Members play a part
One of the best ways in which new members are generated is through our current members who have day to day contact with people who run businesses or who are self-employed and know the benefits of FSB membership.
As part of the Member Referral Scheme (previously known as the Lead Generator Scheme), not only does the new member gain access to a range of market-leading benefits upon joining the FSB, but you also receive a reward for your referral.
As an FSB member, you only need to submit your details via this link to register. Once registered for the Member Referral Scheme you will be issued with a personal URL or PURL. Share your personalised link with friends, family and fellow business owners, who can use it to join FSB online (Terms and conditions apply, please see here for guidelines).
By using your PURL, we can then assign the referral to you, making you eligible for a £30 incentive payment, payable 28 days after the subscription payment of the new membership has been received.
To claim an incentive payment or if you have any queries, please email [email protected].
Terms and conditions
Lead Generator Terms & Conditions and User Guidelines
Terms and Conditions
Lead generators must be registered. All leads must join using the Lead Generator specific PURL and registered into our system so the source can be tracked. The incentive payment is payable when a lead becomes a Business Essentials member of FSB and 28 days after their subscription payment has been received. To comply with HMRC regulations, Lead Generators will be invited to invoice for the amount due for the leads provided that are eligible for payment at that time. In the event of any fault, mistake, misunderstanding or dispute concerning the operation of any part of the promotion the FSB’s decision shall be final. Federation of Small Businesses reserves the right to amend/withdraw this promotion at any time without prior notice. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers. Registered Office: National Federation of Self Employed and Small Businesses Limited, Sir Frank Whittle Way, Blackpool Business Park, Blackpool, FY4 2FE. Registered in England No. 1263540.
Guidelines
We are in an ever-changing environment when it comes to regulations around Data Protection (DPR), as an organisation FSB must ensure it remains fully compliant with these regulations in order to protect the organisation and its reputation.
Current legislation requires express written consent from an individual for their personal details to be passed onto an organisation for processing, our current Lead Generation scheme process does not provide the opportunity to capture this consent formally.
As a result of the above, effective from the beginning of June 2017 we will be making changes to the current Lead Generation scheme process to ensure we are aligned to current DPR.
To meet this challenge we will be providing personalised URLs for registered Lead Generators. The Lead Generator will be required to provide this link to the potential member for registration, which would then default straight to the https://join.fsb.org.uk/ page. Following sign-up and payment, the Lead Generator would then receive their payment in the usual way.
The current system process is being developed to provide the potential member with the option of online or telephone joining or to request a Membership Advisor visit, however this will not be available from the beginning of June.
Background
Personalised URLs (PURLs) are specific URLs that contain the ID of the Lead Generator. This URL is then used to track all traffic the Lead Generator sends to the FSB website for payment processing purposes.
In the case of FSB Lead Generators, instead of inputting all the relevant contact information into the system manually they would simply provide the potential member with their personalised PURL, the potential member would then simply click on https://join.fsb.org.uk/lg/1230001 where ‘1230001’ is the Lead Generator code.
This would then automatically re-route them to the Lead Generator specific https://join.fsb.org.uk/ page.
Lead generator payments will continue to be paid aligned to the current scheme rules, i.e. £30 payment for each Business Essentials (Full) member joining FSB.
As an example these URLs are widely used in affiliate marketing, especially in the publishing industry where authors distribute their affiliate links to reviewers and readers.
PURLs have a number of benefits for FSB:
- Ensures that FSB remains compliant with current Data Protection regulations (DPR)
- Smoother more direct process for potential members to join or request a Membership Advisor visit
- Prevent Lead Generators from losing out on potential members who they have spent time on
- Assist in signing up those potential members that have dropped or not converted
- Very easily trackable
- Enable Lead Generators to promote FSB membership more effectively
- Help drive traffic to the FSB website
- Simple to share via email and social media (within the guidelines set below)
How will they work?
The PURL would ensure a Lead Generator is correctly attributed with the online joiner rather than relying on the current manual process.
The Lead Generator would be attributed with the lead generation payment from a new member in the same manner as the current scheme.
Usage
We want to ensure that our Lead Generators maximise their chances of generating new members using all the tools at their disposal, whether that be face-to-face, over the phone, in business meetings, via social media or email for which the PURL can be used.
PURLs are a tool which can be utilised for this purpose.
However, to ensure that FSB gets the maximum positive outcome from these PURLs, we have put into place a set of guidelines to assist you on how best these can be utilised.
These guidelines will as an organisation make sure that we don’t:
- Undermine the excellent work being done by the FSB Marketing Team and the field based Membership Advisors (MAs)
- Start ‘spamming’ audiences with multiple communications messages
- Use this as an opportunity to sell memberships totally online
The role of a Lead Generator has always been to present potential new members to FSB, either in a face-to-face or business setting. The PURL should only really be used once a potential member is ready to sign up to FSB.
PURLs should not be seen as a way of reaching potential larger audiences, through mass (‘spam’) marketing campaigns.
Websites and blogs
You are requested not to set up your own websites and blogs using this PURL.
Online marketing
You are requested not to undertake any form of pay-per-click advertising (PPC) on Google, Bing or Facebook to drive direct traffic to the PURL as this is likely to detract from the considerable search engine optimisation (SEO) and PPC work being done by the Marketing Team.
Geographic territories
We recognise that social media has no boundaries and therefore there will invariably be potential members from all around the UK which you should be free to promote sign up via this route. However there needs to be recognition that a Lead Generator does still need to represent their specific region or branch territory.
Social media and blogs
You are requested not to mount any direct marketing campaigns on social media built around the PURL. For example, we request that you do not tweet: ‘Interested in auto enrolment for your staff? Click here for more info,’ where the hyperlink directs people automatically to the PURL.
We would also request that you must be careful not to use the PURL when chatting on Forums or Groups on social media. As a rule of thumb, these are public forums; we want the PURL to be used in private conversations, 1-1 with potential members interested in FSB membership.
We would also request that you do not list the PURL in the boilerplate of your Twitter account or as one of the websites listed on your Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media profiles.
However, during the course of conversations with potential members via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, it is entirely reasonable for you to be able to add in your PURL.
Avoiding abuse of the system
As a Lead Generator you will be able to make good use of these PURLs. However we do need to protect the brand and ensure that these links aren’t being misused.
There may be isolated instances where Lead Generators deliberately are seen to be ‘bending’ the above guidelines. Where this is the case we would have no option than to take the following steps to protect the organisation:
- If the PURL is used for purposes other than those listed above, Lead Generators could be locked out of the URL for a time period of up to 30 days. In addition, FSB also reserves the right to alter their URL details following/during any lock-out.
- In the case of abuse, the Lead Generator won’t be eligible for the lead generation payment from the original URL on joiners they generate during/after lock-out but members will still be able to join via standard current online joining source.
In conclusion
These links are provided to support you the Lead Generator with promoting new memberships for FSB, aligned to current Data Protection regulations. PURL’s should only be used in line with the guidelines provided, they can be used in a number of situations to aid recruit of new members:
- Networking
- Business Shows
- Events
- Face to Face
- Social Media
- Business relationships
PURLs should not be seen as stand-alone marketing tools, effective use will ultimately provide a better member joining experience. If you have any specific questions or require further clarification please speak to your Regional Chair or contact Kevin Hall, the FSB’s Head of Sales.