Refer a friend lets your customers share a referral link. When someone they refer places a qualifying order, both sides win: the referring customer earns points or a reward, and their friend gets a discount on their first purchase.

The rule has two halves, one for each side. The referrer's points start out pending and only become usable after an approval period, so you pay out on referrals that stick rather than on every click.

Your happiest customers are your cheapest marketing. This rule turns them into a growth channel, and hands the people they bring in a reason to place a first order.

Between the approval period, a minimum spend, a monthly cap and the fraud checks below, you can keep the cost of that growth predictable.

Set what a customer gets each time someone uses their link and buys:

The friend gets a voucher for their first purchase. Choose one of:

On a percentage voucher you can cap the discount, so it never exceeds the figure you set however large the order. At 10% off with a $50 cap, a $500 order gets $50 off and a $900 order still gets $50 off.

You can control whether a referral code stacks with your other discounts. Which combination settings you get depends on the type of code the offer produces:

On Shopify, you can limit the referral discount to one collection. Search for the collection by name in the rule and select it.

A friend whose basket has nothing from that collection sees a message saying the code is not valid for their items. You can replace that wording with your own in Collection restriction text.

On our Custom site solution, referral codes have to be imported into the program rather than generated for you.

The two halves of the rule are measured against the same order, and we check the referrer's minimum spend against what the friend actually paid, after their discount. Set them carelessly and nobody earns anything.

Rule minimum spend = voucher minimum spend − voucher discount

Say you want the referrer to earn once their friend spends $20, and the friend's voucher is $10 off. If you also set the voucher's own minimum spend to $20, the friend can order exactly $20, pay $10, and the referrer gets nothing.

Raise the voucher's minimum spend to $30 instead. The friend now spends at least $30, pays $20 after the discount, and the referrer earns.

You can block referrals where the referrer and the friend share an IP address, which is the usual sign of someone referring themselves.

A blocked friend sees: "Oh dear! It looks like this referral has been unsuccessful. Please contact us to resolve the issue." Both the heading and the message can be reworded from the Languages tab.

Cap how many referrals one customer can earn from in a month, and choose what happens when they hit it:

Guest referrals let a shopper who is not a member share a referral link, with no account needed to refer. Turn it on from the referral rule and the referral pop-up becomes available to any visitor.

A guest gives their name and email to generate their link. The code is tied to that email and can only be used by the person it was issued to, so a guest referral code is single-use rather than the usual five.

When a guest referral converts, the guest earns as normal but has to create an account before they can spend anything.

This is the email your customer sends to their friend. To change it, go to Program, then Rules, and choose Customize referral email from the actions menu on the Refer a friend row.

Our guide to customizing LoyaltyLion emails covers what you can change.

A friend who forgets to use the code still made the purchase, so you can pay both sides manually.

Repeat for the other side of the referral.

No. A referral only counts once the friend has placed a real order, so the minimum has to be at least 1.

Codes do not cycle until they are used, so if a customer shares their link in a group chat and three people click at once, they all get the same code. With single-use codes two of them would hit an error at the checkout.

Five uses keeps that from happening without leaving your store full of unused codes. It is one use per person, and it is not adjustable. A guest referral code is the exception: it is tied to one email and can be used once.

Award both sides by hand, as above. Neither party has to lose out over a forgotten code.

No. Someone who used another discount on their first purchase is no longer a new customer, so the referral discount will not apply on that account or email.

No. The referral activity is created pending and linked to that order, and it only approves when the purchase points do. If the friend returns the order and loses their points, the referrer loses theirs.

Yes, as long as they use their code. The code is what ties the order back to the referrer, not the browser session, so a different device or a direct visit is fine.

A basket with nothing from the collection shows the not-valid message.

A mixed basket is fine, and the discount applies only to the items from the restricted collection.

Facebook builds the preview itself from the shared URL, so the image comes from your store rather than from us and cannot be changed here. We also have no permission to write post or Messenger text, so your wording does not carry across.

No. On our Custom site solution they have to be imported by hand.

Your coupon setup is probably stopping the claim. In Magento, go to Marketing, then Cart price rules, open [LoyaltyLion] Referrals flat, and check Uses per coupon and Uses per customer against the example below.

If it still happens, email support@loyaltylion.com and we will look into it.