Refer an organisation, and both get a month free

Do you know another association still keeping its sign-ups on paper, or wrestling with a spreadsheet? Refer them. If they sign up through your link, you both get a month free.

This article explains where to find your link, what the other party gets, what you get, and above all: when. Because between "I referred someone" and "it is on my invoice" there is one step, and that step is what most phone calls about this are about.

How your plan, your invoices and pausing work is covered in Your plan, your invoices and pausing.

What you need beforehand

• Nothing paid. Even on the free plan you have a referral link and you may refer. You do not need a subscription of your own.
• The admin or owner role, because your link sits on the Subscription page.
• Somebody to refer. Another organisation, that is — not a second shop of your own.

Where to find your link

Click Subscription in the left-hand menu and scroll down to the block Refer an organisation.

Four things sit there:

• your code. Eight characters, capitals and digits, for example K7MQ2XPA. That alphabet contains no characters you can mix up: no zero and no capital O, no one and no I or L. So you can safely read it out over the phone or write it on a scrap of paper;
• your long link. It ends in ?via= followed by your code and lands on the page that explains the offer, with the sign-up button underneath;
• your short link, of the form https://{domein}/r/K7MQ2XPA. The same link, but short enough to say out loud or paste into a WhatsApp message;
• a ready-made message with your link in it. Copy, send, done.

Your code never changes. A link you put in last year's newsletter or printed at the bottom of a poster still works.

Below it sits your overview: who you have already referred, and how far each of those referrals has got.

What the other party gets

Whoever signs up through your link gets a month free on their first paid plan. It works like this: their trial period is extended by thirty days, and their paid period simply shifts along with it.

So there is no invoice for zero euros — a month later there is simply no invoice. Same result, and far less confusing for a treasurer laying invoices next to bank statements.

And if they pick the free plan at sign-up? Their month stays waiting. If they move up to Start, Growth or Pro six months later, the free month lands then. It really is "a month free on your first paid plan", not "a month free if you pay straight away".

What you get

You get a month free as a discount on your next subscription invoice. That invoice carries a separate line:

Referral: The Sunflower Drama Club — 1 month free

With the name on it, so that six months later you still know where that discount came from. There is also no VAT on the amount you are not paying: the VAT sits on what is left.

But only after the other party has actually paid

This is the part that generates the most phone calls, so in so many words:

Your month does not land when somebody signs up, but when they have actually paid their first paid month.

So the order is:

1. you pass on your link;
2. the other party signs up. You get an e-mail about it — and nothing else yet;
3. they pick a paid plan and their free month starts running;
4. that month ends, and their first real invoice is paid;
5. now your month is earned. You get another e-mail about it;
6. the discount line appears on your next subscription invoice.

So between step 2 and step 5 two months can easily pass. That is not a fault and there is nothing for you to do; your overview says as much.

Reading your overview

In the block Refer an organisation, each organisation shows one of three states:

What it says	What it means
Signed up	They used your link. Nothing has been earned yet.
First month paid	They have paid. Your month lands on your next invoice.
Rewarded	The discount is on an invoice. Done.

Has somebody been sitting on Signed up for weeks? That organisation is probably still on the free plan, or still in its trial. Nothing has gone wrong — nothing has been paid yet.

What does not count

So you are not caught out:

• somebody who stays on the free plan. They pay nothing, so there is nothing to take a month off. If they move up later and pay, your month lands then;
• a single event paid for at € 19. That is one purchase, not a subscription. This arrangement is about customers who stay;
• somebody who had already signed up. An organisation can only be referred once, and it has to happen at sign-up;
• somebody who did not use your link. There is no field to type a code in afterwards. Without the link, nothing is recorded;
• your own organisation. Your own code does not work on yourself.

Common mistakes

Passing on only your code instead of your link. There is no box anywhere to type a code into. The code travels inside the link, so always pass on the link, or send the ready-made message.

Sending the link after somebody has already signed up. By then it is too late, and it cannot be put right afterwards. Send your link before they sign up.

Expecting the discount on your very next invoice. It arrives on the first invoice after the referred organisation has paid its first month.

Referring two people at once and expecting one discount. You get two, but on two consecutive invoices — see below.

Creating a second organisation yourself to use your own code. That gets you nothing: nothing comes off your invoice until that other organisation has paid a real month, and then you have simply paid it yourself.

What if …

What if I refer several organisations?

Fine, and there is no maximum. Only: one month comes off per invoice. Refer three associations that all three pay, and you are free for three months in a row.

That is deliberate. If two months came off the same invoice, part of the second would evaporate — an invoice cannot go below zero.

What if I pay yearly?

Then one month comes off your yearly invoice, at the monthly price of your plan. Not a whole year, and not a twelfth of your yearly price either: a month free is a month, including for those who pay by the year.

What if I am on the free plan myself?

Then your earned month stays waiting. If you move up to a paid plan later, it comes off your first invoice straight away — including when you pay through the secure payment screen. There is nothing for you to keep or hand in.

What if I am paused, or I cancel?

During a pause you get no invoices, so there is nothing to deduct anything from. Your credit stays waiting until you resume. If you cancel, it stays waiting for the day you come back.

What if the referred organisation cancels after one month?

That changes nothing about your month. They paid, so you earned it.

What if somebody mistypes the link?

Then they simply land on the sign-up page, without a referral. No error appears and nobody gets stuck — but nothing is recorded either. When in doubt, send the link again before they sign up.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to be paying myself in order to refer? No. Even on the free plan you have a link and you earn months. They land on your invoice as soon as you have one.

Do I get money back? No, it is a discount on an invoice, not a payout. If there is nothing left to invoice, the discount stays waiting until there is something again.

Does my code expire? No. It is created once and stays the same afterwards.

How many organisations may I refer? As many as you like. There is only one discount per invoice, though.

May I put my link in our newsletter or on our website? Yes, and that is rather the point. The short link is made for it.

Does the other organisation see that I referred them? No, we tell them nothing about you. They notice their free month in their trial period, which runs a month longer. On your side, you only see their name in your own overview.

Does an organisation I referred last year count? Yes, if they came in through your link back then and are only starting to pay now. There is no expiry date on it.