Looking to launch a referral program for your Shopify store? Our review of referral apps will help!

1. BLoop Referrals & Loyalty by BSS Commerce

Shopify App Link

Shopify App Rating: 4.9 Stars, 46 Reviews

Price:

• Free Plan $0
• Referral Page + Pop Up Design
• Rules for Referrers and Referees
• Fraud Detection
• Multi-channel sharing
• Branding Customization
• Smart Tracking
• Basic Plan $20 -
• Free Plan plus…
• 7 Day Free Trial and 24/7 Support
• Flexible Fraud Detection
• Watermark Removal
• Advanced Branding Optimization

Our Take and Highlights:

• BLoop is a great option for a basic straight referral program as it is easy to launch (no code required) with easy to use templates for refer-a-friend actions. Store owners can set up specific reward types for referrers and friends such as a fixed amount or a percentage, and can even set up minimum order amounts.
• Customers are encouraged to order as soon as possible with coupon expiration dates.
• Security functions that auto-detect referrer emails at checkout prevent any scammers.
• Referrers have access to a multiple of social channels to share on including email, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Messenger.
• Program metrics on a dashboard to see performance and growth.
• Limited in functionality, great for brands that want a simple, easy to manage program.

From the Reviews:

• Customer Support is great
• Easy to get set up and start
• Low friction (does not require sign in to refer)

2. Referral Candy

Shopify App Link

Shopify App Rating: 4.9 Stars, 1717 Reviews

Price:

• Premium: $49/mo + commission (see commission calculator at bottom of page)
• Free for 30 days
• Unlimited customers
• Dashboard + Data Reports
• Live Chat
• Advanced Fraud Mgmt
• Enterprise: $3,999/mo
• Everything on Premium plus…
• Account Manager
• Priority Support
• No Commission Fees

Our Take and Highlights:

• ReferralCandy is very well made and can help you create, launch, and automate a more robust referral program. With a free 30-day trial, you get to make sure this is the right app for your program functionality before committing which makes it very low risk.
• Integrates with a variety of ecommerce platforms and marketing apps and also offers custom API and advanced integrations for those that need them.
• You can use a popup referral widget, embedded signup form, or post-purchase popup to engage your customers to participate in your referral program. You can automate using integrations to even send emails a specific time frame after a customer makes a purchase.
• Reward options are extensive as you have the opportunity to offer cash rewards, gift cards, or coupon codes.
• Branding is easy as you can customize your engagement touchpoints with your brand’s logo and banner, brand colors and font, and your own copy.
• With an extensive dashboard, you get more insights - from monitoring purchases and referrals to fraud detection that will alert you to suspicious activity.
• ReferralCandy is, as its name suggests, solely for referrals so if you’re looking for any loyalty features, this won’t be the right option for you.

From the Reviews:

• Easy to Set Up
• Great Customer Support
• Can be a bit limiting in customizations

3. Smile: Rewards + Loyalty

Shopify App Link

Shopify App Rating: 4.8 Stars, 4427 Reviews

Price:

• Free: $0/mo
• Points Program
• Referral Program
• Default Reward Emails
• 0 Integrations (besides Shopify)
• Basic Analytics Overview
• Starter: $49/mo
• Free plus…
• Program Building
• Reward Emails (Custom)
• Shopify + 1 Integration
• Growth: $199/mo
• Starter plus…
• Nudges
• Point Expirations
• Shopify + 2 integrations
• Analytics Dashboard
• Pro: $599/mo
• Growth plus…
• VIP Program
• Unlimited Integrations
• No Commission Fees

Our Take and Highlights:

• For stores who are looking to engage their customers with more than just referrals, Smile is a rewards and loyalty program that enables participants to earn points for everything from referrals and reviews to purchases and celebrating a birthday. You can even install tiers to create a status program that participants climb to earn more and better rewards.
• Rewards are very customizable and points can be redeemed for discounts (percentage and dollar), free product, free shipping, and more.
• You can set points to expire to encourage consistent engagement on the earn or spend side. You can also customize the point and level names to better reflect your company’s brand.
• The VIP Program is great to track and engage your best customers, building a solid relationship including extra discounts, products, and accelerated earning. Perks for the program can include additional gifts, contest entries, invites to special events and sales and more.
• While a program this robust sounds like it could take a lot from your team to set up, with extensive integrations and an easy to use UI, you can get going in no time. Management is also easy with Smile Admin, where you can make changes to your program, manage members, and see your program performance all in one place.

From the Reviews:

• Helpful live chat
• Customers need an email to participate
• Provides recommendations

4. SocialLadder

Price:

• Varies based on usage, you’ll need to book a demo to learn more

Our Take and Highlights:

• SocialLadder is an enterprise SAAS solution so definitely not for companies just starting out or who don’t have manpower to dedicate to its management. SocialLadder is great if your have a larger group of ambassadors as it helps streamline communications, assign digital and real-world tasks, monitor engagement, and reward successful promotion.
• Because SocialLadder also has a consumer app, your ambassadors will find it easy to sign up for tasks, submit proof, and track their own performance from their devices.
• With robust integrations and APO access, you can customize your app. With advanced analytics, you can quantify value easily and run your whole program easily and confidently.
• Getting started is easy as they provide templates, best practices, and a personalized onboarding process.
• With SocialLadder, you can invite your best customers, but you can also use their candidate discovery platform to help you find new customers and influential partners to invite to your program as well. You can filter searches on a number of metrics - from location, to interests, to demographics, to past brand affiliation so it’s easy to segment and run experiments.

From the Reviews:

• User-friendly and great customer service
• Easy to manage and activate large groups
• Easy to customize and provide a variety of engagement opportunities for different types of ambassadors

When launching your referral program, taking your time to make the right choice can save you in the long run. There are many more apps available than we’ve covered here but these are some of our favorites that our clients use. A good referral program is great not only for you as a business but also your existing customers and their referrals. Now you can start exploring the best Shopify apps that suit your ecommerce store and get ready to watch the return.

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