If your customers are not able to apply the friend offer discount code on your store’s checkout, here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot it.
Important platform note: ReferralCandy can automatically generate friend-offer coupon codes only for Shopify and BigCommerce merchants.
If you’re using a different platform, you’ll need to create and manage friend-offer coupon codes in your own system. ReferralCandy will only distribute the codes you manually upload to ReferralCandy.
Step 1: Check your account and campaign status (ReferralCandy)
Make sure:
Account state: Active
Campaign state: Live (not paused/stopped)
If your account is suspended, or your campaign is paused/stopped:
Referral links and reward distribution are paused.
Campaign experiences like widgets/pages/emails may be disabled.
Important clarification about coupon codes:
ReferralCandy does not automatically disable or delete coupon/discount codes that already exist in your eCommerce platform.
If a friend-offer code already exists in your store admin (for example, in Shopify Discounts), it may still work at checkout depending on your store’s discount settings (expiry date, usage limits, eligibility rules), unless you manually disable/delete it in your store admin.
What stops during suspension is ReferralCandy’s ability to keep the campaign running normally and generate/distribute new codes.
Step 2: Confirm the coupon code exists in your store admin
Check your eCommerce platform’s discount/coupon section and confirm the friend offer code exists.
If the code doesn’t exist, it can’t be applied at checkout.
If you’re on a non-Shopify/non-BigCommerce platform, you’ll need to create/upload the codes in your own system first.
Step 3: Check if the code is expired (and your friend offer end date)
If the friend-offer coupon is expired, it won’t apply at checkout.
Also note: when your friend offer expires, the campaign automatically stops.
What to check:
The coupon code’s expiry date (in your store admin)
Any campaign/friend-offer end date you configured
Step 4: Check the coupon’s conditions and restrictions (store settings)
If the coupon exists and isn’t expired, the most common cause is discount rules in your store admin.
Double-check whether any of these are blocking the code:
Minimum purchase requirement not met
Product/collection restrictions (the cart doesn’t include eligible items)
Customer eligibility rules (for example: “new customers only”, specific customer segments, or one-per-customer limits)
Usage limits reached (total uses, or per-customer uses)
The code is not a multi-use code (or was set up in a way that makes it invalid after one use)
Discount stacking rules (some stores don’t allow combining certain discount types)
Step 5 (Shopify only): Confirm the referred friend is actually a new customer
If the referred friend already exists in your Shopify Customers list and has made at least one purchase, they won’t be able to apply the friend offer coupon.
Why this happens:
ReferralCandy is designed to help you acquire new customers, so friend-offer coupons are restricted to new customers in Shopify.
Quick test tip:
Try the referral link + coupon flow using a brand-new email address that has never purchased from the store.