Use Glow's referral program when you want customers to share a referral link with friends and earn points when those friends join or buy from your store.
Glow can reward the existing customer who shares the link, the new customer who uses it, or both.
Before you start
Decide when referrals should be rewarded: when the new customer signs up, when they make a first purchase, or on referred orders.
Decide how many points the existing member and the new member should earn. You can set either amount to
0if only one side should earn referral points.Make sure your loyalty widget is available on your storefront so signed-in customers can find their referral link.
If you want Glow to show referral sharing on Shopify checkout, thank-you, or customer-account surfaces, make sure the Glow checkout extension or app block is enabled for that surface.
Set up referral rewards
In Glow, go to Rewards > Referral Program.
Set Program Status to Enabled.
Under Issue rewards when..., choose when Glow should award referral rewards.
Enter the points for How many points would you like to reward the existing member?
Enter the points for How many points would you like to reward the new member?
If you choose a purchase-based or repeat-order referral option, review any extra settings that appear.
Select Save Settings.
If you are using Glow's setup wizard, you can also enable referrals by selecting Refer Friends during the program setup flow. After the wizard, use Rewards > Referral Program any time you need to change referral settings.
Choose when referrals are rewarded
New customer signs up awards referral points when Glow can connect a new customer account to a referral code. This is the simplest option when you want referral credit to happen quickly.
New customer makes their first purchase waits until the referred customer's first qualifying order is processed. Use this when you want referral rewards tied to a purchase.
Award a flat amount on every order awards the configured point amounts on qualifying orders from the referred customer.
Award a variable amount on every order based on order total calculates referral points from the referred customer's order total. For example, in a USD store, entering 5 means 5 points per USD of the referred order total.
Repeat-order referral options can create ongoing point costs, so test them carefully before promoting the program.
What customers see
When referrals are enabled, signed-in customers can get a personal referral link from the loyalty widget. Glow referral links use a referral code in the URL, such as ?kb_ref=..., so Glow can connect the new customer to the member who shared the link.
Guest shoppers may see referral earning information in the widget, but they need to create an account or sign in before they can use their own referral link.
How to test your referral program
Open the loyalty widget as an existing test customer.
Copy that customer's referral link.
Open the link in a clean browser session or use a new test customer.
Complete the action selected under Issue rewards when...
In Glow, check Analytics > Referral Stats and the customer's point activity.
For first-purchase referrals, test with a brand-new customer who has no previous orders. That gives you the cleanest result.
Common issues
Referral rewards are not awarded
Check that Program Status is Enabled and that the point amount you expected to award is greater than 0.
Then check Issue rewards when.... If referrals are set to first purchase or repeat orders, points will not be awarded at signup.
The new member did not receive points
Make sure How many points would you like to reward the new member? is greater than 0.
The new member's referral points are separate from normal signup points. If signup points are also enabled, the new customer may earn both.
A first-purchase referral did not award after an order
Use a new test customer with no previous order history. Then check whether the order qualified for order points. Order rules, disabled order points, and other order settings can affect purchase-based referral behavior.
Customers cannot find their referral link
Make sure the loyalty widget is visible on your storefront and that the customer is signed in. Guest shoppers can learn about the program, but personal referral links are tied to customer accounts.
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