Word-of-mouth (WOM) is a traditional and influential marketing strategy that does not cost much money but advertises your products or services to customers.

In fact, the Invesp blog says that word-of-mouth drives on average 13% of consumer sales which represents $6 trillion in annual consumer spending. 

Moreover, WOM marketing results in 5 times more sales than a paid media service. 90% of people are more likely to purchase from a brand recommended by a family or friend.

So, recruit your loyal customers to promote your brand through Shopify referral programs. Here are the 10 best referral apps Shopify can find in its store. Subscribe to any one of them to grow your business.

Top 10 Shopify Referral Apps

1. Loox Product Reviews & Photos (⭐4.9 /5, 9113 reviews)
2. Smile: Loyalty & Rewards (⭐4.8 /5, 4674 reviews)
3. Loyalty & Rewards by Yopto (⭐4.7 /5, 2352 reviews)
4. Referral Candy (⭐4.9 /5, 1820 reviews)
5. Growave: Loyalty, Wishlist +3 (⭐4.9 /5, 1731 reviews)
6. UpPromote: Affiliate Marketing (⭐4.9 /5,1701 reviews)
7. Rivo: Rewards, Loyalty Program (⭐4.9 /5, 1139 reviews)
8. Gift Cards & Loyalty Program (⭐4.8 /5, 919 reviews)
9. Conjured Referrals (⭐4.9 /5, 196 reviews)
10. Gather: Refer a Friend (⭐ 5/5, 33 reviews)

Also, read – Top 10 Shopify Apps to Increase Sales of Your Store

#1 Loox Product Reviews & Photos (⭐4.9 /5, 9113 reviews)

The Product Reviews & Photos app by Loox collects the reviews of customers and displays them to boost your brand loyalty. Moreover, it allows you to add a referral program to your store.

Pros

1. Automatically sends emails to buyers asking for reviews with delivery-based timing and gives them rewards if they add a photo or video.
2. Shares customer reviews for SEO and social proof.
3. The app allows you to give referral discounts to boost word-of-mouth.
4. Build an attractive interface for users with review widgets like grids, lists, pop-ups, carousels, sidebar, and cart pages.

Cons

1. The app is expensive and there are cases where users had to pay more money because of hidden charges.
2. As it is buggy, users faced various issues like customization problems, messing up a site after uninstalling the app, etc.

Pricing

• Free Trial – 14 days.
• Beginner – $9.99/ month.
• Growth – $34.99/ month.
• Unlimited – $299.99/ month.

#2 Smile: Loyalty & Rewards (⭐4.8 /5, 4674 reviews)

Smile – Loyalty & Rewards is the best Shopify referral program app. It levels up your email marketing and subscription tools with loyalty data. You may reward your customers on POS, for reviews, and many more.

Pros

1. Reward your customers based on your business policy, i.e. you can use points, referrals, or just create an exclusive VIP reward program.
2. Allows you to personalize loyalty program details to every email by integrating Smile with other Shopify apps.
3. Set point expiration and send reminder emails to encourage customers to use their rewards.

Cons

1. Since the app is expensive, if you experience any bugs it would cost you a lot.
2. Also, their customer support system is not the best.
3. Actually, you should integrate Smile with other Shopify apps to be able to fully utilize its features.

Pricing

• Free up to 200 monthly orders.
• Starter – $99/ month.
• Growth – $199/ month.
• Pro – $599/ month.

#3 Loyalty & Rewards by Yopto (⭐4.7 /5, 2352 reviews)

One of the best Shopify referral apps on our list is Loyalty & Rewards by Yopto, (formerly Swell). You can create customized on-brand loyalty programs in tiers. In addition, reward your loyal customers based on certain actions.

Pros

1. Generate loyalty and referral programs with a free plan.
2. Has 14 rewards campaigns, including points of purchase, social follow, happy birthday, creating an account, goal spends, and more.
3. Create a custom VIP tier loyalty program.
4. Moreover, it allows you to send SMS notifications and integrate email service providers.

Cons 

1. Their customer support system is very poor and not reliable.
2. Even the paid services are not up to the mark. There are many complaints regarding the apps lacking functionality.

Pricing

• Bronze – Free program with fewer than 100 monthly orders.
• Silver – $29/ month. 
• Gold – $249/ month.

#4 Referral Candy (⭐4.9 /5, 1820 reviews)

The Referralcandy Shopify app leads to brand growth through a refer-a-friend program. You may track referrals, sales, and social shares in your dashboard. Furthermore, it is used in various industries such as fashion, electronics, nutrition, baby products, and more.

Pros

1. Send post-purchase emails and popups to hire existing customers to your referral program.
2. Automatically sends rewards to users who made successful referrals.
3. In addition, you may track referral program performance on your dashboard.
4. With the Referralcandy Shopify app, you can detect suspicious transactions and take appropriate action.

Cons

1. There is no option to approve a referral. They have ‘delete’, ‘ban’, and ‘void’ options but not ‘approve’.
2. It is not easy to set up and you need to know the basics of HTML & CSS.

Pricing

• Free trial – 30 days.
• Premium Plan – $299/ month.
• Plus – $399/ month.

#5 Growave: Loyalty, Wishlist +3 (⭐4.9 /5, 1731 reviews)

The Growave is an all-around Shopify marketing app with tools for loyalty programs, referrals, photo reviews, wish lists, gift cards, and user-generated content.

Pros

1. Create a points program and reward users with in-store cash, discounts, and free products.
2. With the Growave app, send personalized emails like running out of stock, drop in price, on sale, back in stock, etc.
3. Further, collect your product reviews and display them to increase customers’ trust in your brand.

Cons

1. Users of the Growave app have experienced many bugs and glitches while trying to implement their services.

Pricing

• Free Trial – 14 days.
• Basic – $9// month.
• Starter – $19/ month.
• Medium – $49/ month.
• Growth – $99/ month.

Also, read – 10 Best Shopify Marketing Automation Apps

#6 UpPromote: Affiliate Marketing (⭐4.9 /5,1701 reviews)

UpPromote helps you build a professional affiliate campaign and track unlimited referral orders. The app integrates with Paypal, Mailchimp, Referral Candy, and so on. Moreover, it claims to offer 24/5 live chat support.

Pros

1. Allows you to create affiliated programs with different offers and rewards.
2. Convert your customers into affiliates by attracting and recruiting them with attractive landing pages, UpPromote marketplace, and multi-level marketing.
3. Track the referral codes, and every click, order, and sale from registered partners.

Cons

1. The app is complicated to set up.
2. Some retailers were not successful in finding new affiliates through this app.
3. Because the customer referral feature is available only in paid plans, you have to buy them to utilize this feature.

Pricing

• Free Plan with limited features.
• Free Trial – 14 days.
• Grow Affiliate – $21.99/ month.
• Professional – $69.99/ month.
• Enterprise – $139.99 /month.

#7 Rivo: Rewards, Loyalty Program (⭐4.9 /5, 1139 reviews)

The Rivo Rewards Loyalty Program is one of the referral apps Shopify offers in its store. It automatically rewards customers based on the points they earn. In addition, you may display beautifully crafted widgets and emails to match the looks of your brand.

Pros

1. After you set up the app, it displays the loyalty program widget on your eCommerce store.
2. Lets you offer inventory as rewards in a loyalty program.
3. Furthermore, it integrates with Klaviyo, Judegeme, Gorgias, POS, and so on.

Cons

1. Only users who subscribe to paid services can build a loyalty page.
2. The app does not automatically remove points for refunded transactions. You have to do it manually.

Pricing

• Free up to 250 monthly orders.
• Free Trial – 7 days.
• Starter – $34/ month.
• Growth – $129/ month.
• Premium – $429/ month.

#8 Gift Cards & Loyalty Program (⭐4.8 /5, 919 reviews)

With this app, you can offer gift cards in your loyalty and referral programs. Also, sell physical gift cards. You may boost rewards and referral usage with one-click checkout. On top of that, it fits seamlessly into POS and Shopify Flow.

Pros

1. Create a gift card and store credit program for every Shopify plan.
2. Allows your customers to send digital gift cards or gift vouchers directly to the recipient via email or IM.
3. Additionally, gives store credit as per automated rules and sends personalized recommendations.

Cons

1. Even in paid plans, you need to pay additional charges for each extra order.
2. Has a complicated workflow which creates issues for its users.

Pricing

• Free Trial – 7 days.
• Starter – $19.99/ month.
• Small Business – $59.99/ month.
• Pro – $199.99/ month.
• Premium – $599.99/ month.

 

#9 Conjured Referrals (⭐4.9 /5, 196 reviews)

Create customizable referral programs by using Conjured Referrals app. Pick the incentive, decide where to display the offer, and let your users share the link across channels.

Pros

1. Decide where to show the referral offer, i.e. after the purchase, on your website homepage, through email, etc.
2. Monitor and track your referral program from your dashboard.
3. On top of that, build and launch automated campaigns.

Cons

1. Does not have professional-looking templates. 
2. Moreover, the customization capabilities are limited. That means you have to create everything.

Pricing

• Free Trial – 14 days.
• Developer – free
• Intro – $29/ month.
• Small Business – $99/ month.
• Plus– $299/ month.

#10 Gather: Refer a Friend (⭐ 5/5, 33 reviews)

The Shopify refer a friend app by Gather offers 2 types of referral campaigns. One is for growing your subscriber base and another is for increasing your sales. Furthermore, you can create automated and multi-tier referral programs.

Pros

1. Automate the refer a friend program so that it can reward advocates when their friends purchase products from you.
2. Allows you to add reward tiers and milestones such as refer 2 friends and receive a 5% discount.

Cons

1. It is expensive for smaller businesses.

Pricing

• Free Trial – 14 days.
• Gather Plan – $350/ month.

Also read – 10 Best Integrations for Shopify Store 

Wrapping Up!

Just turn your buyers into influencers and reward them when they refer a friend with Shopify referral programs. This is the best way to find new customers organically. 

On top of that, it costs a lot less compared to the promotions made by media services.

Among the 10 best referral apps, pick the most reliable and affordable referral or loyalty program Shopify app, and subscribe to it.

After that, use Saufter to automate and scale your customer support system to improve your business’s performance.

Start your 15-day trial here!