Referral Link Generator
A referral link generator creates one unique link per person from a single destination URL. Paste names or handles, or upload a CSV, and this free tool adds a clean ref parameter for each person, optional UTM tags, bulk copy, a CSV export, and a zip of QR codes. It runs in your browser.
Generate referral links
0 links
Add a destination URL and at least one name to see links.
Referral link format best practices
- Use one slug per person, in lowercase, with only a-z, 0-9 and hyphens.
- Keep slugs stable. Changing a slug splits one person's results across two values.
- Avoid personal data in the slug. Use a handle or first name, not an email address.
- Use utm_medium=referral for customers and utm_medium=influencer for creators, so the two are easy to separate.
- Put the slug in utm_content too, so analytics tools that ignore custom parameters still see who sent the visit.
Referral links for mobile apps
A plain ?ref= link works on the web, but the value is lost when someone goes through the App Store or Google Play and opens the app for the first time. To keep the referral through the install, see referral links for apps.
Creator and affiliate links
Give each creator or affiliate their own link, with utm_medium=influencer, so you can compare them side by side. For how to tie creators to results, read influencer marketing tracking.
FAQ
How are names turned into slugs?
Each name is lowercased, accents are removed, and every run of characters other than a-z and 0-9 becomes a single hyphen. Leading and trailing hyphens are trimmed, and a leading @ is dropped. "@Jane Doe" becomes jane-doe.
What happens if two people have the same name?
The second one gets a numbered slug, so jane-doe is followed by jane-doe-2. Names with no letters or digits are skipped, and the tool tells you how many.
What does the CSV file need to look like?
Put one name or handle per row in the first column. A header row named name, handle, creator, slug, or person is skipped. Other columns are ignored.
Which UTM parameters are added?
If you turn UTMs on, each link gets utm_medium set to referral or influencer, and utm_content set to the person slug. You can also add a utm_source and utm_campaign that apply to every link.
Does this tool store my list?
No. The links, the CSV export, and the downloadable zip are all built in your browser. Nothing is uploaded and no login is needed.
Will these links track installs?
A plain ?ref= link only carries the value to your page. To keep a referral through an app install, create tracked links in Smler. See the referral links page for how that works.