Create a manual referral reward
A manual referral reward lets you grant an ambassador a referral commission or referral points that Roster didn't automatically track from an order. Roster normally creates referral rewards for you whenever a referred order comes in, but there are times you'll want to add one by hand — for example, to make up for a sale that wasn't attributed (a missed or broken referral link), to reward an offline or phone order that never touched your online store, or to make a goodwill adjustment for an ambassador. Manual rewards live alongside automatic ones on your Referral Rewards page and flow into the same approval, payout, and points workflows.
When to create a manual referral reward
- Correct a missed attribution — an order that should have been credited to an ambassador but wasn't (e.g., the customer didn't use the referral link or code).
- Reward an offline or off-platform sale — a phone order, in-person sale, or a purchase made somewhere Roster doesn't track.
- Make a goodwill or one-off adjustment — give an ambassador extra commission or points outside of your normal reward rules.
If you instead need to change the amount on a reward Roster already created automatically, or approve/reject existing rewards, see Approve & reject referral rewards.
Step-by-step instructions
- Open the Referral Rewards page
- From the left-hand navigation menu, go to the Referral Rewards page.
- Make sure you're on the Referral Rewards tab (this is where the create button appears).
- Start a new referral reward
- In the top-right corner of the page, click New Referral Reward.
- The New Referral Reward window opens.
- Choose the ambassador
- In the Ambassador field, search for and select the ambassador who should receive the reward.
- This field is required — you can't save the reward without selecting an ambassador.
- Enter the order details
- Order date (required) — Select the date the reward should be associated with. This defaults to today's date and can't be set to a future date.
- Order number (optional) — Enter a reference number for the order this reward relates to (for example, the order number from an offline or phone sale). This helps you and your team trace the reward later. Order numbers accept letters and numbers only and are limited to 30 characters.
- Referred revenue (optional) — Enter the sale amount that generated this reward, if you want it recorded on the reward for reporting. This is for your records and does not change the reward amount you enter below.
- Choose the reward type and amount
Under Reward, choose one:
- Commission — Enter the dollar amount to award. Roster uses your brand's default currency. The commission amount must be greater than 0.
- Points — Enter the number of points to award. Points must be a whole number of at least 1 (no decimals).
Choose Commission to add money the ambassador can be paid, or Points to add points toward their milestones and leaderboards. To learn how each works, see Set up referral commissions and Set up referral points.
- Set the approval status
Under Status, choose the status the reward should have when it's created:
- Pending — The reward is created awaiting approval, just like an automatically tracked reward. You (or an auto-approval rule) can approve it later from the Referral Rewards page.
- Approved — The reward is created already approved, so it's immediately eligible for payout (commissions) or added to the ambassador's points balance (points).
The Status you choose controls whether the reward needs approval. Choose Pending if you want the manual reward to go through your normal review process, or Approved if you're confident it's correct and want it to count right away. See Approve & reject referral rewards for how approval affects payouts and points.
- Add notes (optional)
- Ambassador note (optional) — A short, single-line note the ambassador will see on the reward. Maximum 100 characters. This field is optional — leave it blank if you don't want to add a message.
- Internal note (optional) — Just below the Ambassador note, a note visible only to your team, useful for recording why the reward was created (e.g., "Missed attribution — order #1234"). Maximum 500 characters.
- Create the reward
- Click Create to save the manual referral reward.
- The new reward appears in the list on the Referral Rewards page, tied to the ambassador you selected.
What happens after you create a manual reward
- The reward appears on your Referral Rewards page alongside automatically tracked rewards. You can find it later by filtering the list by ambassador, date, status, or reward type — see Filter referral rewards.
- Commission rewards follow the same payout path as any other commission. Once the reward is Approved (either because you created it as Approved, or you approve it afterward), it becomes eligible to be included in a payment and shows up on the Unsent Payments tab, ready to be paid via your PayPal/Venmo integration or marked as paid externally.
- Points rewards are added to the ambassador's points balance once Approved, and count toward their milestones and any leaderboards.
"Manual" vs. "Adjustment" in your rewards list. A manual referral reward is one you create yourself — the kind this article covers. You may also see entries labeled Adjustment (these were previously labeled "Manual"). Adjustments are created by Roster, not by you: when an order that already paid out commission is later refunded (fully or partially), Roster adds a negative referral reward to correct it. You can accept an adjustment (which debits the ambassador's balance) or reject it (the ambassador keeps the commission). So if you spot an entry you didn't create, it's almost certainly an Adjustment rather than a manual reward.
FAQs
Does a manual referral reward need approval before it counts?
It depends on the Status you choose when creating it. If you create it as Pending, it needs to be approved (by you or an auto-approval rule) before a commission can be paid or points are added. If you create it as Approved, it counts right away.
Can I add both commission and points in one manual reward?
No. Each manual referral reward is either a commission or points. If you want to give an ambassador both for the same sale, create two manual rewards — one as Commission and one as Points.
Will the ambassador be notified?
Manual referral rewards flow through the same reward and notification system as automatically tracked rewards, so an ambassador can be emailed about a new reward just as they would be for an auto-tracked one. Use the Ambassador note field if you'd like to include a short message the ambassador can see on the reward.
If the reward is one you later mark as fulfilled, Roster gives you the choice to notify the ambassador at that point: when you mark it fulfilled, a pop-up offers an opt-in "notify by email" checkbox with an editable email template (for example, a subject like "Your reward has been fulfilled, {FirstName}!"). The notification is opt-in for each action — the ambassador is only emailed if you leave the box checked. <!-- [VERIFY] The fulfillment email (PROD-2013) applies to fulfillable rewards; confirm whether a cash/commission or points manual reward can be marked fulfilled and therefore trigger this notification, or whether it applies only to other reward types. -->
How is this different from editing an existing reward?
Creating a manual referral reward adds a brand-new reward record for a sale Roster didn't track. If Roster already created a reward for an order and you only need to change its amount or status, edit that existing reward instead — see Approve & reject referral rewards.
Where do I set my default commission and points rates?
Manual rewards let you enter any amount directly. Your program's standard, automatically applied rates are configured in each program's referral settings — see Set up referral commissions and Set up referral points. To give specific ambassadors a different standard rate, see Set up contact-specific commissions.
Need help?
If you have any questions about creating manual referral rewards, reach out to our customer success team at [email protected]. We're here to help!