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A referral program only works once partners have a clean way to hand you a lead and trust that they will get the credit. This guide builds that capture form end to end: the fields partners complete, the automation that turns a submission into an attributed lead - and, when the referral is partner-qualified, the opportunity, its account, and the contact - the partner attribution that ties it to the referrer, the conflict and duplicate checks that protect credit, and the link or embed you hand out. Set it up once and every channel guide (link, email, embed, Slack, Teams, AI, API) plugs into it.

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What you’ll achieve

A live referral form that a partner can open from anywhere, fill in with prospect details, and submit. Each submission creates an attributed lead in your CRM, credited to the referring partner from the first touch; once the referral is partner-qualified, that lead becomes the opportunity, its account, and the contact - still attributed. Every submission is checked for conflicts and duplicates before it is accepted. You leave with a shareable link, an embed snippet, and an API request ready to distribute.

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Before you start

1

Connect your CRM

A connected CRM is required so the form can create the lead - and, when qualified, the opportunity, account, and contact - and read your pipeline and properties.
2

Confirm partner attribution

Partner attribution should be configured on your CRM connection so every created record can be credited to the referring partner.
3

Check custom domain (for embedding)

Embedding the form on your own website requires a custom domain on your plan. A shareable link works without one.

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Watch it

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Steps

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Build the form

1

Create the form

Go to Forms and select Create form. Give it a clear name like “Refer a deal” so partners and your team recognize it, then open the Form builder.
Create the form (a real write): it opens in the builder.
2

Add the fields partners fill in

On the Form builder tab, use Add field to build the questions a partner answers about the prospect. For each field, set:
  • Field type - what kind of input it is. Use Input field for short answers (company name, contact email), Text area for context like deal notes, CRM Object to let a partner pick an existing record, and File upload for attachments. Most referral forms need a handful of input fields plus a notes area.
  • Label - the question text the partner reads. Keep it plain (“Prospect company”, “Contact email”) so partners do not hesitate.
  • Placeholder - example text inside the field that hints at the expected answer.
  • Make this field required - turn this on for the details you must have to create a usable deal (company, contact, email). Leave optional anything that is nice to have.
  • CRM Mapping - optionally link the field to a CRM property here so its value flows straight into the record. You can also map fields later in the automation; mapping here seeds that step.
Add the questions about the prospect (company, contact, email, notes), each with a type, label, required toggle, and CRM mapping.

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Turn submissions into CRM records

1

Create the lead by default

Open the Automation tab and select Add automation. A referral should enter as a lead - the lowest-friction way for a partner to hand you a warm intro, attributed from the first touch. Add a Lead automation and, in Enrich or create, turn on Create a new lead when one is selected so a fresh, attributed lead is created from each referral.When the referral is partner-qualified - the partner marks it qualified, or your team accepts it - you want the full deal context, not just a lead. Add Company, Contact, and Deal automations as well, so a qualified referral creates the opportunity, its account, and the contact as real, worked pipeline. Introw matches existing records first (see the deduplication step below), so this enriches what you already have instead of duplicating it.
2

Map form fields to CRM properties

In the Form fields section, connect each answer to the right CRM property so the lead - and the opportunity, account, and contact it becomes once qualified - is populated correctly. For each mapping set:
  • CRM Property - the field on the CRM record that receives the value (for example the deal name or amount).
  • Form Field - the answer from the form that fills it.
  • Write Mode - how the value is written. Fill in if not known (the default) only sets the property when it is empty, which is safest for enrichment; Overwrite always replaces the current value. Use Add field mapping for each property you want to set.
Use Default values to set properties every referral should carry (a source label, a default pipeline or stage) without asking the partner.
Turn on 'Create a new deal', then map each answer to a CRM property with a Write Mode, and set default values every referral carries.
3

Attribute the referral to the partner

Turn on Auto-link your partners so the created records are tied to the referrer, then set the Submitting Partner attribution method that records who sent the referral. This is what makes credit automatic: every downstream update notification and reward depends on the referral being attributed here.
Turn on 'Auto-link your partners' and set the Submitting Partner method: this is what makes credit automatic.

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Protect referral credit

1

Turn on Channel Conflict Analysis

Select Channel Conflict Analysis in the automation list and enable it. Before a referral creates CRM records, Introw cross-references your CRM for an existing overlapping deal so the same opportunity is not double-credited or claimed twice. Configure:
  • Object - the record type to check conflicts against, typically the deal pipeline the referral lands in.
  • Filters - limit the check to deals that match conditions you set, so only relevant pipeline counts as a conflict.
  • Additional context - a short description of your process that helps the analysis judge borderline cases.
Leave it on for referral forms: a disputed deal is the fastest way to lose a referrer.
2

Set deduplication fields

On company and contact automations, open Enrich or create and review Deduplication fields. Introw matches incoming submissions against existing company or contact records on these fields to prevent duplicates and detect conflicts. Keep the suggested defaults (name, email, domain) or pick the fields that best identify a unique account in your CRM.

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Set the partner experience and share

1

Customize the confirmation and review

Configure Submission confirmation to control what a partner sees after submitting: choose an End screen with a thank-you message, or Redirect to URL to send them to a page you choose. Then decide review with Approval Gate: leave it off (the default) to accept referrals automatically, or enable it when a person should approve submissions before they create CRM records.
Add a Submission confirmation to control the end screen or redirect, and use the Approval Gate to review referrals before they create CRM records.
2

Share the form

Select Share form to open the share dialog. On the Link tab you get two options:
  • General link - shareable with anyone; Introw makes a best effort to relate the submission to a partner, but attribution is not guaranteed. Use it for open or web traffic.
  • Partner link - pick a partner and copy their link; every submission through it is attributed to that partner automatically. Use this whenever you send the form to a known referrer so credit is never in question.
On the Embed tab, copy the HTML snippet to place the form on a page you control. Embedding requires a custom domain; without one, share the link instead.
Publish and hand the form out.
3

Let a partner's systems refer over the API

On the API tab, copy the cURL snippet. It already carries this form’s id and every field id, and the Fields table below marks which ones are required. A partner’s own portal, your internal tooling, a backfill script, or an agent can then refer from anywhere, with the referral attributed to the partner you name and running the same conflict checks and automation. Full setup is in Submit a form via the API.
The API tab turns the same form into a request, so a partner's own system, your tooling, or an agent refers without anyone opening the form.

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Verify it worked

Open a partner link yourself and submit a test referral. Confirm it appears in Submissions under Form submissions, attributed to the right partner, and that an attributed lead was created in your CRM with the mapped properties filled in. Mark it partner-qualified (or accept it) and confirm the opportunity, its account, and the contact are created and still attributed. To check the safeguards, submit a referral that overlaps an existing deal and confirm it is flagged as a conflict rather than silently creating a duplicate.

Ways to refer

Every channel a partner can refer from - link, embed, email, Slack, Teams, AI, or the API.

Keep referrers updated

Notify referrers as their deals progress.

Set up referral rewards

Pay referrers for the deals they source.

Detect channel conflict with AI

The full conflict-detection setup.

Implementation reference

Full configuration options.