service, using your settings at that moment.
- When the friend pays, Lilo emails the referrer that their reward is ready, if they get emails from you.
- A percentage reward takes its percentage off the items on one invoice. It skips anything that already has a member discount. An invoice can have one code, so it can't be combined with a promo code.
- Clients can't use reward codes when they book online. Your team applies them at checkout.
- A friend who books online keeps a percentage reward until at least a week after the visit they booked.
- A points reward must be worth at least your loyalty program's minimum redemption.
- While the program is paused, nobody can add a referral. The referral options leave your booking page and client portal. Referrals already waiting still pay out. Rewards already given still work.
- By default, the owner and admins run the program. Everyone on your team can credit referrals. The owner and admins can change who does each (see Team roles and permissions).
Common questions
A friend booked with a code. Why didn't the referral count?
Lilo still books the appointment, but skips the referral when:
- they've paid you or had an appointment completed before, even on another profile with the same email or phone
- someone already referred them
- the code is theirs, or belongs to a profile with their email or phone
- they typed the code wrong. The booking page tells them it couldn't find the code.
If they're a returning client or typed the code wrong, you can still log the referral from their profile.
Why can't I add a referral at checkout?
The client has paid you or had an appointment completed before, someone already referred them, or the program is paused. To credit a returning client, log the referral from their profile.
Why hasn't the referrer gotten their reward?
It comes the first time their friend pays for a service. Until then, the referral shows Pending. A visit that cost nothing doesn't count, and neither does a purchase with no service in it.
Can I change who referred a client?
Yes. Remove the referral, then log the right one from the client's profile.
Why is Loyalty points grayed out?
You don't have a loyalty program yet. Set one up in Marketing → Loyalty Program, then choose points.
When does a referral reward expire?
Percentage rewards expire after the number of days set for the program. A client's Referrals & Loyalty tab shows each percentage reward and when it expires.