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Configure referral program rewards

Create referral rewards for existing customers to share with new customers.

Karen (she/her) avatar
Written by Karen (she/her)
Updated yesterday

🛒 Supported on all platforms

💳 Available on all plans

👤 Accessible to all roles

The referral program lets you reward both loyal customers and their friends with incentives that are easy to set up and customize. You can add, update, or change referral rewards anytime to keep your program fun, fair, and rewarding for everyone.

Add referral rewards


To create referral rewards, you’ll need to set up two different reward types: one for the Referring customer (an existing customer in your loyalty program) and another for the Referred friend (a new customer who has never placed an order on your store).

To add referral rewards:

  1. From Smile Admin, navigate to Program > Referrals.

  2. In the Referring customer reward card, click Add reward.

  3. Choose a reward you'd like to offer the referring customer.

  4. Click Save.

  5. In the Referred friend reward card, click Add reward.

  6. Choose a reward you'd like to offer the referred friend.

  7. Click Save.

ℹ️ Note: It’s not possible to offer points as a reward to the referred friend, as they don’t yet have an account to receive points.

Tip: Smile recommends offering both the referring customer and referred friend rewards of equal value to encourage participation for both customers.

Modify a referral reward value


If you want to keep an existing referral reward, but change the Reward value you can edit it:

  1. From Smile Admin, navigate to Program > Referrals.

  2. In the Referring customer reward card, click Edit.

  3. In the Reward value section, change the points or discount value.

  4. Click Save.

Repeat these steps in the Referred friend reward card to modify the friend’s reward.

Change a referral reward


To change a reward to a different type, you must delete the current reward and add a new one. Note: this action cannot be undone.

To change the reward:

  1. From Smile Admin, navigate to Program > Referrals.

  2. In the Referring customer reward card, click Change.

  3. In the warning message, click Delete reward.

  4. In the Referring customer reward card, click Add reward.

  5. Choose a reward you'd like to offer the referring customer.

  6. Click Save.

Repeat these steps in the Referred friend reward card to change the friend’s reward.

ℹ️ Note for BigCommerce users: On BigCommerce, Smile completes referrals based on the first order made by the referred friend. If the first synced order is incomplete — for example, if the customer navigated away from billing during checkout or the payment was declined— Smile will not complete the referral after a later successful order. If this occurs, we recommend manually awarding the referring customer with their reward.

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