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Tutorials

How to implement the GrowSurf REST API in common use-case scenarios.

Table of contents

The following examples use Node.js.

Example 1: Trigger a referral on qualifying action (e.g, on conversion, purchase or upgrade)

Airbnb as an example

"Send a friend $40 in Airbnb credit. You’ll get $20 when they travel and $75 when they host."
Follow this tutorial if your campaign's referral trigger is Qualifying Action, where a referrer only receives credit when the person they referred signs up AND performs a certain qualifying action.
This requires two API calls to GrowSurf.

Step 2: Add the participant

Important Note: If your campaign is configured to add participants automatically through a form on your website (see image), skip this step.
First, in the code where you capture the new user's email, add them to your GrowSurf campaign as a participant with the POST Add participant method. Alternatively, you can use the JavaScript method growsurf.addParticipant() instead to add participants.
The example below is what that code could look like when using the REST API.
Code Example
signup.js
const request = require("request");
​
let options = {
method: 'POST',
url: 'https://api.growsurf.com/v2/campaign/4pdlhb/participant',
headers: {
Authorization: 'Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>'
},
json: true
};
​
const signUp = user => {
// Set the body of the GrowSurf API request
options.body = user;
// Send the API request to add the user as a new participant in your GrowSurf campaign
request(options, (error, response, body) => {
if (error) {
throw new Error(error);
}
const growsurfId = body.id;
// Save the new user to your database (optional)
saveUser(user, growsurfId);
});
};
At line 21, we set the GrowSurf participant ID as a variable called growsurfId.
At line 23, saveUser(user, growsurfId) is an example function you would use to save the GrowSurf participant ID to the new user in your database. We will use this growsurfId value later for triggering a referral.

Don't want to save the growsurfId to your database?

The participant'semail can be used instead of the growsurfId to trigger a referral later. If you have access to the participant's email then there is no need to persist the growsurfId into your database.
At line 11, the user argument passed into signUp(user) is an Object that looks like this:
{
email: '[email protected]',
firstName: 'Sally',
lastName: 'Mayweathers',
referredBy: '1cca8d', // The referrer's unique GrowSurf ID. Can also be the referrer's unique email address
metadata: {
phoneNumber: '+1 415-123-4567',
country: 'USA',
zipCode: '94303'
}
}
  • At line 5, we use referredBy to associate this new user with a referrer. This value can be the referrer's email address or unique GrowSurf ID (you may want to use growsurf.getReferrerId() to retrieve the referrer ID).
  • At line 6, we save a shallow metadata Object to the GrowSurf Participant. This is optional, but is useful for viewing specific participant information in your GrowSurf dashboard (see image).

Step 3: Trigger the referral

Important Note: Make sure your campaign's referral trigger is set to Sign Up + Qualifying Action (see image). If the referral trigger is set to Sign Up, triggering referrals will not work since referral credit has already been provided.
Now at any future date within the referral credit window, if this new participant performs the goal event, then referral credit will be awarded to their referrer. To trigger the referral, use the POST Trigger referral by participant ID method.
The example below is what that code could look like.
Code Example
purchase.js
const request = require("request");
​
let options = {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
Authorization: 'Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>'
},
json: true
};
​
const purchase = growsurfId => {
// ...code that makes the purchase...
​
// Set the GrowSurf API request URL with the participant's ID
options.url = `https://api.growsurf.com/v2/campaign/4pdlhb/participant/${growsurfId}/ref`;
​
// Send the API request to trigger the referral
request(options, (error, response, body) => {
if (error) {
throw new Error(error);
}
// Check to see if the referral was triggered successfully
const { success, message } = body.success;
if(success) {
console.log('Referral trigger success!');
} else {
console.log('Referral trigger failed :( ', message);
}
});
};
At line 11, we passed a growsurfId argument, which is the GrowSurf participant's unique ID and is required in the API call. If you do not have access to the growsurfId of the participant, the participant email can be used instead.

Remember to set up reward fulfillment automation

Make sure you have Webhooks or Zapier set up so that rewards automatically get fulfilled to the participant once they reach a reward goal.

Example 2: Trigger a referral on signup event

Dropbox as an example

"For every friend you refer, you’ll both receive an extra 250MB in cloud storage."
Follow this tutorial if your campaign's referral trigger is Signup Event, where a referrer receives credit when the person they referred signs up with their email address.
This requires just one API call to GrowSurf.

Step 2: Add the participant (and trigger the referral at the same time)

Important Note: If your campaign is configured to add participants automatically through a form on your website (see image), skip this step.
Important Note: Make sure your campaign's referral trigger is set to Signup Event (see image).
In the code where you capture the new user's email, add them to your GrowSurf campaign as a participant with the POST Add participant method.
The example below is what that code could look like.
Code Example
signup.js
const request = require("request");
​
let options = {
method: 'POST',
url: 'https://api.growsurf.com/v2/campaign/4pdlhb/participant',
headers: {
Authorization: 'Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>'
},
json: true
};
​
const signUp = user => {
// Set the body of the GrowSurf API request
options.body = user;
// Send the API request to add the user as a new participant in your GrowSurf campaign
request(options, (error, response, body) => {
if (error) {
throw new Error(error);
}
// Save the new user to your database (Optional)
saveUser();
});
};
At line 12, the user argument passed into signUp(user) is an Object that looks like this:
{
email: '[email protected]',
firstName: 'Sally',
lastName: 'Mayweathers',
referredBy: '1cca8d', // The referrer's unique GrowSurf ID. Can also be the referrer's unique email address
referralStatus: 'CREDIT_AWARDED',
metadata: {
phoneNumber: '+1 415-123-4567',
country: 'USA',
zipCode: '94303'
}
}
  • At line 5, we use referredBy to associate this new user with a referrer. This value can be the referrer's email address or unique GrowSurf ID (you may want to use growsurf.getReferrerId() to retrieve the referrer ID)
  • At line 6, we set referralStatus to be CREDIT_AWARDED. This triggers the referral credit at the same time that this new participant is added (and it overrides the campaign referral trigger (what's a referral trigger?) that was set from the Installation step of the Campaign Editor (see image).
    • Note: referralStatus must be used with referredBy, or else it will be ignored.
  • At line 7, we save a shallow metadata Object to the GrowSurf Participant. This is optional, but is useful for viewing specific participant information in your GrowSurf dashboard (see image).

Remember to set up reward fulfillment automation

Make sure you have Webhooks or Zapier set up so that rewards automatically get fulfilled to the participant once they reach a reward goal.

Example 3: Get a participant's details

Let's say you want to display a participant's referral progress/stats/rewards in your website or mobile app. With the REST API, you can fetch Participants and ParticipantRewards by using either of the following API methods:

Step 2: Retrieve a participant by email

Let's say your server calls your database to retrieve user details and in that same call you want to send their participant information by using their unique email.
The example below is what that code could look like.
Code Example
const request = require("request");
​
let options = {
method: 'GET',
headers: {
Authorization: 'Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>'
}
};
​
const getUserDetails = userEmail => {
// ...Call your database to get user details...
// ...code here...
​
// Get the GrowSurf participant's details
request(options, (error, response, body) => {
options.url = `https://api.growsurf.com/v2/campaign/4pdlhb/participant/${userEmail}`;
if (error) {
throw new Error(error);
}
console.log(body);
});
};
At line 10, we passed userEmail so we could set it in the GrowSurf API URL at line 16.
At line 20, console.log would print something like this:
{
"id": "f8g9nl",
"firstName": "Gavin",
"lastName": "Belson",
"referralCount": 2,
"shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=f8g9nl",
"email": "[email protected]",
"createdAt": 1552404738928,
"fraudRiskLevel": "LOW",
"fraudReasonCode": "UNIQUE_IDENTIY",
"isWinner": true,
"shareCount": {
"email": 10,
"facebook": 1,
"pinterest": 1,
"twitter": 11
},
"impressionCount": 2,
"referrals": [
"i9g2bh",
"xua4sq"
],
"referralSource": "PARTICIPANT",
"referralStatus": "CREDIT_AWARDED",
"referrer": {
"id": "h8kp6l",
"firstName": "Richard",
"lastName": "Hendricks",
"referralCount": 5,
"shareUrl": "https://piedpiper.com?grsf=h8kp6l",
"email": "[email protected]",
"createdAt": 1552402661449,
"referralSource": "DIRECT",
"fraudRiskLevel": "LOW",
"fraudReasonCode": "UNIQUE_IDENTIY",
"isWinner": true,
"shareCount": {
"email": 20,
"facebook": 11,
"linkedin": 0,
"pinterest": 3,
"twitter": 12
},
"impressionCount": 14,
"referrals": [
"0dveu7",
"f8g9nl",
"j0hbym",
"m5xm9l",
"w01fil"
]
}
}
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Last modified 8mo ago