Glossary

Referral Marketing Terms

Learn the key concepts behind referral programs, affiliate management, and viral growth with ViralRef.

Affiliate#: A person who promotes a business through referral links in exchange for rewards or commissions. In ViralRef, affiliates can be clients, influencers, or agency partners.
Affiliate Group#: A segment of affiliates that share custom commission rates. Group commissions override program defaults and commission tiers.
Affiliate Portal#: A self-service dashboard where affiliates view their referral link, click stats, conversion history, and earnings. Login via phone OTP.
Attribution#: The process of linking a customer's purchase to the affiliate who referred them. ViralRef uses Square payment webhooks for automatic attribution.
Bounty#: A time-limited challenge with a bonus reward to motivate affiliates beyond standard commissions. Affiliates submit proof of completion for approval.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)#: The percentage of people who click a referral link after seeing it. Calculated as clicks divided by impressions.
Commission#: The reward paid to an affiliate for a successful referral. Can be a percentage of revenue or a fixed amount per conversion.
Commission Tier#: A graduated commission structure where rates increase as affiliates hit performance milestones (e.g., higher rate after 10 conversions).
Conversion#: A completed referral action, typically a purchase by a referred customer. ViralRef tracks conversions automatically via Square payment webhooks.
Coupon Reward#: A single-use discount that auto-applies at Square POS when the referred customer checks out. No code entry needed.
Fraud Detection#: Automated screening of referrals for suspicious patterns: self-referrals, duplicate payments, rapid conversions, and disposable email addresses.
Gift Card Reward#: A Square gift card issued as a referral reward. Keeps the reward money inside the business and guarantees a return visit.
K-Factor#: A viral growth metric measuring how many new customers each existing customer generates. A K-factor above 1 means exponential growth.
Payout#: The process of distributing earned commissions to affiliates. Payouts follow a workflow: Draft, Exported, Paid.
Referral Code#: A unique identifier (e.g., sarah-abc123) assigned to each affiliate for tracking clicks and conversions back to the referrer.
Tracking Link#: A URL containing an affiliate's referral code that tracks clicks, signups, and purchases attributed to that affiliate.
Viral Loop#: A growth mechanism where every referred customer automatically becomes an affiliate with their own referral link, creating a self-perpetuating referral chain.