Set up user referrals

When a user refers a friend to download and sign up to your app, you can send them a custom in-app reward.

There are two ways to set up your referral scheme with Adjust. You can use:

• Attribution callbacks (Recommended)
• Server callbacks

Both solutions have the same functionality, but attribution callbacks let you immediately reward users rather than experience a delay. This is because the information is handled within your app.

Here, you can find out the requirements to measure refer-a-friend programs with Adjust and instructions on how to get set up.

Before you begin

Requirements

• Your system is set up to deliver user rewards by generating and applying referral codes. See our setup checklist.
• For iOS apps: probabilistic modeling enabled. This ensures referrals work in a mobile web environment.

Check that your setup supports referral programs

To ensure that your app can support an invite reward scheme, you should first check the following:

• Your server can generate a referral ID when a user taps the invite share button.
• Your server can populate the label placeholder with the referral ID.
  • Your server can process the value of the label placeholder from the Adjust callback to apply a reward to the referring account, referred account, or both.

Set up user referrals

1. Set up an install callback or attribution callback containing the label parameter.
   • Attribution callback developer guide: iOS / Android
   • Install callback guide
2. For iOS attribution callbacks: Adjust cannot share information for users who did not provide consent as per Apple's privacy policy. Contact your Adjust representative or support@adjust.com for further information on this topic.
3. Create a link with the token and label parameter appended (and any other parameters you require). You may want to use a branded link for improved user experience.
   • For example: https://example.go.link?adj_t=abc123&adj_label={user_id}
4. Place your link behind the invite component.
5. Instruct your app to populate the label parameter with the referral ID before sending the link URL to the invited user.
6. When the invited user downloads and opens the app, one of the following scenarios happen:
   • Attribution callback: The Adjust SDK receives an attribution callback containing the label parameter populated with a referral ID, which your app can collect.
   • Install callback: Your server receives an install callback from Adjust containing a referral ID using either the label parameter or a dynamic callback parameter.
7. Your system applies the user reward based on the referral ID.

And that’s it - you’re all set.