API Reference

This reference documents the GrowSurf JavaScript SDK, including all available public methods and examples of each.

Add participant

Adds a participant to the referral campaign. Use this method for the following use-cases:

Add referral tracking to your current signup form. If a referral link was used, GrowSurf automatically submits the referrer ID behind the scenes. (We recommend adding only referred participants — view this tutorial for more info)
Generate referral links for your signed-in users on the fly (or return existing data if they are an existing participant)

Tips: Though they are optional, we recommend passing in the fields firstName and lastName . These fields are used for anti-fraud purposes and they show up in referred friend motivator elements, if enabled. Behind the scenes, this method also passes in other properties like IP address and fingerprint, which will also be used for anti-fraud purposes.

Note: A 401 error will be returned if the following conditions are met: (1) the campaign has participant authentication enabled, (2) there is no authentication cookie present on the participant's browser, (3) the given email is the same as an existing participant.

growsurf.addParticipant(data, callback);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

data

String or Object

(Required) A String containing the participant email or an Object containing the participant email and any other data to include for the participant.

If providing an Object, any Object keys other than email, firstName, lastName , and gdprAgreements will be treated as metadata by GrowSurf. For more information about metadata please see our API Guidelines.

callback

Function

(Optional) A callback function that will be invoked with the added participant data if successful.

Returns a Promise that resolves with an Object containing limited participant data.

Example use

// Email only using a Callback
growsurf.addParticipant('[email protected]', (participant) => {
  // handle participant
});

// Object using a Callback
growsurf.addParticipant({
  email: '[email protected]', 
  firstName: 'Gavin', // optional, but recommended for anti-fraud purposes
  lastName: 'Belson', // optional, but recommended for anti-fraud purposes
  company: 'Hooli, Inc', // Fields that are not email, firstName, or lastName will be saved as custom metadata
  companySize: 10000 // Fields that are not email, firstName, or lastName will be saved as custom metadata
}, (participant) => {
  // handle participant
});

// Email only using a Promise
growsurf.addParticipant('[email protected]').then(participant => {
  // handle participant
});

// Object using a Promise
growsurf.addParticipant({
  email: '[email protected]', 
  firstName: 'Gavin', // optional, but recommended for anti-fraud purposes
  lastName: 'Belson', // optional, but recommended for anti-fraud purposes
  company: 'Hooli, Inc', // Fields that are not email, firstName, or lastName will be saved as custom metadata
  companySize: 10000 // Fields that are not email, firstName, or lastName will be saved as custom metadata
}).then(participant => {
  // handle participant
});

Example response

{
    "id": "kafewp",
    "firstName": "Gavin",
    "lastName": "Belson",
    "referralCount": 0,
    "monthlyReferralCount": 0,
    "shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=gavin-kafewp",
    "rewards": [],
    "vanityKeys": [
        "gavin-kafewp"
    ]
}

Trigger referral

Triggers a referral, awarding referral credit to the referrer of an existing or new participant. If the campaign participant does not exist, they will be newly added.

Note: A 401 error will be returned but the referral will still be triggered if the following conditions are met: (1) the campaign has participant authentication enabled, (2) there is no authentication cookie present on the participant's browser, (3) the given email is the same as an existing participant.

growsurf.triggerReferral(data, callback);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

data

String or Object

(Optional) A String containing the participant email or an Object containing the participant email and any other data to include for the participant.

If providing an Object, any Object keys other than email, firstName, and lastName will be treated as metadata by GrowSurf.

*This parameter is only optional if the participant has already signed up for the campaign and GrowSurf is able to determine they are a participant (does not include participants imported or manually added using the dashboard). For more information about metadata please see our API Guidelines.

callback

Function

(Optional) A callback function that will be invoked with the added or updated participant data if successful.

Returns a Promise that resolves with an Object containing limited participant data.

Example use

// Email only using a Callback
growsurf.triggerReferral('[email protected]', (participant) => {
  // handle participant
});

// Object using a Callback
growsurf.triggerReferral({
  email: '[email protected]', 
  firstName: 'Gavin', // optional, but recommended for anti-fraud purposes
  lastName: 'Belson', // optional, but recommended for anti-fraud purposes
  company: 'Hooli, Inc', // Fields that are not email, firstName, or lastName will be saved as custom metadata
  companySize: 10000 // Fields that are not email, firstName, or lastName will be saved as custom metadata
}, (participant) => {
  // handle participant
});

// Email only using a Promise
growsurf.triggerReferral('[email protected]').then(participant => {
  // handle participant
});

// Object using a Promise
growsurf.triggerReferral({
  email: '[email protected]', 
  firstName: 'Gavin', 
  lastName: 'Belson',
  company: 'Hooli, Inc',
  companySize: 10000
}).then(participant => {
  // handle participant
});

Example response

{
    "id": "kafewp",
    "firstName": "Gavin",
    "lastName": "Belson",
    "referralCount": 0,
    "shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=gavin-kafewp",
    "rewards": [],
    "vanityKeys" [
        "gavin-kafewp"
    ]
}

Get campaign

Retrieves limited details of a campaign.

growsurf.getCampaign(callback);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

callback

Function

(Optional) A callback function that will be invoked with the campaign data.

Returns a Promise that resolves with an Object containing limited campaign data of id and rewards.

Example use

// Using a Callback
growsurf.getCampaign((campaign) => {
    // Handle Campaign
    console.log(campaign);
});

// Using a Promise
growsurf.getCampaign().then(campaign =>  {
    // Handle Campaign
    console.log(campaign);    
});

Example response

{
    "id": "bpsxg4",
    "rewards": [
        {
            "id": "xyz789",
            "type": "DOUBLE_SIDED",
            "description": "Refer a friend and get $20",
            "referralDescription": "Sign up and get $10 off your first invoice",
            "isUnlimited": false,
            "limit": 1,
            "conversionsRequired": 1,
            "numberOfWinners": 3,
            "imageUrl": "http://res.cloudinary.com/growsurf/image/upload/v1552764861/development/hxdcjrayfhksvxu5u6oz.png",
            "metadata": {
                "rewardValueForReferrer": 20,
                "rewardValueForReferred": 10     
            }
        }    
    ]
}

Get participant by email

Retrieves limited details of an existing participant. You will need to supply the unique email of the participant.

Note: A 403 error will be returned if the following conditions are met: (1) the campaign has participant authentication enabled, (2) there is no authentication cookie present on the participant's browser.

growsurf.getParticipantByEmail(participantEmail, callback);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

participantEmail

String

(Required) The email of the participant to retrieve.

callback

Function

(Optional) A callback function that will be invoked with the participant data if successful or undefined if the participant does not exist.

Returns a Promise that resolves with an Object containing the participant data. If the participant does not exist in the campaign, then undefined is returned.

Example use

// Using a callback
growsurf.getParticipantByEmail('[email protected]', (participant) => {
    // Handle participant data
});

// Using a promise
growsurf.getParticipantByEmail('[email protected]').then(participant => {
    // Handle participant data
});

Example response

{
    "id": "kafewp",
    "firstName": "Gavin",
    "lastName": "Belson",
    "referralCount": 0,
    "monthlyReferralCount": 0,
    "shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=gavin-kafewp",
    "rewards": [],
    "vanityKeys" [
        "gavin-kafewp"
    ]
}

Get participant by ID

Retrieves limited details of an existing participant. You will need to supply the GrowSurf unique identifier that was returned upon participant creation.

growsurf.getParticipantById(participantId, callback);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

participantId

String

(Required) The GrowSurf identifier of the participant to retrieve.

callback

Function

(Optional) A callback function that will be invoked with the participant data if successful or undefined if the participant does not exist.

Returns a Promise that resolves with an Object containing the participant data. If the participant does not exist in the campaign, then undefined is returned.

Example use

// Using a Callback
growsurf.getParticipantById('kafewp', (participant) => {
    // Handle participant data
});

// Using a promise
growsurf.getParticipantById('kafewp').then(participant => {
    // Handle participant data
});

Example response

{
    "id": "kafewp",
    "firstName": "Gavin",
    "lastName": "Belson",
    "referralCount": 0,
    "monthlyReferralCount": 0,
    "shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=gavin-kafewp",
    "rewards": [],
    "vanityKeys" [
        "gavin-kafewp"
    ]
}

Get referrer ID

Returns the ID of the participant that referred the visitor or null if the visitor was not referred. This method will first check to see if a grsf URL parameter exists, then will check for the presence of a referrer ID as a browser cookie (which was set from the initial visit).

Example: Someone refers their friend, and the friend visits http://yoursite.com?grsf=1h97da. Calling this method will return 1h97da (which is the referrer ID).

growsurf.getReferrerId();

Example use

growsurf.getReferrerId();

Example response

"1h97da"

Note: You can verify that the referrer ID is valid by calling growsurf.getParticipantById()

Get participant ID

Returns the ID of the authenticated participant or null if there is no participant authentication cookie present.

Example: Someone signed up as a participant in your referral program from your website. Calling this method will return aj7auu1 (which is the participant ID).

growsurf.getParticipantId();

Example use

growsurf.getParticipantId();

Example response

"aj7auu1"

Get unread rewards count

Returns the number of unread rewards of the authenticated participant or null if there is no participant authentication cookie present. This method is useful for highlighting an unread badge to your users from within your own user portal.

Alternatively, you can use the growsurf.initUnreadRewardsBadge() method for displaying the unread rewards count as a badge on a target element.

growsurf.getUnreadRewardsCount();

Example use

growsurf.getUnreadRewardsCount();

Example response

Mark rewards as read

Mark unread rewards of the authenticated participant. This method is useful if you are using growsurf.initUnreadRewardsBadge() instead of the GrowSurf window to show your users their unread reward count and want to clear out the unread badge.

growsurf.markRewardsAsRead();

Returns a Promise that resolves with an Object with a success response.

Example use

// Using a Callback
growsurf.markRewardsAsRead(response => {
  // handle success response
});

// Using a Promise
growsurf.markRewardsAsRead().then(response => {
  // handle success response
});

Example response

{
    "success": true
}

Initialize unread badge

This method will inject an unread badge onto a target element.

This method is useful for highlighting an unread badge to your users from within your own user portal.

We recommend that the target element be a button that opens the GrowSurf window (via growsurf.open()), because the unread badge will be cleared when the participant views the "My Rewards" section in the GrowSurf window. Alternatively, you can use growsurf.markRewardsAsRead() to clear the unread badge.

If a participant cookie doesn't exist, the badge will not be displayed on the target element.

growsurf.initUnreadRewardsBadge(targetElement);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

targetElement

String

(Required) The target element

Example: .my-button

Example use

<a class="my-button">
  Refer and Earn
</a>

<script>
  growsurf.initUnreadRewardsBadge('.my-button');
</script>

CSS Alternative:

Instead of using the JavaScript method growsurf.initUnreadRewardsBadge(), you can simply add a CSS class growsurf-unread-rewards-badge to your target element. This will also inject the unread badge without requiring JavaScript. Here is an example:

<a href="/refer"
   class="my-button growsurf-unread-rewards-badge">
  Refer and Earn
</a>

Note: You'll need to make sure you have the GrowSurf Universal Code installed.

Updates the pre-populated social share message for the given share type (e.g, email, Facebook, Twitter). This method will update all social share buttons in GrowSurf embedded elements and the GrowSurf window.

Example: This method is useful for optimizing referral asks when your participants complete an "aha moment". You would present your participant with the GrowSurf Embedded Form element and then call this method to update social share message(s) to be specific to the "aha moment". See this tutorial for an example.

growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage(type, message, subjectLine);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

type

String

(Required) The social share type to update.

These are the options:

email
facebook
twitter
threads
bluesky
pinterest
sms
whatsapp
reddit
tumblr

message

String

(Required) The new pre-populated social share message.

Use {{shareUrl}} to reference the participant's referral link.

subjectLine

String

(Optional) The new pre-populated subject line (only applies when type is email).

Use {{shareUrl}} to reference the participant's referral link.

Example use

const message = "I have saved 1,540 hours using this service. Highly recommend! {{shareUrl}}";
const subjectLine = "Check this out!";

// Update the pre-populated email social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('email', message, subjectLine);

// Update the pre-populated Facebook social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('facebook', message);

// Update the pre-populated Twitter social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('twitter', message);

// Update the pre-populated Threads social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('threads', message);

// Update the pre-populated Bluesky social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('bluesky', message);

// Update the pre-populated Pinterest social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('pinterest', message);

// Update the pre-populated SMS social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('sms', message);

// Update the pre-populated WhatsApp social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('whatsapp', message);

// Update the pre-populated Reddit social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('reddit', message);

// Update the pre-populated Tumblr social share message
growsurf.updateSocialShareMessage('tumblr', message);

Update email invite message

Updates the pre-populated email invite message. This method will only apply updates to GrowSurf Embedded Invite elements (the email invite section within the GrowSurf window will not be updated).

Example: This method is useful for optimizing referral asks when your participants complete an "aha moment". You would present your participant with the GrowSurf Embedded Invite element and then call this method to update the email invite message to be specific to the "aha moment". See this tutorial for an example.

growsurf.updateEmailInviteMessage(message, subjectLine);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

message

String

(Required) The new pre-populated email invite message.

Use {{shareUrl}} to reference the participant's referral link.

subjectLine

String

(Optional) The new pre-populated subject line.

Use {{shareUrl}} to reference the participant's referral link.

Example use

const message = "I have saved 1,540 hours using this service. Highly recommend! {{shareUrl}}";
const subjectLine = "Check this out!";

// Update the pre-populated email invite message and subject line
growsurf.updateEmailInviteMessage(message, subjectLine);

Log out

Logs the participant out of the browser (clears the participant's GrowSurf browser cookie and local storage).

growsurf.logout();

Example use

growsurf.logout();

Initialize / Reinitialize GrowSurf

Initializes or reinitializes the window.growsurf Object.

The method is useful for the following use-cases:

If you have participant authentication enabled for your campaign and you would like to automatically authenticate your participants after they log in within your own user portal.
Load multiple campaigns on a single webpage depending on where the traffic is coming from. View a tutorial here.

growsurf.init(settings);

Example use

// Using a Callback
growsurf.init({ email: "[email protected]", hash: "HASH_VALUE" }, () => {
    // GrowSurf is Ready
});

// Using a promise
growsurf.init({ email: "[email protected]", hash: "HASH_VALUE" }).then(() => {
    // GrowSurf is Ready
});

Parameter

Data Type

Description

settings

Object

(Optional) The settings GrowSurf should use when initializing or reinitializing.

campaignId- Provide this to initialize another campaign
email- The email of the participant you wish to auto authenticate (only applies if authentication is enabled for your campaign).
hash- The hash token generated by your server. Used to auto authenticate a participant (only applies if authentication is enabled for your campaign).

Open GrowSurf window

Opens the GrowSurf window.

growsurf.open(callback);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

callback

Function

(Optional) A callback function that will be invoked once complete

Returns a Promise that resolves once complete.

Example use

// Using a Callback
growsurf.open(function() {
    // Do something here
});

// Using a Promise
growsurf.open().then(() => {
    // Do something here
});

CSS Alternative:

Instead of using the JavaScript method growsurf.open(), you can simply add a CSS class growsurf-open-window to a button.

A benefit of this option is that if the participant has any unread rewards, the unread badge will automatically show up as well. Here is an example:

<a class="growsurf-open-window">
  Refer and Earn
</a>

Note: You'll need to make sure you have the GrowSurf Universal Code installed.

Close GrowSurf window

Closes the GrowSurf window.

growsurf.close(callback);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

callback

Function

(Optional) A callback function that will be invoked once complete

Returns a Promise that resolves once complete.

Example use

// Using a Callback
growsurf.close(() => {
    // Do something here
});

// Using a Promise
growsurf.close().then(() => {
    // Do something here
});

Adds an event subscription of the given event type. When an event of the given type occurs, the given callback will be invoked. Below are detailed descriptions of each event type.

growsurf.subscribe(eventType, callback);

Parameter

Data Type

Description

eventType

String

(Required) The event type to subscribe to.

These are the options:

referral
referralTrigger
signup
share
invite

callback

Function

The callback function that will be invoked when the event occurs.

Example use

/**
 * REFERRED FRIEND EVENTS
 */ 

// Subscribe to a `referral` event type
growsurf.subscribe('referral', (participant) => {
  // A new participant was referred
});

// Subscribe to a `referralTrigger` event type
growsurf.subscribe('referralTrigger', (participant) => {
  // A referred participant triggered a referral (AKA they completed the qualifying action)
});


/**
 * REFERRER EVENTS
 */ 

// Subscribe to a `signup` event type
growsurf.subscribe('signup', (participant) => {
  // A new participant was added (only non-referred signups)
});

// Subscribe to a `share` event type
growsurf.subscribe('share', (data) => {
  // A participant shared their unique referral URL by clicking a social share button
});

// Subscribe to an `invite` event type
growsurf.subscribe('invite', (participant) => {
  // A participant sent out an invite
});

Example response

Dispatched anytime an event happens. The provided callback will be invoked with an Object containing data relevant to the event.

The 'referral' event returns limited data of the new referred participant. The referredBy key represents the referring participant's unique ID.

{
    "id": "kafewp",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "firstName": "Gavin",
    "lastName": "Belson",
    "referredBy": "xyz789",
    "referralCount": 0,
    "shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=kafewp",
    "rewards": [],
    "campaign": {
       "id": "abc123"
    }
}

The 'referralTrigger' Event returns limited data of the referred participant that triggered a referral (which means they completed a qualifying action).

Note: This event happens when calling growsurf.triggerReferral(). If you are looking for the referred signup event, use the 'referral' Event that contains a referredBy property.

{
    "id": "kafewp",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "firstName": "Gavin",
    "lastName": "Belson",
    "referralCount": 0,
    "shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=kafewp",
    "rewards": [],
    "campaign": {
       "id": "abc123"
    }    
}

The 'signup' Event returns limited data of the new non-referred participant.

{
    "id": "kafewp",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "firstName": "Gavin",
    "lastName": "Belson",
    "referralCount": 0,
    "shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=kafewp",
    "rewards": [],
    "campaign": {
       "id": "abc123"
    }    
}

The 'share' Event returns limited data of the participant and the share type.

The shareType value will either be a social network (e.g., linkedin, reddit) or copyLink if the participant copied their link to share (e.g., they clicked "Copy Link").

{
    "participant": {
        "id": "kafewp",
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "firstName": "Gavin",
        "lastName": "Belson",
        "referralCount": 0,
        "shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=kafewp",
        "rewards": []
    },
    "shareType": "facebook",
    "campaign": {
       "id": "abc123"
    }    
}

The 'invite' Event returns limited data of the participant and the number of invites sent.

If your campaign is set up for email invites to be sent by participants, invitesAttempted will always match invitesSent. If email invites are sent by your company, invitesSent will only count successfully delivered emails confirmed by our server. Learn more here.

{
    "participant": {
        "id": "kafewp",
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "firstName": "Gavin",
        "lastName": "Belson",
        "referralCount": 0,
        "shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=kafewp",
        "rewards": []
    },
    "invitesAttempted": 3,
    "invitesSent": 3,
    "campaign": {
       "id": "abc123"
    }    
}

Last updated 2 months ago

Was this helpful?

Add participant

Example use

Example response

Trigger referral

Example use

Example response

Get campaign

Example use

Example response

Get participant by email

Example use

Example response

Get participant by ID

Example use

Example response

Get referrer ID

Example use

Example response

Get participant ID

Example use

Get unread rewards count

Example use

Mark rewards as read

Example use

Example response

Initialize unread badge

Example use

CSS Alternative:

Update social share message

Example use

Update email invite message

Example use

Log out

Example use

Initialize / Reinitialize GrowSurf

Open GrowSurf window

Example use

CSS Alternative:

Close GrowSurf window

Example use

Subscribe to event

Example use

Example response