Referral codes
Give influencers and partners their own codes, let shoppers enter them in your cart, at checkout or on the Thank you page, and reward everyone who uses one with store credit.
Referral codes let a shopper enter a code, such as an influencer's code, in your cart, at checkout, or on the Thank you page after they order. They're tagged with that code, and an order-value automation rewards them with store credit.
It works for guest checkouts as well as logged-in customers.
New to referrals? Follow the step-by-step guide in Setting up referrals.
How it works
In your cart or at checkout, the shopper enters a code in a Referral Code block. If the code is active, they see your success message. The code is saved on their order, and nothing is added to their customer record yet.
When the order is placed, Stork Credit tags the order's customer with the code, for example
referral:SUMMER25. For a guest, that's the customer Shopify matched or created from the email they entered.When the order is paid, your referral reward rule sees the tag and credits the customer.
Because nothing is tagged until an order exists, entering a code and then abandoning the cart or checkout earns nothing.
On the Thank you page
The order already exists when the shopper sees the Thank you page, so a code entered there works slightly differently:
The shopper enters a code in the Referral Code block on the Thank you page. If the code is active, Stork Credit tags the order's customer with it straight away.
If the order is already paid, which is usual for card payments, Stork Credit runs your referral reward rules again for that order. The shopper is credited for the order they just placed. They don't have to wait for their next order.
If the order isn't paid yet, for example with bank transfer or cash on delivery, the reward is issued when the order is paid, as for any other order.
The block shows what the order earned, for example You've earned $5.00 in store credit on this order. For an unpaid order it shows what the shopper will earn once it's paid.
A code entered on the Thank you page can't be removed. It must be entered within 24 hours of the order being placed. After that, the block no longer accepts codes.
Setting up
1. Create your codes
Go to Referral codes in the app and fill in:
Code
What shoppers type in the Referral Code block. Not case-sensitive: summer25 and SUMMER25 are the same code. It can't be changed later
Label
Optional. A note for you, such as the influencer's name
Success message
Shown in the Referral Code block when the code is accepted. Defaults to Code Successfully Applied
Each code's tag is shown in the list, for example referral:SUMMER25. Use Edit to change a code's label or success message later, and Disable to stop a code being accepted without deleting it.
2. Create a reward rule
A code on its own doesn't issue credit. The reward comes from an order-value automation limited to customers with the code's tag. The quickest way to create one:
Create reward rule next to a code creates a rule for that code only, for example to give one influencer's audience a bigger reward.
Create reward rule for all codes creates one rule matching every tag that starts with
referral:.
Either button opens a new order-value rule that's already filled in:
Eligibility: Customers with specific tags, set to the code's tag.
Uses per customer: Once per customer.
Enter the reward amount, adjust anything else, save, and activate the rule. You can also start from the Referral Reward template.
3. Add somewhere to enter codes
There are three places to add a Referral Code block. Use any of them, or all of them.
Referral Code theme block
Your cart page, or any other page in your theme
Any plan
Referral Code Thank you page block
The Thank you page shoppers see after ordering
Any plan
Referral Code checkout block
Your checkout
Shopify Plus only
The Referral codes page has shortcuts for the theme and checkout blocks. Under Add the Referral Code block, Add to theme opens the theme editor with the block already added to your cart page, and Add to checkout opens the checkout editor. Add to checkout only appears on stores on Shopify Plus.
Theme block: click Add to theme, then Save. To add it by hand, go to Online Store → Themes → Customize, open your Cart page (or any other page), then Add block → Apps → Referral Code, and Save. You can change its heading, button text and messages, and its colours, in the block's settings.
Thank you page block: Settings → Checkout → Customize, choose Thank you from the page menu at the top, then Add app block → Referral Code, and Save.
Checkout block: click Add to checkout, or go to Settings → Checkout → Customize. Then Add app block → Referral Code. Place it where shoppers will see it, then Save.
A code applied with the theme block stays on the cart. So if you use both blocks, a shopper who applied a code in the cart sees it already applied in checkout, and can remove it there.
For more on both blocks, see Cart & checkout widgets.
If you also use the Automatic Store Credit checkout block, it updates as soon as a code is applied or removed, so the shopper sees the credit their code earns before they pay. See Cart & checkout widgets.
What shoppers see
Code accepted: your success message, the code, and a Remove link to take it off or switch to another code before paying.
Code accepted on the Thank you page: your success message and the store credit the order earned, or will earn once it's paid. If the order doesn't qualify for a reward, the shopper sees the code instead. If a code was already entered in the cart or at checkout, the block shows that code instead of the field.
Thank you page, more than 24 hours after ordering: This code can no longer be applied.
Unknown or disabled code: Invalid referral code.
Logged-in customer who already used a code: Referral code already applied. Their account keeps its first code.
Rules worth knowing
First code wins. A customer keeps the first referral tag they receive. A guest whose email belongs to a customer who already used a code keeps that original code, and the new one is ignored.
Every customer can use a code, not only new customers. Pair the reward rule with Once per customer so each customer is rewarded once.
A code disabled before the order is placed isn't applied, even if the shopper entered it while it was active.
Guests receive the credit on the customer record matching their email. They sign in with that email to spend it, and Shopify's store credit notification tells them it's there.
Accelerated checkout buttons that skip the checkout page, and draft order invoices, don't show the Referral Code checkout block, so no code can be entered there. Draft order invoices never carry a code.
Removing the tag from a customer doesn't take back credit already issued.
Promotion stacking applies on the Thank you page too. If stacking is off and another automation already credited the order when it was paid, a code entered on the Thank you page tags the customer but doesn't add a second reward to that order. See Promotion stacking.
The order confirmation email has already been sent by the time a shopper uses the Thank you page, so credit earned there doesn't appear in it. Shopify's store credit notification still tells the customer about it.
Languages
The Referral Code block on the Thank you page is translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Brazilian Portuguese, including its messages about earned credit. It follows the language the shopper sees your checkout in, and other languages show in English. The checkout block's field and button labels are translated into the same languages.
Your success message is always shown exactly as you typed it, whatever the shopper's language.
Troubleshooting
Open the reward rule's Runs tab to see why an order was or wasn't credited. Runs started by a code entered on the Thank you page are marked Referral code entered on the Thank you page. See Run history. The most common reasons:
Customer doesn't have a matching tag
The order has no Referral code under Additional details, or the rule's tag doesn't match the code. Codes entered on the Thank you page don't appear under Additional details. Check the customer's tags instead
Customer already rewarded by this rule (once per customer)
The customer was rewarded on an earlier order
No customer on order
Shopify didn't attach a customer to the order, so there was no one to credit
Best-value only: another promotion already credited this order
Promotion stacking is off, and another automation credited the order before the code was entered on the Thank you page
Already credited for this order
The rule already credited this order. Nothing extra is issued
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