With FlexiTiers, you can create reward tiers that encourage your advocates to make more referrals and earn better, higher rewards as they hit referral milestones. Tiered rewards gamify your referral or affiliate program and motivate your customers to increase their referral activity — driving new customers and boosting overall sales.
How tiered rewards work with FlexiTiers
Set milestone-only rewards to celebrate meaningful referral achievements.
Combine base rewards with occasional milestone bonuses to keep advocates and affiliates motivated.
Add a second advocate reward within the same tier (for example, coupon + cash or cash + cash).
Create recurring milestone rewards to build lasting engagement.
Customize reward structures to reflect your brand values and foster a sense of community.
You can configure up to two advocate rewards within the same tier: the main reward plus one additional reward.
Using FlexiTiers
Use the tiered reward structure to give your advocates and affiliates more attractive rewards or commissions as they reach higher referral milestones.
Pro Tip: Make sure your reward values at higher tiers are compelling enough to motivate advocates to keep referring.
Step 1: Turning on FlexiTiers
New campaigns use Single reward by default, which gives the same reward value from the first earned reward onwards. To create tiers, turn on FlexiTiers first:
Open your campaign's Advocate reward page:
Shopify — from your Shopify admin, go to Campaigns, select your campaign, then under Set rewards click Advocate reward.
Other platforms — from the ReferralCandy dashboard, go to Campaigns, select your campaign, then Rewards and click the Advocate Reward tab.
In the FlexiTiers section or panel, click Add tiers to enable FlexiTiers.
Step 2: Adding reward tiers
To add and set up reward tiers:
Click Add new tier on the Advocate reward page. A preview on the right shows the structure of your reward tiers.
Click the dropdown arrow beside the new tier and set the tier range in the Start at referral # and End at referral # fields.
Click Edit reward settings. You can choose a new reward type, a different setup from your previous tier, or add a second advocate reward within that tier.
Configure the Advanced tier settings, including how tier rewards progress and the progression starting point.
Repeat the steps to add more tiers.
Click Save (Save changes on other platforms).
Advanced tier settings
How tier rewards progress
You have the following options for how reward tiers progress:
Stop rewards after final tier - the advocate or affiliate stops receiving a reward from successful referrals after reaching the last tier.
Keep giving last tier reward for each referral after completing final tier - the advocate or affiliate continuously receives a reward for every successful referral after they reach the last tier.
Loop tiers - restart at Tier 1 after completing final tier - the advocate or affiliate goes back to the first tier after reaching the last tier.
Set a starting point
If you want to introduce a new set of tiers and have all advocates begin fresh, set a starting point. Once reward tiers are saved, changes take effect immediately unless you specify a start date. You have two options:
Count all past rewards towards tier progression - the default setting, which includes all historical rewards earned by advocates, regardless of when the reward tiers were set up.
Start tier progression from - set an exact date and time for when the campaign begins counting advocate rewards. Use this option to reset your advocates' reward counts to 0 based on the selected date.
Reward conditions
Set a maximum reward amount
Set a limit on the total rewards an advocate or affiliate can earn. This is recommended for looped or continuous tiered reward structures.
To set a cap, enter an amount in the Maximum rewards per advocate field.
For unlimited rewards, leave the Maximum rewards per advocate field blank.
Tip: To make sure advocates earn a reward across all tiers, set the cap higher than the total rewards they can earn at the last tier.
For the other reward conditions — minimum purchase amount and rewardable purchases — see Reward conditions.
Reward progress email
Send the reward progress email to customers who are close to reaching the next tier, motivating them to refer more friends. It's sent when a referral is successful but the advocate or affiliate hasn't yet met the number of referrals needed to reach the next tier. You can customize this email on your campaign's Themes page — see Shopify and other platforms.
FlexiTiers tiered rewards FAQ
Can I use different reward types or reward settings in each tier?
Can I use different reward types or reward settings in each tier?
Yes. When you create a new reward tier, you can choose an entirely new reward type or a different reward setup from your previous tier.
You can also configure up to two advocate rewards within the same tier, depending on the reward types available for that campaign.
Each tier can have its own unique reward value, letting you configure better, more attractive rewards as advocates earn more and reach higher tiers.
Can I skip a tier or give no reward in between tiers?
Can I skip a tier or give no reward in between tiers?
Yes. To give no reward between two tiers, leave the End at referral # field blank and add a new tier that rewards advocates at your desired minimum number of referrals. This lets you reward customers only when they reach a specific number of referrals, rather than within tier ranges (useful for milestone rewards).
In the example below, enrolled customers only get rewarded at the 1st, 5th, and 10th successful referrals:
Tier 1: Starts at referral #
1, Ends at referral #blankTier 2: Starts at referral #
5, Ends at referral #blankTier 3: Starts at referral #
10, Ends at referral #blank
Can I revert to a single tier reward?
Can I revert to a single tier reward?
Yes. To return to Single reward from a multi-tiered structure:
Open your campaign's Advocate reward page (Shopify: Campaigns > your campaign > Set rewards > Advocate reward. Other platforms: Campaigns > your campaign > Rewards > Advocate Reward tab).
Delete all reward tiers except the 1st tier.
Make sure the 1st tier has the value 1 in the Start at referral # field.
In Advanced tier settings, select Keep giving last tier reward for each referral after completing final tier.
Save your changes.
Once saved, your Advocate reward page shows the FlexiTiers introduction again. To re-enable tiered rewards, follow Step 1: Turning on FlexiTiers above.
How can I view and manage contacts based on reward tier?
How can I view and manage contacts based on reward tier?
Open your campaign's advocate list:
Shopify — from your Shopify admin, go to Campaigns > select your campaign > under Get started, open Advocates (or Affiliates for affiliate campaigns).
Other platforms — from the ReferralCandy dashboard, go to Campaigns > select your campaign > Advocates.
The list includes these tier columns:
Reward Tier - the tier the contact has reached and is currently in.
Rewards - the total number of rewards the advocate or affiliate has earned so far.
To order the list by tier, use the Sort control and select Sort by > Reward Tier, then choose ascending or descending order.
What happens if I edit or delete a reward tier?
What happens if I edit or delete a reward tier?
When you delete a tier or edit the minimum number of earned rewards, ReferralCandy automatically adjusts the tier ranges and reorders them so all ranges stay covered.