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Referrals 2.0: Points Deducted When Referrals Revert from “Referral Verified” to “Referral Submitted” (Often Caused by Salesforce Automation)

Contents

Overview

If referrals in a Referrals 2.0 campaign revert from “Referral Verified” back to “Referral Submitted”, EF Circle will reverse the points previously awarded for verification (for example, −50 points per referral). This can cause a member’s balance to become negative/insufficient and block reward redemption.

This behavior is driven by milestone transitions and commonly occurs when an external system (often Salesforce automation or an integration) sends repeated or out-of-order status updates such as submitted and referralverified.

Solution

Use the steps below to confirm why points are changing, identify the source of status reversals, stop the upstream automation that is flipping statuses, and (optionally) restore points immediately by re-verifying referrals in EF Circle.

How Referrals 2.0 Point Awards Work (Milestone Transitions)

In Referrals 2.0, points are awarded based on milestone transitions (entering/leaving a milestone), not on a one-time “referral created” event.

  • If the campaign milestone “Referral Verified” is configured for +50 points, then each time a referral enters Verified, EF Circle grants +50.
  • If a referral later moves from Verified → Submitted and Submitted is configured as 0 points, EF Circle reverses the prior award and removes 50 points.

This is expected behavior and indicates the referral status changed; points are not “randomly” deducted.

Example of the repeating sequence

Submitted → Verified (+50) → Submitted (−50) → Verified (+50)

Why you may see “more awards than referrals”

If a member has 9 unique referrals (9 distinct prospects) but you see 14 “Referral Verified” awards, that typically means some of the same referrals were verified more than once due to repeated milestone changes (for example, 9 verified events, then 5 of those referrals verified again later).

Diagnosis & Investigation

1) Confirm the campaign milestone configuration

Navigate to:

  • Settings → Referrals → Manage Referral Campaigns → <campaign_name> → Milestones

Verify the points values match expectations (example configuration):

  • Referral Submitted (API code: submitted) = 0 pts
  • Referral Verified (API code: referralverified) = 50 pts
  • (Optional) Booking (API code: bookingmade) = <value> pts

If “Referral Verified” is +50 and “Referral Submitted” is 0, then the following point behavior is expected when statuses change:

  • Submitted → Verified adds +50
  • Verified → Submitted removes 50

2) Review each referral’s log timeline (ground truth)

Navigate to:

  • Program → Referrals → <campaign_name>

Open each affected referral and review the Referral Log/Timeline. Record the exact timestamps for each milestone change, commonly showing patterns like:

  • Referral Submitted (date/time)
  • Referral Verified (+50) (date/time)
  • Referral Submitted (−50) (date/time)
  • Referral Verified again (+50) (date/time)

3) Identify if an external system is driving the status flips (common root cause)

A strong indicator of an external driver is when many referrals flip statuses in the same narrow time window (for example, all moving Verified → Submitted overnight).

This pattern is consistent with Salesforce automation (Flows/Processes/Outbound Messages) or an integration call that:

  • Sends referralverified initially (awards points),
  • Later re-sends submitted (reverts points), and/or
  • Re-sends referralverified again (awards again).

4) Reconcile Salesforce vs EF Circle counts

If Salesforce shows a verified-referral count that does not match EF Circle’s number of distinct referrals for the member (for example, Salesforce shows <member_email> with “10 verified referrals”), reconcile by prospect identifier:

  • Export or list the Salesforce “verified referrals” for the member, including the prospect email/identifier.
  • Compare that list to EF Circle’s referral prospects in the campaign.

Common causes of mismatches include:

  • Duplicate Lead/Opportunity records in Salesforce mapping to the same underlying person/referral.
  • A Salesforce record that never created a corresponding EF Circle referral (Salesforce-only entry).

Resolution

A) Stop the upstream reversion (Salesforce / integration fix)

Use the referral-log timestamps collected in EF Circle to pinpoint the exact Salesforce automation/integration responsible for changing statuses out of order.

  • In Salesforce, review Flows, Processes, Outbound Messages, and any integration jobs that trigger from referral-related changes.
  • Identify any logic that calls the Influitive API (or another outbound endpoint) with statuses such as submitted, referralverified, or bookingmade.

Adjust the automation to prevent:

  • Sending submitted after a referral has legitimately progressed to referralverified.
  • Re-sending the same status repeatedly without checking current state (non-idempotent updates).

If you see a bulk, synchronized flip of many referrals (for example, Verified → Submitted within a short window), that strongly points to an external update source rather than a referral-campaign milestone misconfiguration.

B) Correct the member’s points immediately (manual re-verification)

If specific referrals are genuinely verified but currently show Submitted in EF Circle, you can re-verify them to immediately restore points based on your milestone configuration.

  1. Go to Program → Referrals → <campaign_name>.
  2. Search for the affected prospects (use the member’s referral list).
  3. Open each referral and change the milestone/status to “Referral Verified”.
  4. Save the change.

Expected result: each referral moved to Verified awards +50 points immediately (or whatever value is configured), restoring the member’s balance so they can redeem—provided the upstream system does not revert the status again.

Validation

  • Re-check the member’s points balance in their profile and confirm it matches expectations.
  • Confirm the affected referrals remain in the intended milestone (no further unexpected Verified → Submitted flips).
  • Confirm the member can redeem rewards successfully (no longer blocked by negative/insufficient balance).

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I know I’m experiencing this exact issue?
You will see referrals move from “Referral Verified” back to “Referral Submitted,” and the activity log will show corresponding point reversals (for example, +50 when verified and −50 when reverted). Often, multiple referrals change within the same short time window.
2. Why do I see “50 points awarded” more times than the number of referrals?
Because points are tied to milestone transitions. If a referral is verified twice (for example, Verified → Submitted → Verified), it generates two separate +50 awards even though it is still the same single referral.
3. Does this mean the referral campaign milestone configuration is wrong?
Not necessarily. If “Referral Verified” is +50 and “Referral Submitted” is 0, then the observed +50/−50 pattern is the expected result of status changes. The underlying issue is typically repeated or out-of-order status updates coming from an external integration (commonly Salesforce automation).
4. What should I give my Salesforce admin to troubleshoot quickly?
Provide a few example referrals with the exact EF Circle referral-log timestamps showing: Submitted → Verified (+50) → Submitted (−50) → Verified (+50). Ask them to locate the Flow/Process/Outbound Message/integration job that updated those records at those times and to prevent re-sending submitted after referralverified.
5. How can I restore the member’s points right away so they can redeem?
If the referrals are legitimately verified, manually set those referrals back to “Referral Verified” in Program → Referrals → <campaign_name>. Each referral moved to Verified will immediately re-award the configured points (for example, +50 per referral).
6. What if the referrals keep reverting after I manually fix them?
That indicates the external system is still sending updates. The upstream Salesforce/integration automation must be corrected; otherwise, it will continue to overwrite EF Circle milestones and repeatedly add/remove points.
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  1. Priyanka Bhotika

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