This article is for Shopify merchants only.
Give advocates and affiliates a free Shopify product as a benefit of joining your campaign. For example, you can offer a welcome gift to new members, choose who receives it, and decide who pays shipping.
Product gifts are campaign membership benefits. They are separate from rewards earned for successful referrals and do not count toward reward tiers.
Encourage campaign signups
If you're building your advocate base or seeing fewer signups than you'd like, a product welcome gift can give people an extra reason to join your campaign. This can be especially useful for campaigns that rely on signups, including affiliate and ambassador programs.
How product gifts work
When a member qualifies for a product gift, they receive an email with a link to claim your chosen product for free.
The member opens the link to your Shopify store. The gift is added to their cart with the discount applied.
The member completes checkout. Shipping is covered by you or paid by the member, depending on the benefit's settings.
You fulfill the order through your store, just like another Shopify order.
Set up a product gift
Start from the campaign where you want to offer the gift. The steps below use a one-time welcome gift.
In your Shopify admin, open Apps > ReferralCandy.
Open your campaign's benefits:
For a referral campaign, go to Set rewards > Benefits.
For an affiliate campaign, open the campaign's Overview and click Manage benefits.
Click Add benefit > Welcome gift.
Enter a Benefit name. Members see this name in their emails.
Set Type to Product gift. You can change the benefit type until you save it.
Choose the product and shipping
Under Product, click Select product and choose the Shopify product you want to give away. Select the variant you want to offer; the variant selector shows its price and stock.
Under Who pays shipping?, choose one of these options:
I pay shipping: you cover shipping for the gift.
Member pays shipping at checkout: the member pays shipping when they place their order.
Set the gift code's expiry
For a one-time gift, under Code expires, choose Never, After a number of days, or On a fixed date. Enter the number of days or date if required.
You can also set a Code prefix of 2 to 6 letters or numbers.
Choose who receives the gift
Under Who gets it, choose Everyone on this campaign or Only people you choose, then select the intended recipients.
Use Always leave out to exclude members. Excluded members do not receive this benefit, even if they otherwise match its audience.
Set the timing and gift limit
For a one-time welcome gift, set How often to Once. Leave Wait until they have been on the campaign for unchecked to make the gift available when members join and qualify. To delay the gift, enable that option and set the waiting period.
For this one-time gift, Total gifts available limits how many members receive it. Once that number of members has received it, no more gifts are sent. Leave this field blank for no limit.
The form also offers When they qualify, then every month and When they qualify, then every year. Fixed-date expiry does not apply to recurring gifts. Review Code expires again if you change How often to a recurring option.
Review the benefit summary to check the product, shipping, audience, timing, and limit. Keep Status set to Off and click Save while you finish reviewing the benefit.
Review the email and turn on the gift
After saving the product gift, use Edit email to review the campaign's benefit email.
Every benefit on the same campaign uses this email. Consider the other benefits on the campaign when editing it.
Finish reviewing the benefit before turning it on. Saving with Status set to On can activate it immediately.
Set the benefit's Status to On.
Click Save.
If a confirmation appears, review it and choose whether to include existing eligible campaign members, then click Turn on.
Frequently asked questions
Does a member need to make a referral before receiving a welcome gift?
Does a member need to make a referral before receiving a welcome gift?
A product welcome gift does not require a successful referral. The member receives it based on the benefit's audience and timing settings. For example, a one-time gift with no waiting period can be given when an eligible member joins the campaign. Rewards earned for referrals follow the campaign's separate reward rules.