How the two product referral campaign modes differ, why the mode belongs to the version, and how to move between them.
A product referral campaign runs in one of two modes. The mode is a property of the version that is live, not of the campaign, so a single campaign can move between them over its life.Understanding Brand and Product Referral explains what each mode is for. This page covers how to switch.
Shows the referred customer an offer as they arrive, and measures the difference it makes
Reward
None
A single reward to the referred customer, issued the moment they land on the shared product page
Holdout
The whole audience, in effect: nobody is shown an offer
A share of traffic you set, from 1% to 99%
Nodes in the editor
Trigger and Sharing only
Trigger, Sharing, Holdout, Branding, Images, Rewards and Referee Copy
What a shopper sees
The share link on your product pages, if you enable it
The share link, plus an offer on the product page they arrive on
Non-incentivised is the default in the setup wizard, and the quicker thing to get live. It is a complete product in its own right, not a half-configured incentivised campaign.
You can only have one product referral campaign per language, so adding an incentive cannot mean creating a second campaign beside the first. Instead, you add a new version in the other mode and launch it. Launching a version of the opposite flavour switches the campaign.This means:
The Incentive column on the Product referral campaigns page reads the current mode per row, because a launch can change it.
Switching works in both directions. You can add an incentive to a non-incentivised campaign, and you can go back.
Going back is always a fresh version, never a reactivation of the old one. A version that has been live can never relaunch.
From Campaigns > Product referral campaigns, open the campaign for the language you want.
2
Create a new version
In the insights panel, a recommendation reads “This version doesn’t offer an incentive”, explaining that the version measures sharing without rewarding anyone. Click Add an incentive.You can also create a version from the version picker in the usual way. In the Create version dialog, set Version type to Incentivised.
The Create version dialog, where Version type sets the mode.
Use the campaign’s own create-version flow, not the Create campaign button on the Product referral campaigns page. That opens the setup wizard, which creates a whole new campaign, and the one-per-language rule will refuse it.
3
Configure the reward and holdout
The new draft version has the full set of nodes. Set the reward in the Rewards node and the split in the Holdout node.Codes are issued to every qualifying visitor outside the holdout, not only to those who buy, so avoid rewards with a cash value such as gift cards and third-party vouchers, and keep to an amount or percent off or free delivery. See set up a campaign.
4
Launch it
Launch the version. It replaces the live one, and the campaign’s Incentive column changes to Incentivised.
Yes, you can withdraw an incentive as well as add one. Open the campaign, create a new version with Version type set to Non-incentivised, and launch it. It replaces the live incentivised version and the Incentive column changes back.Two things differ from adding an incentive:
There is no “Start from” step. An incentivised version offers to copy a previous version’s setup; a non-incentivised one is always built fresh, because there is no incentive to copy.
The new version is created with a 100% holdout, which is what “nobody is shown an offer” means internally. You will not see a Holdout node on it, because the editor’s field only accepts 1% to 99%.
Existing referred visitors who were already shown an offer keep the code they were given, since codes are issued on arrival. The change applies to visitors arriving from that point on.
Going back is always a brand new version, never a reactivation of the old non-incentivised one: a version that has been live cannot be relaunched. That is what makes the switch safe to make in either direction.
What the Editor Hides on a Non-Incentivised Version
A non-incentivised version has no offer to show anyone, so the editor hides every node that would configure one. Only the campaign-level Trigger and the Sharing node remain.
A non-incentivised version: Trigger and Sharing, and nothing else.
The share link survives because the tag injects it on your product pages whether or not the version carries an incentive. Everything else, rewards, branding, images and journeys, would be configuring an experience nobody can reach.
The editor decides this from the version’s own mode, not from whether a reward happens to be set. A draft with no reward yet is not the same thing as a non-incentivised version, and the holdout field only accepts 1% to 99%, so it can never represent the 100% holdout a non-incentivised version runs at.
