Referral Candy & Affiliate
Meets Shopify's highest quality standards for speed, ease of use, and merchant value
Reviews (2,141)
What merchants think
This is generated by Shopify Magic. It's shown when an app has 100+ reviews and a 4.0 overall rating.
This is generated by Shopify Magic. It's shown when an app has 100+ reviews and a 4.0 overall rating.
Feedback submitted
Merchants appreciate this app for its seamless Shopify integration and automated referral processes that boost sales and customer engagement. They value the customizable campaigns and detailed analytics for refining marketing strategies. The user-friendly interface and design flexibility through HTML and CSS editing are also highlighted. Features like the post-purchase widget and compatibility with various subscription services are beneficial. Responsive customer support is frequently praised for effective troubleshooting and campaign setup assistance.
Refine
-
By rating
I was with Referral Candy for like ... 8 or so years. It was great that they handled the payments to my affiliates. But it was annoying that they took 3.75% off the first 3 sales of someone who was referred once, even if those 3 sales spanned across 8 years! And that they didn't have an option to create more than one referral level. And that they filled up my shopify with discount codes constantly, and badgered my affiliates without me really consenting to that - that is, they would email them to invite them, even after I had turned off that feature. I am annoyed that the referral alternative app I've chosen is not as easy to pay affiliates, but it has more features and is not sucking my blood or harassing my customers. ALSO! Its report of referral sales is very misleading! only on further research did I learn that some customers who have been customers for years, when they make a purchase, even if it's past their 3rd purchase, RC still counts this as a referred purchase. So, on someone's 7th purchase, they record this as a referred purchase - so those report emails I get make it seem like my referral app is working great, but in reality I just did a good job of keeping a customer that I got once through this app a LONG time ago.
Hey Jesse, we’ve been trying to contact you these last 2 weeks to try and resolve all the concerns you brought up. Since we haven't heard back, I wanted to try and address them here and perhaps have the opportunity to discuss them directly with you.
“..they took 3.75% off the first 3 sales of someone who was referred once, even if those 3 sales spanned across 8 years!”
- A referred customer is someone who may go on to continue purchasing from your store for life. We consider all their purchases as "referred" because they may not have followed through with their purchase without the incentive offered through the referral program. And from all those referred purchases we only charge commissions on the first three. More details can be found here (https://help.referralcandy.com/support/solutions/articles/47001056253-is-commission-charged-on-all-purchases-that-a-referred-friend-makes-)
“..they didn't have an option to create more than one referral level.”
I can see how having more flexibility in terms of rewards can be helpful, especially since you have thousands of affiliates. I’ll bring it up with the team.
“..badgered my affiliates without me really consenting to that - that is, they would email them to invite them, even after I had turned off that feature.”
Sending too many emails is definitely a bad experience, I apologize for the inconvenience this caused your customers. This is easily resolved by toggling the controls in the email settings page of your dashboard (https://help.referralcandy.com/support/solutions/articles/47001155651-email-settings) so I was hoping we could dig deeper into what happened.
“..some customers who have been customers for years, when they make a purchase, even if it's past their 3rd purchase, RC still counts this as a referred purchase.”
“..on someone's 7th purchase, they record this as a referred purchase”
This should not be the case. As mentioned previously, commission is only charged on the first three purchases that a referred friend makes. -- Jaime R.
So far so good.
Jon Dolor was a great help when troubleshooting - took a little while to figure out the problem BUT once we got to the bottom of it he kept checking in again.
Thanks for your kind review. Glad Jon could help. Please let us know how we can serve you better to get up to five stars!
Currently the app isn't paying out referral bonuses to customers which makes the app useless. Customer service disabled ability to chat with them.
NB: this review is from 2020, about a previous version of ReferralCandy
"Hi there, we sent a few messages but have not heard back. Would love the opportunity to chat and sort out any concerns.
Following your review, we have optimized our cash reward payout system to prevent delays that may cause concerns for your customers. We have also improved our chat support coverage hours so it will be easier for you to reach us.
Thank you for your feedback as it helped us improve our service. -- Jaime R.
This is one of our biggest money makers and there is no doubt in our mind about it. They retain the 3 stars because the program for our clients definitely works and keeps people using the referral links.
I am not sure if they have been bought out in the past year but their portal has just turned to hot garbage as well as their customer service.
Do you like sitting at loading screens only for them to not show any information?
Like to click buttons that just hang out for minutes?
Do you like referrals asking why they were not paid last month and then Referral Candy saying they were even though they can't show you?
Well then this may work great for you. We have contacted them regarding this many times and get a must be your computer problem type response basically. We have 300 mb internet and 5-6 computers that can not access it properly.
Maybe they are not scaled for bigger businesses? We do have thousands of people using it and hundreds of referral orders coming through.
Maybe it works great for a smaller business processing around a thousand orders a month but it is not kicking it for our application at all.
NB: This review is from 2016, about a previous version of ReferralCandy.
Thank you for your feedback. We've taken it to heart and have improved.
Our app was slow (we couldn't keep up with the rapid growth) and it must have had been frustrating. I'm sorry to have put you through that.
We've since fixed it. Loading is much, much faster and we are able to handle running referral programs for enterprise retailers with ease.
We hope to work with you again in the future! - Bryan B.
I haven't yet used the app. The set up instructions are basically non-existent although the customer service people did their best to help set up. Not sure if it will work for my business past the free trial period.
NB: This review is from 2018, about a previous version of ReferralCandy.
Hi Christina, it seems like you've been trying ReferralCandy on and off for some time. I've been digging around our records and it doesn't seem like you have had a chance to speak with our Customer Success Team. If you can give us another try. let's hop on a call to discuss the best possible set-up. Looking forward to hearing from you. - Bryan B.
Good: Simplicity. Just a couple of minutes and it's up and running. You never have to worry about payments or any of the tracking, all automatic.
Bad: it's difficult to customise to a way that feels like people are naturally interacting with your site. There is always this awkward layer of referral candy which can be off-putting for customers.
We used it for 10 months on 2 sites, to mediocre results. Our best brand ambassadors didn't like it, so we're stopping using it.
NB: this review is from 2019, about a previous version of ReferralCandy
Thank you for trying us out. We'd love to hear more about your experience. Many of our other customers are delighted with the amazing results they achieved. In terms of branding, many merchants like using our Simple Theme - that allows for customization that works well with most brands and across emails for many devices. We'd love to share it with you - please reach out and we'll be happy to help. - Jaime R.
I have not been able to officially use this app yet (that is the reason for the three stars). I have only set it up from the back end. I have not seen it in action. I am still waiting to roll out my business model. Benz has been very helpful leading up to this opening. We are very lucky to have her as a resource/rep.
**UPDATE** Im a few days from reopening my store. Benz had been great helping me set up my referral program. Very happy with all of the help that she gave me.
Thanks for your kind review. Glad Benz could help. Please let us know how we can serve you better to get up to five stars when you try us again!
Big ups to Derek. he helped me a lot for my question. The app didn't allow me to change the layout of the embedded sign up page but i am really happy with the custom service.
NB: this review is from 2019, about a previous version of ReferralCandy
We're glad Derek was able to help - he can also walk you through customizing your Embedded Sign Up Page like you want. Please contact us so we can give you a call and show you how. Thank you for your review, we’re glad you’re happy with our support. -- Bryan B.
A bit limited in terms of functionality (can't automatically apply credits to a subscription, no single-use codes for friends, not much flexibility in terms of email campaign UI) but really great support team - we spoke with Tom who was super comprehensive in terms of providing answers. Will fulfil your basic needs for referrals.
"Hi Marco, we're aware of some of these issues arising from third party integrations. We've reached out to offer alternatives and suggestions to offer a better experience. Thank you for your review, and for your kind words for Tom, I will let him know. -- Bryan B.
It can be a bit confusing to get startet (especially with the Recharge integration) and there were a few hiccups, but the customer service is super helpfull and will even take a personal call to get things sorted (thanks Benz). Also thanks to Thomas and Tippy for being super helpfull!
As you can see, it took a bit of support to get everything running smoothly. Probably the best referral software that has a Recharge integration.
NB: this review is from 2019, about a previous version of ReferralCandy
Thanks for the review! We made sure to let Benz, Tomas, and Tippy know and it made their day! Yes, even though ReferralCandy and ReCharge teamed up to provide a solution that is intuitive and seamless, there are instances when it can get tricky. I'm glad we were able to help, and please reach out if there is anything else. - Jaime R.