Available on the Awesome plan. Start your 15-day free trial and let customers bring in new buyers with referral links!

Our Referrals feature helps you turn happy customers into brand advocates.

With a simple widget added to your store’s Thank You page or Order Status page, customers receive a unique referral link they can share with friends.

You can choose to offer 1-way rewards (only their friends get a reward) or 2-way rewards (both them and their friend get a reward), making it easy to grow your customer base through word of mouth.

How referrals work

Once the Referrals widget is added, here’s how the full referral flow works:

After a customer places an order, they will see a referral link on the Thank you page and/or the Order Status page.
The customer copies the referral link and shares it with their friends via email, social media, or messaging apps.
Clicking on the referral link, their friend will see the Congratulations page with the Claim your reward button to get their discount.
When the friend places an order, their discount will be automatically applied at checkout.
(Optional) If you’ve enabled a customer reward, the original customer will receive a reward via email once the friend's order is completed and fulfilled.

Set up your referrals

🎦 Learn how to set up coupons with our interactive guide

Step 1: Enable referrals in Judge.me

To enable the referrals feature:

From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Referrals.
In the Referral widget section, select "Enable widget on the checkout page".
Click Save.

Step 2: Add the Referrals widget

To add the Referrals widget on your Thank you page:

From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout.
In the Configurations section, click Customize.
Click the Apps icon (the third one on the left menu).
In the Rewards section, click the (+) icon next to Referrals Widget and select Thank you.
Click Save.

To add the Referrals widget on the Order status page in Customer accounts:

From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout.
In the Configurations section, click Customize.
Click the Apps icon (the third one on the left menu).
In the Rewards section, click the (+) icon next to Referrals Widget and select Order status.
Click Save.

Note: Still using the legacy referral widget? We recommend switching to the new Referral Widget built with Shopify App Blocks for better customization and compatibility. After adding the widget, make sure to publish your App Blocks in the Shopify Theme Editor to activate it.

Customize your referral settings

To launch your referral program, you just need to complete the 2 steps above. If you’d like more control over rewards, coupon behavior, or design, you can configure the following options:

1. Customize the Referrals widget

To customize the referral widget that your customers see:

From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Referrals > Referral widget.
Click the Customize page and widget button.
Under the Referral widget section, edit the texts shown to your customer after placing an order:

Field	Default texts
Widget heading text	Give `{{ friend_reward }}` to a friend
Widget body text	Share this link with a friend so they can claim `{{ friend_reward }}` when they make a purchase.

To customize the friend reward page that their friends see when clicking on the referral link:

In the Friend reward page section:
- Use the Button color field to choose a color for the Claim your reward button.
- Enable Display store logo to show your brand logo on the reward page.
Customize the reward page text shown to the referred friend.

Field	Default texts
Page heading text	You got `{{ friend_reward }}` off!
Page body text	Congratulations! A friend has sent you a reward for your next purchase at `{{ store_name }}` (discount applied at the checkout).
Page button text	Claim your reward

2. Set the Friend reward

To choose how much discount friends will receive when they use the referral link:

From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Referrals.
Scroll down to the Friend reward section.
Choose either "Percentage off" or "Fixed amount".
Enter the discount value (e.g. 10 for 10% or $10).
Click Save.

To view friend reward discounts created through referrals:

From your Shopify admin, go to Discounts.
Look for discount codes in this format: Judge.me Referrals (Order #1058) Friend Discount - JM-VGE3P3O.
Here's what each part of the code means:

Part	What it means
Judge.me Referrals	Indicates that the discount was generated by the Judge.me Referrals feature
Order #1058	Refers to the original order placed by the customer. This helps you trace which order the referral comes from
Friend Discount	Shows that this discount is for the customer's friends
JM-VGE3P3O	Unique referral code This is what the customer shares with their friends, in this link format: `https://judge.me/ref/JM-VGE3P3O`

3. Set the Customer reward (optional)

To choose a reward for the referrer (your original customer):

From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Referrals.
Scroll down to the Customer reward section.
Choose either "Percentage off" or "Fixed amount". Default to "No incentive".
Enter the discount value (e.g. 10%).
Click Save.

The customer will receive their reward via email once their friend's order is fulfilled.

To edit the customer reward mail:

From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Referrals.
Scroll down to the Customer reward section.
Click the Edit customer reward email button.
Adjust the following texts to your likings and click Save.

Field	Default texts
Email subject	Your `{{ store_name }}` referral reward is ready!
Preheader text	You got `{{ customer_reward }}` off!
Email content	Congratulations! Your friend just made a purchase at `{{ store_name }}` using your referral link. You can use your `{{ customer_reward }}` coupon next time you shop. The discount's applied automatically.
Confirmation button text	Claim your reward

To view customer reward discounts created through referrals:

From your Shopify admin, go to Discounts.
Look for discount codes in this format: Judge.me Referrals (Order #1058) Advocated Reward - JM-VGE3P3O.
Here's what each part of the code means:

Part	What it means
Judge.me Referrals	Indicates that the discount was generated by the Judge.me Referrals feature
Order #1058	Refers to the original order placed by the customer. This helps identify the referrer.
Advocated Reward	Shows that this discount was issued as a reward to the referring customer
JM-VGE3P3O	Unique referral code that the customer can use in their next order

4. Set the requirement and eligibility

Fine-tune your referral campaign by setting rules that apply to both Friend and Customer rewards.

To set requirements for orders, customers, and the validity of the rewards:

From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Referrals.
Scroll down to the Requirement and eligibility section.
Under each section below, adjust the settings as needed.
Click Save.

Requirement

Option	What it means
No minimum requirement	The referral discount applies to any order
Minimum order value	The referral discount only applies to orders with value higher than a specified amount
Minimum quantity of items	The referral discount only applies to orders with more than a specified number of items

Customer eligibility

Option	What it means
Anyone can use the coupon	Any customers can use the referral link, making it easier to share and redeem the discount. However, this means, the customers can use their own referral link, in which case: While the discount will still be applied to the next order, we won't generate future Friend reward coupons for this order. We don’t send the Customer reward coupon (if enabled) when the referred order is fulfilled.
Only new customers can use	Only customers who have never ordered before can use the referral link. This ensures referrals are bringing in new customers and prevents old customers from using their own link to get a discount again.

Validity

Start date

Option	What it means
This coupon starts immediately	The coupon becomes active as soon as it's generated.
Delay the start date of this coupon by	The coupon becomes active only after a specified number of days. Useful if you want to delay when customers can use the discount.

End date

Option	What it means
This coupon never expires	The coupon can be used at any time—there’s no time limit.
This coupon expires after	The coupon will expire after a specified number of days.

5. Discount combinations

Judge.me referrals are treated as Order discounts in Shopify. They can be combined with Product discounts or Shipping discounts in Shopify.

To allow customers to use both a Judge.me referral and a Shopify discount at the same time:

From your Shopify admin:
1. Go to Discounts.
2. Create a new discount or open an existing Product or Shipping discount that you want to combine.
3. Scroll down to the Combinations section.
4. Enable "Order discounts".
5. Click Save.
Then, from your Judge.me admin:
1. Go to Settings > Referrals.
2. Scroll down to the Requirement and eligibility section.
3. Under Combinations at the bottom, enable some or all of the following options:
  - Product discounts
  - Order discounts
  - Shipping discounts
4. Click Save.

Note: Combining multiple discounts can significantly reduce cart value. We recommend testing different combinations to find a balance between customer incentive and profit margin.

FAQs

Can I email Judge.me referral link to all my customers?

At the moment, the referral link is shown only to customers on the Thank You or Order Status page after they place an order. It’s not designed to be shared manually or through other channels.

Troubleshoot

I've added the Referrals widget but it's not showing

Issue:

You have added the Referrals widget block to your Thank you page or Order Status page, but the actual widget is not showing.

Why it happens:

If the Referrals widget block has been added on the Thank you or Order status page but the widget is not showing, it's likely that the referral feature hasn't been enabled in Judge.me settings.

How to fix:

Follow Step 1 to enable the referrals feature.