Referral customer experience

Referral customer experience is where you control how a referral actually performs for the two parties involved: the referrer and the referred friend. You'll find it inside Loop admin → Loyalty → Customer experience → Referrals.

This section is categorized based on the referrer's touchpoints and the referred friend's touchpoints. For the referrer, there are two: the Thank you page widget and the Customer portal banner, both places where they can find, view, and share their referral link. For the referred friend, there are also two: the referred friend banner and the checkout widget, which shows their reward applicability when a referred friend lands on your store using the referral link.

The moment right after a customer completes an order is when they're most invested in your brand and therefore most likely to refer, which is exactly when the thank you page widget puts the referral offer in front of them.

Admin configuration

To get started, the thank you page block needs to be added to your Shopify store. To add this, you'll see a banner at the top of the page when you click on the thank you page widget block.

If you dismiss the prompt, you can still add the block later by opening the widget configuration.

Once the block is added, you can configure how it looks to your end users. Start by picking an icon for the widget. Then, you can configure text such as the widget title, the benefit text shown to the customer, the CTA button text, and all the other required states. Once everything is ready, you can set the status of this widget as "Active."

User experience

Once the widget is active, your store users will be able to see this page right after checkout. As a user completes their checkout, they are redirected to the Shopify thank you page. Users will be able to see the referral block on this page itself with their referral benefit and the referral link available. They can either copy the link and share it with their friends, or they can share it directly from one of the social media channels you configured in the preferences section.

The thank you page widget only reaches a subscriber once, right after an order. The customer portal banner exists to give the referral offer a permanent, recurring placement inside the portal subscribers already use to manage their account.

Admin configuration

Configuring this banner is split across three tabs: Text, Styles, and Configuration.

Under Text, you set the wording shown on the banner, like the title, the benefit copy, and the share button label.

Under Styles, you control the colors for the banner so it can match your store's branding.

Under Configuration, you upload the referral image that will go with your referral block, with separate versions for desktop and mobile.

The banner's placement on the customer portal, and the underlying theme it inherits, are pulled from Loop admin > Customer portal. Therefore, if you wish to rearrange the position of the banner, you can do so by clicking on the "Edit layout" button in the Referral banner placement section, which will take you to the customer portal theme.

Once the banner looks the way you want, set its status to Active.

User experience

Once active, subscribers see this banner when they visit their customer portal, showing your image alongside the referral offer, their referral link, and a share button. It also shows a running count of how many referrals they've completed, so returning subscribers get a natural nudge to invite more friends every time they check on their account.

The referred friend's journey starts the moment they click the referral link shared with them. That click takes them to whichever page of your store you've set as the landing page in referral preferences.

Once the referred friend lands on your store's page, this banner is the first thing they see. This banner exists to confirm the referral reward benefits for the referred friend immediately.

Admin configuration
To get started, you'll need to add the banner to your store page. Do this by clicking Add banner in the "Add referred friend banner" section, which takes you to your Shopify theme editor to enable it.

Once added, you configure the banner's text across three fields. Log in button text title is the prompt shown to encourage login, since the referral discount can only be applied at checkout once the referred friend logs in.

Referred friend banner text is what's shown once they're logged in, confirming their reward. Referred friend banner logout text is what's shown while they're still logged out, nudging them to log in so the reward can apply.

Both the banner text and logout text fields are HTML boxes, so you have full control to customize formatting, links, or images beyond just plain text.

Below that, you set the banner color and text color, both with a reset to default option.

Once configured, set the banner's status to "Active."

User experience
When the referred friend lands on your storefront through the link, they will first see the logged-out state text that you have configured. Once they log in, they will be shown the referral reward applied text Banner.

The checkout widget shows up at the checkout page once the referred friend has added a product to their cart and moved to checkout. Its main job is to handle two outcomes. If the discount is meeting all the criteria configured for that referral program, purchase type, minimum order value, and so on, the reward gets applied successfully, and the widget confirms this. But if it isn't meeting one of those criteria, the widget shows an error along with the rectification action the referred friend can take in the moment, so they can fix their cart and complete the order instead of dropping off.

Admin configuration
To get started, you'll need to add the referral block via the Shopify theme editor, similar to the other checkout-facing touchpoints. Once added, merchants can configure the widget's icon and its text sections. In the text section, all the text if the referral gets applied and the error handling for when the referral does not get applied can be handled. Once configured, set the widget's status to "Active."

User experience
At checkout, the referred friend sees this widget confirming their discount status. If everything checks out, it shows a confirmation like "$10 referral reward coupon applied successfully." If it doesn't apply, for example, if their cart has a one-time order but the reward is restricted to subscription orders, the widget tells them exactly why and what to change, so they can adjust their cart on the spot and still complete the order with their discount applied.

1. Does the checkout widget show up for every customer at checkout, or only for referred friends?
The checkout widget only appears when the customer arrived through someone's referral link, and the referral app embed captured that. A customer who checks out normally, without coming through a referral link, will never see this widget.

2. Why does the referred friend need to log in before their discount applies, instead of it just applying when the user lands?
Loop needs to tie the referral to a specific customer account to attribute it correctly and prevent the same reward from being claimed multiple times. That's why both the referred friend banner and checkout widget prompt a login before confirming the reward.

3. If the checkout widget shows an error, does that stop the referred friend from completing their purchase?
No. The error only affects the discount, not the checkout itself. The referred friend can still complete the order without the reward, or adjust their cart based on the guidance shown to qualify for it before finishing checkout.

No worries - we're here for you! If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to email us at [email protected] or chat with us using the support beacon at the bottom right of your screen.

Regards, Loop subscriptions team 🙂