The Member Referrals feature in Optix lets you reward members who refer new users to your space. Each account is automatically assigned a unique referral code that can be shared with others. When a referred user signs up using that code and later pays their first invoice, Optix can trigger an automation to reward the referrer — whether that's allowance, invoice credit, or any other action you configure.
With Member Referrals, you can:
Grow your community organically: Encourage existing members to bring in new users through word-of-mouth
Reward loyal members: Automatically give referrers allowance, invoice credit, or other incentives when their referrals convert
Track referral activity: See which members are referring others and which referral codes are being used
Automate the entire process: Use Automations to handle rewards without any manual work
How Member Referrals work
How Member Referrals work
Member Referrals connects three key pieces: referral codes, signup tracking, and automation triggers.
1. Every account has a unique referral code
Each account in Optix is automatically assigned a unique referral code. This code is a short, human-readable string (e.g., ABC-1234) that members can share with others. Referral codes are visible to admins in the user's account panel in the dashboard.
2. New users sign up with a referral code
Referral codes can be entered by new users across multiple Forms, including Sign-up, Tour, Drop-in, and Inquiry forms, as well as on mobile. When a new user enters a referral code during signup, Optix stores that code on the new user's account as the used referral code. This creates a link between the new user and the person who referred them.
3. Payment triggers an automation
The Referred user pays first invoice trigger fires the first time a referred user pays an invoice, and enrolls the referrer in the automation, not the referred user. Later payments from the same referred user don't trigger it again, so your member earns one reward for each person they refer.
How to find and share referral codes
How to find and share referral codes
Admins can view referral information for any user in their dashboard:
Navigate to Users from the left-hand menu
Click on a user to open their profile
In the Details section, expand the list to see its last two fields:
Referral code — This user's unique code that they can share with others
Used referral code — The code this user entered when they signed up, indicating who referred them. It shows Unknown if they didn't enter one
Members can copy their own referral code from the Details screen in the Optix app, on both iOS and Android. On iOS, the code appears once you've set the referral code field to Optional or Required in User settings > User properties.
How to set up a referral reward automation
How to set up a referral reward automation
The quickest way to start is the Reward referrers template. It gives your member a $50 allowance toward bookings of any Resource and a thank-you email the first time someone they referred pays an invoice.
Go to Automations and select Templates.
Click Reward referrers.
Click Customize to set your own reward amount and edit the email, or Set live to use it as it is.
Building your own reward automation
If you'd rather start from a blank automation, for example to give invoice credit instead of allowance:
Go to Automations and click Create automation.
Choose the Referred user pays first invoice trigger.
Add the actions you want for the referrer:
Add allowance: a fixed amount, or Percentage of the generated revenue to reward a share of the referred user's first paid invoice
Add invoice item: add a credit to the referrer's next invoice
Send an email or Send a message: tell the referrer their referral has paid
Create a task: remind your team to follow up with the referrer
Save the automation and set it live.
With a percentage reward of 10%, if a referred member's first invoice is $200, the referrer gets $20 in allowance.
You can also add the Account referral code variable to emails and messages, so members always have their code to hand. To branch on whether someone joined through a referral, use the Used valid referral code and Not used a valid referral code conditions.
If your referral automation uses Referral revenue generated
If your referral automation uses Referral revenue generated
Automations built on the older Referral revenue generated trigger keep running, but you can't choose that trigger for a new automation. It fires every time a referred user pays an invoice, so depending on the automation's re-enrollment setting, a referrer can be rewarded again and again for the same person.
To switch to one reward per referral:
Pause your old automation.
Set live the Reward referrers template, or build a new automation on Referred user pays first invoice.
Pause the old one first, because while both are live, a referrer is rewarded by both.
Referred users who have already paid an invoice won't trigger the new automation, so their referrers won't be rewarded twice.
FAQs
FAQs
Who gets enrolled in the referral automation — the referrer or the referred user?
The referrer (the person who shared their code) is enrolled in the automation. The referred user's invoice payment is what triggers it, but the automation actions are performed on the referrer's account.
Can I also reward the referred user?
Yes. The Reward referees template gives a new member who joined with a referral code a $50 welcome allowance and a thank-you email, 1 day after they become active. Find it under Automations > Templates, and set your own amount before you set it live.
It checks for a referral code at the moment the member becomes active. Members you add as active become active before they open the app, so if they enter a code during app onboarding, they won't get the welcome reward. Their referrer is still rewarded.
Where can users enter a referral code, and how do I control where it appears?
The referral code field is a User Property, which means you control exactly where it appears using the same User Properties settings you use for any other field. In User Settings → User Properties, you can enable or disable the referral code field for each of the following contexts, and set it as optional or required for each:
Sign-up, Tour, Drop-in, and Inquiry Forms — shown to users filling out web-based forms, regardless of whether the field is required or optional
User sign-up (mobile onboarding) — shown during the onboarding flow in the mobile app. See the note below about invite-only mode.
Important — invite-only mode: If your space uses "Users must be invited to gain access" and an admin adds a user directly as an active member, the user bypasses the standard onboarding flow and the referral code field will not be shown — even if it is enabled in User Properties.
The referral code field only appears during mobile onboarding for users who go through the standard signup flow (e.g., leads completing their onboarding).
If the referral code field is set as required in User Properties, it will be shown during onboarding; if it is set as optional, it will be skipped for active users.
Does the trigger fire every time the referred account pays an invoice?
No. Referred user pays first invoice fires once, on the referred user's first paid invoice. Re-enrollment can't be turned on for this trigger, but every new person a member refers still earns them a reward.
What format are referral codes?
Referral codes are short, human-readable strings based on the account name (e.g., ABC-1234). They are generated automatically for every account.
Can I customize or change a user's referral code?
Referral codes are generated automatically by the system and cannot be manually changed at this time.
Can members see their own referral code in the app?
Yes, on the Details screen in the Optix app, on both iOS and Android. On iOS, it appears once the referral code field is set to Optional or Required in User settings > User properties. Referral codes are also visible to admins in the Optix dashboard and via the API.
What automation variables and conditions are available for referral codes?
Automations support the Account referral code variable, which inserts the code of the member the automation is running for. In a referral reward, that's the referrer. In a new-member automation such as Reward referees, it's the new member's own code. The workflow builder also includes two condition options: Used valid referral code and Not used a valid referral code, which let you branch automation logic based on whether an account used a valid referral code at signup.
What does "percentage of generated revenue" mean in Add allowance?
With the Referred user pays first invoice trigger, the Add allowance action supports a percentage-based allowance amount, calculated as a percentage of the referred account's paid invoice total. For example, if set to 10% and the invoice is $500, the referrer receives $50 in allowance.
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
The referral automation didn't trigger after the referred user paid.
Confirm the referred user has a used referral code on their account — this must be entered during signup via one of the supported Forms
The trigger only fires on the referred user's first paid invoice. If they had already paid an invoice before your automation went live, it won't fire for them
Ensure the referring account exists in the same organization
The trigger looks at who the paid invoice belongs to. If the referred member's invoices are billed to another payer, such as their Team, their payments don't trigger the reward
Check that the automation is active and not paused
The referrer didn't receive their allowance or credit reward.
Check the automation enrollment history to confirm the referrer was enrolled
Verify the Add allowance or Add invoice credit action is configured correctly
If using a percentage reward, confirm the referred user's first invoice had a non-zero total
The referrer must still be an active member when the referred user pays. If they aren't, the reward step fails and isn't retried
A user's Used referral code shows Unknown.
They didn't enter a referral code when they signed up. Admins can't add one from the dashboard afterwards
A member says they can't find their referral code in the app.
The code is on the Details screen, not the main profile screen. On iOS, that's More > Details
On iOS, the code only shows once the referral code field is set to Optional or Required in User settings > User properties
Admins can always look up a user's referral code in their profile in the dashboard
The referral code field is not showing during mobile onboarding.
Go to User Settings → User Properties and confirm the referral code field is enabled for user sign-up (mobile onboarding)
If your space uses "Users must be invited to gain access" and the user was added directly as an active member, the referral code field will not appear — active users skip optional fields during onboarding. Setting the field as required (rather than optional) will cause it to appear. If the user was added as active and skipped onboarding entirely, the referral code must be recorded manually by the admin