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Use this page when a friend ordered through an advocate’s link or code, but the advocate didn’t receive a reward coupon. The answer is almost always in the Refer a Friend Data box on the friend’s order.
Check the order status first
Reward coupons are created only when the friend’s order reaches the status set in WooCommerce → Refer a Friend → Settings → General Settings → Generate Referral Reward On. The default is Completed.
A paid order that is still Processing hasn’t triggered a reward yet. Either mark it as Completed or, if your orders never reach Completed, change the setting to Processing. Changing the setting doesn’t affect orders that have already passed that status.
Read the order’s referral notes
- Open the friend’s order in WooCommerce → Orders.
- Read the Referral notes in the Refer a Friend Data box.
| Referral note | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Potential Fraud Detected. Referred customer has previous orders with [email] email address. | The friend’s email has earlier orders. | If the friend is genuinely new, override it as described below. |
| …with [IP] ip address. | An earlier order came from the same IP address. Common for people sharing an office or home network. | Override it, or turn on Disable IP check in Fraud Settings for future orders. |
| …with [phone] phone number. | An earlier order used the same phone. | Override it if genuine. |
| …with [address] billing address. | An earlier order used the same street address, such as family members. | Override it if genuine. |
| This is not a new customer, and settings are set to disable coupons for existing customers. | The friend was logged in and already had a completed order. | Working as designed. Override it if you want to reward this one. |
| Order minimum amount of [amount] has not been met. | The order total is below Minimum referral order in General Settings. | Working as designed. |
| Coupons wont be generated due to nth coupon option. | You reward every Nth referral and this isn’t one. The referral still counts toward the next reward. | Working as designed. |
| Coupons wont be generated as advocate has been blacklisted. | The advocate’s email is in Emails to Ban. | Remove them from the ban list, then override. |
| Referral is fine. Coupon will be generated on the order complete. | Tracking worked. | See “The note says the referral is fine” below. |
| No referral data. instead of notes | The referral wasn’t tracked at checkout. | Add the referral by hand, below. |
When a fraud note is added, the plugin also emails the fraud alert address, or the site admin email if none is set, with the subject “Refer a friend – Potential fraud detected for a new referral”.
Override a fraud decision
If you’ve checked the order and want to reward the advocate anyway:
- In the Refer a Friend Data box, set Generate a coupon on order complete to Yes.
- Click Update to save the order.
- If the order isn’t Completed yet, mark it as Completed and click Update. If it’s already Completed, change it to Processing, update, then change it back to Completed and update again.
The coupon is created and emailed when the order reaches Completed.
Each time an order with referral data moves into the reward status, the plugin creates a new coupon. Do the status change once, and check Marketing → Coupons before you repeat it.
Add a referral to an order that wasn’t tracked
If the box says No referral data., you can attach the advocate by hand:
- Find the advocate’s referral code. It’s the part after
?raf=in Refer a friend Link on their user profile under Users. Advocates who have already referred someone are also listed in WooCommerce → Refer a Friend → Advocates. - Open the friend’s order and type the code, for example
ref4821937, into the field under No referral data. - Click Update. The box now shows “Referral was added manually. Coupon will be generated on the order complete.”
- Move the order to Completed as described in step 3 of the override.
Fraud checks don’t run on referrals added by hand.
The note says the referral is fine
If the order is Completed and the note says the referral is fine:
- Check that the coupon exists. Search Marketing → Coupons for the order number, or look for “New Coupon Generated” in WooCommerce → Refer a Friend → Event Logs. If it’s there, the advocate can see it under My Account → Refer a Friend, and the problem is email delivery. See Emails not arriving.
- Check that rewards are on. Settings → Advocate Reward → Order Based Reward must be on.
- Check that emails are on. Settings → Email Settings → Disable sending of emails must be off.
Why the referral wasn’t tracked
The usual causes are a missing ?raf= in the link, delayed JavaScript, a cookie blocker, or the friend buying on a different device. See “The referral wasn’t tracked” in Friend discount not applied.