How to set up referrer and friend rewards

Available on

Every plan, including Free.

The right reward gives your customer a reason to share and their friend a reason to buy. Set what the referrer (your customer who shares) and the referee (their friend who buys) each get.

Rewards at a glance

Reward type	Who gets it	Best for
Discount coupon	Referrer, friend	Most stores. Issued automatically as a Shopify code
Store credits	Referrer	Customers who come back to buy again. Issued automatically
Free product	Referrer, friend	A sample, a refill or an add-on. Issued automatically
Cash	Referrer	One-off purchases. You pay it yourself
Custom	Referrer	A gift or service outside Shopify. You approve and deliver it
No reward	Referrer	Rewarding only the friend

Best practice

Always reward the friend too. Two-sided rewards work better than referrer-only ones. See designing your offer.

Choose a referrer reward type

The referrer reward is what your customer earns after their friend buys.

1. Open the referrer reward

   1. Open your campaign, then click Rewards → Referrer reward:

      

   2. Click Edit reward:

      

2. Choose the type and what it needs

   1. In Reward types, choose a type from the table above:

      

   2. Set what the type needs:

      • Discount coupon: see Set the discount value.
      • Store credits: enter an amount.
      • Free product: pick up to 5 products and a quantity for each. Bloop adds them to the cart when the code is applied, and the code works only with the customer’s email.
      • Custom: write a short description, up to 500 characters. It stays Pending until you approve it in Orders.
      • Cash: do the setup below first.

   3. Click Save in the bar at the top of the page.

Cash

Cash is tracked in Bloop and paid by you. Shopify never issues it. Do both steps before you turn it on:

1. In Settings → Referral → Payment method, tick the methods you will pay with. To add your own, click Add payment method:

   

2. Add the Reward Payment Method block to your customer account Profile page, so referrers can tell you where to send the money:

   1. On the Payment method page, click customer account editor. It opens on the Profile page:

      

   2. Under Main, click Add block, then under Apps choose Reward Payment Method:

      

   3. Click Save.

Warning

Without both, referrers earn rewards you cannot pay.

Next: give the friend something too.

Choose a referee reward type

The friend reward persuades a new customer to place a first order. Only first-time customers can claim it, see who can be referred.

1. Open the referee reward

   1. In the campaign menu, click Rewards → Referee reward.

   2. In Reward types, choose Discount coupon or Free product.

   3. Set the value, then click Save:

      

Set the discount value

For a Discount coupon, choose how the discount is counted in Discount value:

• Percentage grows with the order size. Best when your prices vary a lot.
• Fixed amount is the same on every order. Best when your prices are similar.

New campaigns start with 15% for the referrer and 10% for the friend. Keep both rewards together below your profit on one referred order. To find the best value, run an A/B test.

Purchase type and subscriptions

Optional. The next three settings sit together on the Edit reward page, below Discount value: Purchase type (1), Apply to products (2) and Minimum requirements (3):

In Purchase type, match how you sell. A One-time purchase discount doesn’t apply to a subscription order, and a Subscription discount doesn’t apply to a one-time order. Pick Both only if your store sells both ways: otherwise Bloop can’t apply the discount.

For subscriptions, Recurring payments limit (0-99) is how many renewals get the discount.

Warning

0 means unlimited. The discount then repeats on every renewal, which is rarely what you want.

Apply to products

Optional. A discount can apply to all products, or only to chosen products, collections or variants. Use it to protect margin on items you can’t discount.

Important

Reward text shows the same “30% off” whether the discount covers everything or one collection, so customers expect it on every product. If you limit the products, click Customize reward display and say which products it covers. See Reward display.

Minimum requirements

Optional. Add one rule to a reward. The default is None.

• Minimum purchase amount and minimum quantity of items: the customer keeps the code, and it works only on an order that meets the rule. They don’t apply to store credit or cash.
• Minimum quantity of referees: decides when the referrer is rewarded. With 5, they earn on their 5th successful referral, then on the 10th, and so on.

Bonus reward

On top of the main referrer reward, you can add a Bonus reward with its own type, value and minimum, such as $5 store credit on every 3rd referral. See How to give referrers a bonus reward.

Discount code prefix

Optional. Every code starts with a prefix. The Discount code prefix on the referrer reward page applies to every tier and to the referral code your referrers share. The referee reward has its own Discount code prefix for the friend’s codes:

Prefix	Code looks like	Use it when
Custom text	BLOOP_ and a unique code	You want all codes to read as one campaign
Referrer’s first name	SARAH_ and a unique code	You want the code to feel personal

If a referrer has no first name, Bloop uses your custom text. Changing the prefix changes the codes of the whole campaign.

Change a reward after codes are issued

• Changes apply only to rewards issued after you save. Codes already in customers’ hands keep their old settings. To update those codes too, contact support from the app.
• While an A/B test runs on a campaign, its rewards are read-only. End the test to edit them.

Next steps

• Reward referrers who keep sharing with a bonus reward.
• Pay more as a referrer brings in more friends with FlexiTiers.
• Set expiry, the review period and when a reward is revoked in Reward timing.
• Spell out how the reward reads to customers in Reward display.
• Choose how referrers share in Referral methods.
• Find the best value with A/B testing.
• Match rewards to your economics in Choosing rewards.