Referrals
Referrals turn happy customers into a growth channel. A customer shares their referral link; when a referred friend places a qualifying first order, both sides can be rewarded.
The reward
A referral rule has two payouts:
- The referrer’s reward — points, a single-use discount code, or both, awarded to the advocate who shared the link (points default 500). See referrer vs friend rewards.
- Points for the referred friend — awarded to the new customer after their first qualifying order (default 200).
A referral counts as successful only when the friend completes a qualifying purchase — not on link clicks or sign-ups alone.
Protecting the program
Referrals are the rule most exposed to abuse, so Charm builds in three guards:
- Cooldown — days to wait after the friend’s order before the referrer’s points are released. This absorbs refunds and fraudulent orders before you pay out. 30 days is recommended; set 0 to award instantly.
- Per-customer cap — optionally cap how many referral rewards a single advocate can earn.
- Milestone bonuses — award extra points when an advocate reaches a referral count (e.g. a bonus after 3 successful referrals), on top of the per-referral reward — great for powering your most active advocates.
See Eligibility, expiry & anti-fraud for how qualifying orders and cooldowns interact.
Where it shows up
The referral share link and progress surface in the storefront widget and the customer account hub, alongside the customer’s other ways to earn.
Each customer’s referral link, code, and active discount code are also written to their Shopify customer record as charm_loyalty metafields, so Shopify Flow, Klaviyo, and Ecomail can read them into automations and emails.