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[Shopify] Find who a ReferralCandy discount code belongs to

Find which advocate or affiliate a Shopify friend offer or reward code belongs to, including what to check for custom codes.

Written by Adam

Who this article is for

  • Shopify merchants using ReferralCandy

  • Campaigns where you selected discount/coupon codes for Friend offers and/or Advocate rewards

What this article covers

Important: ReferralCandy discount codes may not be searchable from the main Shopify Discounts page.

In Shopify, ReferralCandy discount codes are often created inside a single Shopify discount as a group of codes. These groups may be created frequently (for example, daily). Because of this, searching for an individual code (FRIEND-… or THANKS-…) using the main Discounts page search may not return results.

Shopify discount code group showing three example THANKS- codes under one ReferralCandy advocate reward discount, with creation dates and usage counts.

This guide helps you:

  • Identify which advocate a ReferralCandy discount code is linked to

  • Find the code owner in ReferralCandy first (Contacts or Track coupons)

  • Use the owner’s Shopify customer record if you need to take action (for example, banning an advocate)

This guide doesn’t cover:

  • Troubleshooting why a code won’t apply at checkout

Before you start: know which code you’re looking at

ReferralCandy coupon codes usually fall into two buckets:

  • Friend offer codes (claimed by referred friends from the Friend Offer Landing Page or Friend Offer Popup after opening an advocate's referral link)

    • Default prefix: FRIEND-

    • By default restricted in Shopify to “new customers only”

    • Multi-use friend offer coupons

  • Advocate reward codes (sent to advocates after a successful referral)

    • Prefix: THANKS-

    • Single-use reward coupons

Note: Even though referred friends redeem friend offer codes, the code is linked back to the advocate or affiliate who shared the referral link (that’s the “owner” this guide helps you identify).

Custom friend offer codes: Shopify merchants can assign a custom friend offer code to an advocate or affiliate, replacing the default generated code. A custom code may not start with FRIEND-, but it is still assigned to that contact. See [Shopify] Customizing an advocate or affiliate's referral code.

ReferralCandy Contact Information showing an example contact, Referral Code, Edit referral code, enrollment status and referral links.

The prefix alone cannot confirm whether a code was created through ReferralCandy or who it belongs to. Finding it in Shopify Discounts without a match in ReferralCandy does not establish that it is a manually created Shopify discount.

How to identify who a FRIEND- code belongs to (Friend offer coupon)

Typical scenarios:

  • You see unusually high redemptions for a specific FRIEND- code and want to identify which advocate it’s linked to.

  • You find a FRIEND- code posted on coupon-sharing sites (Honey, Coupert, Cently, Reddit, etc.) and want to trace it back to the advocate.

Search in ReferralCandy Contacts

  1. In Shopify admin, go to Apps → ReferralCandy → Contacts

  2. Click Search and filter results, then paste the exact FRIEND- code (example: FRIEND-1ABCDE2)

  3. If a matching contact appears, the result identifies the contact associated with that code

  4. Optional: To open the Shopify customer record, click the linked Shopify ID for that contact

ReferralCandy Contacts showing an exact FRIEND- code search, one matching example contact, the Shopify ID link and View contact button.

Important: Don’t rely on searching the Shopify Discounts page for individual FRIEND- codes

ReferralCandy discount codes are often created inside Shopify discount groups, and these groups may be created frequently (for example, daily). Because of this:

  • Searching for an individual FRIEND- code on the main Shopify Discounts page may not find it

  • Manually opening discount groups to locate a specific FRIEND- code is usually not practical

If your goal is to identify who the code belongs to, use Apps → ReferralCandy → Contacts (Step 1 above).
If your goal is to stop a specific advocate from referring (permanently), you can open the contact’s Shopify customer profile via the Shopify ID and use More actions → Ban customer from referring (see “If you need to ban an advocate” section below).

How to identify who a THANKS- code belongs to (Advocate reward coupon)

Use Track coupons (this is where ReferralCandy’s advocate reward coupons are listed).

  1. In Shopify admin, go to Apps → ReferralCandy → Track coupons

  2. Paste the THANKS- code into the search bar

  3. The results will show the contact who received that reward coupon (and which campaign it came from)

  4. To open the underlying Shopify discount, click the hyperlinked coupon code in the table (this jumps you to the Shopify Discounts record)

Track coupons showing a THANKS- code search and one matching example reward coupon, with its contact, campaign, discount amount and date sent.

Note

Shopify's default Discounts search may not reliably find individual THANKS- codes, since ReferralCandy codes are often created inside Shopify discount groups. Track coupons is the recommended way to find the owner and jump to the related discount.

If you need to ban an advocate (and disable their referral participation)

If you looked up a FRIEND- code in Contacts and opened the contact’s Shopify customer record, you may see an option to ban them from referring.

  1. Open the customer in Shopify (Customers)

  2. Click More actions → Ban customer from referring

  3. Read the warning carefully, then confirm the irreversible effects

Important

  • Banning is irreversible and removes the contact from ReferralCandy campaign enrollment. Use only when you’re sure.

Shopify customer profile for an example contact with More actions open, showing Ban customer from referring and Edit discount code.

Common issues / troubleshooting

If you already searched ReferralCandy and could not identify the owner

Let us know the exact code and campaign name, and include screenshots of where you found the code and the search result. Our support team can look into your account details. This also applies to custom codes without the standard prefix. An empty search result does not identify the code's owner or prove that it was created outside ReferralCandy.

If you have not checked the code yet

  • Make sure you’re looking in the right place based on the code type:

    • FRIEND- (friend offer code): Apps → ReferralCandy → Contacts

    • THANKS- (advocate reward code): Apps → ReferralCandy → Track coupons

  • Don’t rely on searching the Shopify Discounts page for an individual code

    • ReferralCandy codes are often created inside Shopify discount groups, and these groups may be created frequently (for example, daily)

    • Because of this, Shopify’s main Discounts search may not return results for individual FRIEND- or THANKS- codes

  • Double-check the code is exact

    • Copy/paste the full code exactly as it appears, including any prefix and hyphens

    • If the merchant typed it manually, ask them to share the exact code they’re using

  • If a FRIEND- code shows a contact, but the customer still can’t use it at checkout

    • This usually means the code exists, but Shopify eligibility rules are blocking it (for example, “new customers only”)

    • Continue troubleshooting in: Why can’t my customers use the friend offer coupon at checkout?

  • If a THANKS- code isn’t showing in Track coupons

    • The reward may not have been issued yet (for example, the referral hasn’t completed the required conditions)

    • Or you may be checking a different campaign/store than the one the code belongs to

If your goal is to stop a specific advocate from referring

  • Use Apps → ReferralCandy → Contacts to find the contact (using the FRIEND- code)

  • Open the contact’s Shopify customer record via the Shopify ID

  • Use More actions → Ban customer from referring

    • This is irreversible and removes the contact from ReferralCandy campaign enrollment

Advanced (optional): Use Shopify GraphQL to find the discount group a code belongs to

ReferralCandy discount codes are often created inside Shopify discount groups, so searching for an individual FRIEND- or THANKS- code directly in Shopify may not work.

If you’re comfortable with Shopify GraphQL (or have a developer who can help), you can use a GraphQL query to locate the Shopify discount group that contains a specific redeem code and open it directly.

Suggested prompt (example)
​Use GraphQL to search for this discount redeem code <PASTE CODE HERE>. Show me a link to that discount code.

Note

This is an advanced workflow and is not required for most merchants. For most cases, the recommended approach is still:

  • FRIEND- codes: Apps → ReferralCandy → Contacts

  • THANKS- codes: Apps → ReferralCandy → Track coupons

What to collect before contacting support

  • The exact code (copy/paste)

    • Include the full code even if it has no FRIEND- or THANKS- prefix

  • Campaign name

  • A screenshot of where you found the code and the search result (including no results) in:

    • ReferralCandy Contacts (FRIEND-)

    • ReferralCandy Track coupons (THANKS-)

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