Understanding how Bloop works
Bloop helps your Shopify store grow through word-of-mouth. It runs two programs in one dashboard:
- Referral: your customers invite friends. When a friend buys, both of them earn a reward.
- Affiliate: creators and publishers promote your store. They earn a commission on the sales they bring in.
You set the rules. Bloop attributes each order to the right referrer or affiliate, calculates the rewards and commissions, and holds suspicious orders for review.
This page is the high-level map: what the two programs are, why they live together, and how growth happens through each one. When you’re ready to build, How to launch a referral program and How to launch an affiliate program walk through the setup.
Two programs, one dashboard
Section titled “Two programs, one dashboard”Most stores need both kinds of word-of-mouth, and they pull on different relationships. Referral works through trust: the recommendation comes from someone the new customer knows. Affiliate works as a pay-for-performance sales channel: you pay only for the orders a promoter brings in.
Running them together means one place to manage rewards, track revenue, and see what is working. You can launch one first and add the other later, or run both from day one.
How referral growth happens
Section titled “How referral growth happens”Referral growth is a loop. A customer shares, a friend buys, and that friend can start sharing too. Every referral is two-sided. The referrer earns a reward only after their friend completes a qualifying order, so the program rewards real sales, not clicks.
You control three levers that decide how fast the loop spins:
- Who can refer: everyone, logged-in customers, or a Shopify customer segment, with segments you can exclude. See Set your referral target audience.
- What each side earns: a referee discount or free product to lower the barrier, plus a referrer reward (discount, store credit, cash, a free product, or something custom) to thank the advocate. See Set up referrer and referee rewards.
- How customers share: a unique link, a short code, or both, surfaced on your storefront. See Choose a referral sharing method.
For the customer-side experience of this loop, read The referral journey.
One program, up to five campaigns
Section titled “One program, up to five campaigns”These levers belong to a campaign, not the whole store. A campaign owns its audience, rewards, widgets, sharing channels and emails. You can have up to five campaigns, and inactive ones count toward that limit. A VIP segment can see a richer offer than everyone else, without either group knowing the other exists.
A customer can belong to several campaigns at once, and carries a separate referral link and code for each. Start with one campaign; add a second when you have a group worth treating differently. See Campaign setup.
How affiliate growth happens
Section titled “How affiliate growth happens”Affiliate growth is a recruitment-and-reward cycle. You enlist partners, give each a unique link (and optionally a discount coupon), and pay a commission only on the orders they drive.
The mechanics:
- A campaign sets the commission structure and the cookie window: how long after a click a purchase still counts for the affiliate. See Affiliate campaigns and commissions.
- Affiliates join by manual invite or self-registration, and you approve who gets in. See Managing affiliates.
- When a customer buys through an affiliate’s link, Bloop records a sale and calculates the commission. You review and approve sales, then pay out. See Affiliate sales tracking and Affiliate payouts.
For the partner-side experience, read The affiliate journey.
Where customers meet Bloop
Section titled “Where customers meet Bloop”Bloop shows up in several places, and each one has its own page for setting it up:
- Popup and widget: the launcher that opens the referral panel on your storefront, and the popup a referred friend sees on arrival.
- Referral page: a permanent page on your store that you can link from menus, emails and social bios.
- Thank-you page: a referral prompt right after checkout.
- Customer account: referral blocks on the profile and order pages of logged-in customers.
- Referral Hub: a personal dashboard where referrers track their rewards and activity.
- Share Button on product pages: a share link that sends friends straight to the product.
- Affiliate portal: where your affiliates sign in to find their link, materials and earnings.
Where to go next
Section titled “Where to go next”- New to the customer side? Read The referral journey.
- New to the partner side? Read The affiliate journey.
- Unsure of a term? Check the glossary.
- Want a tour of the dashboard? See Platform navigation.