I also appear to have had this issue
Personally frustrated with the incentivised free share. I grabbed the link from the app and shared into one of my work groups.
It didnāt state anywhere that I should/could only share this directly with one person, or it would break.
It turns out multiple people used the same referral link to create an account, and the one that actually topped up and I thought I was going to be getting a free share from wasnāt the āfirstā person to click the link and use the code.
I was able to provide the name and email for my colleague that did use the link/my code and topped up correctly but turns out that wonāt enable me to get the share from it.
I spoke to chat and there wasnāt much help provided.
So essentially Freetradeās referral system, yes I realise it is a beta feature, doesnāt know how to handle multiple signups from the same referral link. So you canāt share it publicly say on Twitter or anywhere where multiple people might click it - because it just messes up.
So now I have to try convince someone else about Freetrade, and to me thatās not simple to tell someone here use this app to make investments not what you are currently using or hey you should start investing (scary), use this app.
I concur⦠Iāve had a few links break when people have signed up
Understand your frustration. However, itās been made quite clear that the fully-functioning incentivised scheme has not been rolled out yet and that the current link (or links) are for test puproses only and one-use only.
Iād love to share the link on Twitter or send it out to multiple contacts but instead, Iāve had to be selective in sending it to one person at a time.
Hopefully youāll be able to persuade more people to sign up - their risk is only Ā£1.
While I do agree that having a link that enables multiple sign ups is very efficient and flexible, at an early stage I understand the need for unique links and referring people on a 1 to 1 basis⦠I suppose the team want to understand the extent of risk of people coming to Freetrade and then selling the Freeshare and coming out and then make a decision about a āpermanentā referral link. Since the scheme is in beta, I actually think this is the right approach.
Itās quite strongly called out in the copy, although Iām afraid you may have seen a previous version of this feature that had less aggressive text around the invite being for one person only.
The invite being for one-time use is deliberate. For now, we donāt want people to blast out their invites on social media (unless you really donāt have anyone you can give your invite to, in which case blast away!). We want our community to spend a little time telling their friends about Freetrade and maybe even help them through the process. Our hypothesis is that when the focus is on quickly grabbing shares, the mindset is not learning about the product and valuing what it can do, which will impact user quality.
That said, we are in beta, and we are considering all the feedback weāre receiving. Iām intrigued by how many people assume theyād get a multiple-use link valid forever, which is probably how many referral links work these days.
Sorry to hear that! Please ping again - the team can help with any further context or by resetting your referral link / providing a new one.
Thatās what we are hoping everyone would do for this reward, and weāre seeing it working! Maybe the community can help with their tips.
The three people Iāve referred, Iāve actually sat down and fully explained the process to them, the risks involved etc. Theyāre all sold on using Freetrade now. I think just dropping it onto social media as an unlimited referral code youād risk a lot more people signing up and cashing out. Would be fantastic for the referrer, but definitely not for Freetrade.
Referred someone else yesterday and sat with them. Experienced an error when it gets to the screen asking them to grab the app via the apple app store or google play. We tapped on the app store icon and got shown a page with an error (canāt remember exactly what it was sorry).
Otherwise all good.
Also a clarification question - in the info here: We'll start testing incentivised referrals (free shares!) within weeks šÆ it says:
- Your referred friend needs to be active, i.e. they funded their account and bought a stock, for you both to get a free share.
Is the ābought a stockā part still valid?
If so it is not mentioned at all in any of the copy or the process and indeed the free share gets credited after top up, rather than after they have used that top up to actually buy something in the app.
Any chance for further referrals or not yet?
No they only need to have topped up. Iāve updated that now
We just sent out new invites yesterday! Have you received one?
I donāt think so⦠I have the little notification icon but when I click through there isnāt a referral there
The iconās actually there to let you know that you can open an ISA. You should see a menu option for your Free Share if you have one.
I just have this⦠but still have the little orange thing even though itās not against the isa tooā¦
Like others, Iāve also actually spoken to the people Iāve referred. Itās an interesting dynamic when you only have one referral link to potentially waste. You actually want to convince the person that Freetrade is as good as we know it is. Iām sure some are still going to take the free share and run, but I can also see this approach leading to more active referees. It reminds me of the golden ticket stuff Monzo did.
Since you can have one person signing up while you get another referral link, I think itās still important to handle that nicely in the UI. Right now it just blows away any ability to track the first person. If they were all listed in the profile section, instead of just the latest one, that would help. But I think they would need something more on them, like a referral date or something to differentiate them.
Another thing would be to have the referral form stop working for that link after one person puts in an email address. Thatād probably solve some of the problems being mentioned here.
When you use it properly, one person at a time, it seems really smooth and painless.
P.s. In case the referral-link god is reading, Iām ready for another link
Wimbledon style⦠New links please.
When is the big revelation? Or perhaps an insight into Freetrades stock picks.
But I think they would need something more on them, like a referral date or something to differentiate them.
Actually, Iām no designer, but even a little coloured circle would be cool. Then Iād know I gave the purple one to James and the orange one to Billy, or whatever my imaginary friends are named. Especially cool if the colour lined up in their app too somewhere.
Colour alone would be poor accessibility wise for those with any visual impairments
Do you look at the app on 2 devices? I had this for a week because Iād read the notification on one phone, which removed the dot but it didnāt clear on the other