Would you like your users to encourage their buddies to join of your WordPress website?
People are influenced by recommendations from those they know. This is why personal invitations are an excellent way to boost the number of users registered on your membership or social networking site.
In this post we will explain how you can permit the users of your site to invite acquaintances to join WordPress.
Why should users be able to invite their friends?
If you’re in search of an inexpensive and easy method to increase the number of users on your membership website as well as your WordPress social media network by allowing existing users to invite friends is among the most effective ways.
This type of word-of mouth advertising is extremely effective because it relies on social proof, which is why it’s a common feature across all the most well-known registration websites.
For instance, Twitter users can invite their followers to join a group, and on Facebook they can invite their friends to join the group.
If you make money through your website, for example selling paid memberships or items in your web-based store Then you could also charge your customers to promote your site through setting up a referral programme or an affiliate.
That said we’ll look at ways to allow users to let their contacts sign up for a free account in WordPress.
This is the topic we’ll be discussing within this piece:
- Method 1. Adding an Easy Invitation Form to any WordPress website
Method 1: Add an easy invitation form to any WordPress Website
The most straightforward way to permit users the option of inviting their acquaintances to visit your website is to include an easy invitation form to your sidebar. But, this approach cannot allow you to know the invitations that were accepted.
How do you monitor invitations? If you’re running an existing BuddyPress website, then you must follow the second method below. If you’ve got an on-line storefront or membership site we suggest you start an affiliate or referral scheme instead.
To create the basic request form we’ll be using WPForms Simple because it’s both free and simple to use. However WPForms Lite Premium higher-end version WPForms will save the entire form’s entries on your WordPress dashboard once they’ve been submitted. This allows you to know more clearly how many invitations were given and to whom they were addressed to.
The first thing you have in order to set up contact Forms via the WPForms plugin.
The Invitation Form is created
After the plugin has been activated, you can design an invitation form by going into your WPForms > Create New page. You can then give your form a title, then click the “Create Blank” button.
It will start it to the WPForms drag-and-drop form maker. The form will be displayed as an image of the form to the right, and it is currently empty. There is also the fields of the form to the left.
It is necessary to find the Email field in the form to drag and drop it on the page.
Then, you must make sure that you have set your Email field.
If you click on the field, the settings will be displayed to the left.
This is where you can change the title to say ‘Invite Your Friends.’ After that, you’ll be able to add the description to appear under the field. The description should let the users know what they need to type in for example”Enter the email address of your friend. Separate multiple email addresses using commas.’
You can now set the field to be shown across the entire length that the bar is. Click on the Advanced tab, then choose Large on the Field Size dropdown menu.
There are more options available when you go to Settings > General. For instance, you could alter the label that appears on the button to make it more useful.
Within the Submit Button Text field, just type in ‘Send Invitation.’
In the process of composing the invitation email
After that, you’ll have go into Settings > Notifications and configure an invitation message. It will be an email that will be a confirmation email after completion of the form.
Smart tags can be used to automate filling in the information of the person filling out the form, as well as the details they provide to the forms. There is an full list of the Smart tags on the WPForms website.
In the ‘Send to Email Address in the field for ‘Send to Email Address in the ‘Send To Email Address’ field, you must enter the email address you entered on the form. If you click the “Show Smart Tags” button and a list of the fields that are available will be displayed. Just click on the “Invite Your Friends’ field.
Enter the subject line of your email that you want to use. Then, you are able to add the full name of the user in the field ‘From Name’ by typing in the tag "user_full_name".
It is essential to select the proper ‘From Email’ or else your invitations could be delivered in the junk mailer. Be sure that the domain used within the email addresses is identical to your WordPress blog..
For instance, if the site’s address is www.example.com, then the email address must look similar to [email protected].
So, you shouldn’t put the email address of the user into the field ‘From Email. Instead, you can enter the admin email that’s standard. Alternatively, if you are concerned about your admin email receiving spam, then you can use an email address that doesn’t exist, such as [email protected].
Then, go to the ‘Reply-To Email Address. This is where you will enter the email address of the person with smart tags user_email. If the person who was invited responds to the email the email sends it to the person that invited them.
Then, you must create the invitation message that you’d like to share in the field ‘Email Message. We suggest keeping the message short and informal. It is possible to use smart tags in your message such as closing the email with the name of the user by typing "user_first_name".
You’ll need to include the URL to your website. This link may lead the person invited directly to the home page, or an site for registration of users.
You can also hyperlink to an web page which clearly explains the benefits and advantages of your site.
creating a Confirmation message in Form Submittal
You should now go through Settings > Confirmations. You can then write an e-mail that will be shown to the user when the invite has been sent to their contacts.
You must remove this confirmation Type to ‘Message’, and add a short thank you note within the Confirmation Message field.
After you’ve completed the configuration on your invite form be sure you press the orange Save button located at near the bottom of the screen in order to save the settings. After that, you’ll be able to press the ‘X’ to end this WPForms editor.
The Invitation Form can be added to Your WordPress Website
All you need to do now is add the form to your website’s sidebar as well as another ready-to-use widget space. You’ll need to go on”the Appearance > Widgets page within your WordPress administration area.
After that, find your WPForms block and place it on your sidebar.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to choose the “Invite Your Friends’ form from the Select a Form dropdown. Be sure to click on the Update button to save your settings.
Now , you can go to your site to view your simple form of invitation in the action.
If a user makes an invitation through the form and is accepted, the thank you message appears in the place of the form.
Notice: If the invitation emails have not been received, check out the guide below to how to solve the issue of WordPress not sending emails.