Member referral program
Member referrals let active members invite friends to either join your membership program or make their first purchase from your store. Each eligible member receives a personal referral link. Memberply attributes the selected conversion and automatically rewards the referring member.
Before you begin
You need at least one active membership tier.
If you want to reward members with points, enable and configure the Reward Points benefit on every tier whose members can refer friends.
If you want to reward members with store credit and use Shopify customer accounts, enable Shopify native store credit. Stores using legacy customer accounts receive the reward as a Memberply discount code instead.
Configure referrals
In Memberply, open Member Referrals under Grow, or open it from the Membership Benefits page.
Select the membership tiers whose active members can refer friends.
Choose a conversion goal:
Membership signup rewards the member when their friend purchases an eligible membership.
Friend's first store purchase rewards the member when their friend makes their first-ever purchase from the store.
Choose the reward:
Reward points awards a fixed whole number of points.
Store credit awards a fixed amount in your store currency.
Enter the reward amount. For store-credit rewards, choose how long each new credit grant remains valid, or select No Expiry.
For membership signups, choose whether the reward is issued when the friend becomes active or after their first successful membership payment. First-purchase referrals use a fixed 14-day review period instead.
Turn the referral program on and click Save changes.
If you choose Friend's first store purchase, enable the Referral tracking app embed in Shopify under Online Store > Themes > Customize > App embeds. This lets Memberply retain attribution across ordinary storefront pages and attach it to the friend's cart.
This qualification setting controls when the referring member receives their referral reward. It applies to the referred customer's membership, not the referring member's own membership payments. Choose As soon as the referred friend becomes an active member to issue the reward when the referred customer becomes active. Choose After the referred friend's first successful membership payment to keep a free-trial or zero-value recurring signup pending until Memberply receives the referred customer's first successful payment.
For example, Alex refers Sam. With As soon as the referred friend becomes an active member, Alex receives the reward as soon as Sam becomes an active member. With After the referred friend's first successful membership payment, Alex receives the reward only after Sam's payment succeeds. Alex's own membership payments do not affect either outcome.
How attribution works
Eligible active members can see what they will earn for each successful referral and copy their personal link from the Memberply area in either Shopify customer accounts or legacy customer accounts. The member area explains which conversion goal applies and when the reward is issued.
For membership signup referrals, the link opens an eligible membership product page and attribution is carried into the membership order as a private line-item property. For first-purchase referrals, the link opens the storefront and the Referral tracking app embed carries attribution as a private cart attribute. Attribution lasts for 30 days, and the latest valid referral link visited by the customer takes precedence.
A first-purchase referral only qualifies when Shopify reports that the attributed paid order is the friend's first-ever store order. The friend does not receive a discount, and later purchases do not produce more rewards for the referring member.
A member cannot refer themselves. Memberply also prevents the same customer or order from producing duplicate referral rewards.
Reward delivery and reporting
Memberply processes qualified rewards automatically. Points are added to the member's Memberply points balance. Store credit is added to Shopify customer accounts or delivered as a discount code for legacy customer accounts.
When a store-credit expiry is configured, the period starts when the referral reward is issued. Changing the setting later does not alter rewards that have already been issued.
First-purchase referrals remain pending for 14 days before the reward is issued. If the qualifying order is cancelled, voided, or refunded before the reward is issued, the referral is disqualified.
The Referral activity section shows total referrals, referrals awaiting rewards, completed rewards, issued point and store-credit totals, and rewards that need review.
Definitive temporary failures are retried automatically. If Shopify receives a store-credit request but its final outcome cannot be confirmed, Memberply holds the reward for review instead of risking duplicate credit.
Rewards that have already been delivered are not automatically removed if the qualifying order is later refunded. Handle exceptional clawbacks manually after reviewing the customer history.
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