Shopify referral app that is free on every plan.
Essential Loyalty gives every customer their own link to share. A friend orders through it, and both of them get a reward: the friend at checkout, and the customer who shared once that order is paid.
- ★ 5.0 430+ reviews
- Free plan, no card
Word of mouth, tracked and paid
A referral program turns one happy customer into a way of finding more. They share a link, a friend buys, and you only pay a reward once a real order lands.
Customers who arrive this way are also worth more. Schmitt, Skiera and Van den Bulte (2011) followed about 10,000 customers for three years and found the referred ones were worth at least 16% more over their lifetime.
That is research on referral programs in general, not Essential's own numbers.
How a referral works, in four steps
Nothing here is set up customer by customer. Everyone has a link the day the program goes live: a friend claims 10% off and orders, and the customer who shared gets their 10% once that order is paid.
-
01
The customer shares a link
Everyone gets one automatically, in their account on your store.
-
02
The friend claims a reward
In a popup, with no sign-up form first. Claiming the reward creates their account.
-
03
The friend places an order
A real order on your store, with the reward applied at checkout.
-
04
The referrer gets paid
Once that order is paid, and not before. A click never earns anything.
What each side gets
You choose both rewards, and you set them separately. The friend can get money off while the customer who shared gets points.
-
A percentage or a set amount
10% off, or $10 off. The default is 10% for both sides.
-
Free shipping or a free product
For stores where postage is what puts people off, or where one sample sells the rest.
-
Points, which are worth more
A discount code is used once and forgotten. Points go into the balance that moves a customer up your VIP tiers.
VIP tiers
Four rules that stop people cheating
People will try to game a referral program. These four rules are on from the start, and there is nothing to set up.
-
Only new customers can claim
Someone who already shops with you cannot claim a welcome reward using a second email address.
-
No reward for a click
The customer who shared is paid when their friend pays. Not for sharing, and not for a visit.
-
Once per pair of people, ever
Two friends cannot refer each other back and forth to farm rewards.
-
Ten invitations at a time
The limit keeps it word of mouth instead of a spam blast from your domain.
Referrals are on the free plan, with everything else.
Points, VIP tiers, referrals and the automatic emails all run on the free plan, up to 250 orders a month. Paid plans start at $10 and stop at $79 for unlimited orders.
$0
What referrals cost to run
The rest of the loyalty program
Referrals use the same balance as everything else in the Shopify loyalty program.
-
Points and rewards
14 ways to earn, and rewards customers spend in the cart, at checkout and in their account.
-
VIP tiers
Referral points count toward a tier, and every tier earns faster. Free on every plan.
-
Klaviyo integration
Every referral link and reward reaches Klaviyo, so your email flows can use them.
What merchants say about Essential Loyalty
5.0 average from 430+ reviews on the Shopify App Store
-
I just spent 2 hours on another affiliate type app because we wanted customer referral codes. Then I found that this app already had it and so I clicked through to figure it out. It took me LESS THAN 10 MINUTES TO SET IT UP.
Damsel in this Dress Corsets -
The app itself is powerful and easy to work with, while the support team goes above and beyond to ensure everything runs smoothly. Highly recommended for any Shopify store looking to build a reliable and effective loyalty program.
GetMorePower.bg -
I've had a great experience using the Essential Loyalty app on my Shopify store. Highly recommended for any Shopify store owner looking to improve customer loyalty and increase repeat purchases.
FIXCOMART
-
App is great! pricing is spot on. This team moves the needle. They really care about us store owners and are constantly evolving their families of apps in our favor.
That Detail Shop -
We had been using SMILE for 5+ years and then tried Essential Loyalty! Way cheaper! Better functionality! Easy to migrate across. Matas on the support team was great and super fast response. Would highly recommend Essential Loyalty!
SMOKO E Cigarettes -
Easy setup with a clean, intuitive interface. The free plan includes the referral program with up to 250 orders/month, which is generous for new stores. Customizable rewards, branded popups, and multiple sharing options (email, Facebook, X, WhatsApp) make it simple to launch.
DiabFix
Shopify referral program questions
Anything else? The support team answers every message, on every plan, including free.
- A way for existing customers to bring new ones, in exchange for a reward. Essential Loyalty gives every customer a personal link; sharing it and getting a friend to order is the whole mechanic. Both sides get rewarded, and you choose what each side gets.
- Each customer gets a unique link from their account on your store. The friend has to arrive through that link and claim the reward, which creates their account and ties them to the referrer. There is no cookie and no background tracking, so nothing breaks when a browser blocks third-party cookies.
- Install Essential Loyalty and turn on the theme embed. Referrals are on by default at 10% off for both sides, so there is nothing to build. Changing the reward type or the amount takes one screen, and every customer has their link from that moment.
- Not for your customers. Shopify runs an affiliate program for people who refer merchants to Shopify itself, which is a different thing. Customer-to-friend referrals on your own store need an app.
- No. There are no commissions, no payout schedule and nothing to track per partner. Each side gets one reward, once. An affiliate program pays a percentage on every sale, forever, and is built for creators rather than customers.
- When the friend's order is paid. A click, a sign-up or an unpaid order does not count, which is what stops the program paying out on traffic that never becomes revenue.
- A percentage off, a set amount off, free shipping, a free product, or points. You set each side separately, so the friend can get a discount while the referrer gets points that count toward a VIP tier.
- It is hard to. The friend has to be genuinely new to your store, the reward only pays on a real paid order, the same two people can only do it once, and invitations are capped at ten at a time.
- In their account on your store, and in the loyalty widget. Everyone gets one automatically, so there is nothing to issue or chase.
- Yes. Each customer's referral link is a Klaviyo profile property, so any email or flow can carry their own link. Klaviyo also gets an event when a referral reward is earned.
- Yes. Referrals work on every plan, including Free, with nothing to unlock. Free covers up to 250 orders a month, and at the cap the program pauses and asks you rather than billing.
- The research says so. Schmitt, Skiera and Van den Bulte (2011) tracked about 10,000 customers over three years and found the referred ones were worth at least 16% more over their lifetime. That is a study of referral programs generally, not a figure from Essential.
Let one customer bring you the next.
Install the app and every customer gets their own link to share. Referrals are on every plan, free included. See pricing