Docs/Merchants/Rewards Program
Referral rewards
Last updated
A refer-a-friend reward has two sides. The customer who shares (the referrer) earns a reward from you, and the friend they bring in gets a discount on their order. You control both sides — plus the referral code, the share link, and whether the referrer keeps earning on the friend's later orders.
Where these settings live
- In the Toki merchant portal, open Loyalty.
- In the Ways to Earn section, click your referral activity. If it's not in the list, click Manage all activities to open the full Rewards page, then click the reward.
- To create one from scratch, click Add new activity (or Create reward on the Rewards page) and pick Refer a friend to purchase under Referral.
Most of the settings below live on each rule in the Reward Rules card. Some sit inside the rule's Additional settings section — click it to expand.
What the referrer earns
The rule's Type field sets the referrer's reward. You can use any reward type — a fixed amount of points or store credit, a free gift, a discount code, a collectible, or a custom reward. See Reward types for the full list.
One option is worth calling out for referrals: Based on spend. Instead of a flat amount, the referrer earns per dollar the referred friend spends on their purchase — a commission-style reward that scales with the order.
The friend's discount
The Referral Code Settings section on the rule sets the discount for referred customers. The discount code is applied automatically once the friend visits a referral link.
| Type | What the friend gets |
|---|---|
| Absolute | A fixed amount off their order. |
| Percentage | A percentage off their order. |
| Buy X Get Y | A quantity deal — for example, buy one item, get another free. You pick what they buy and what they get. |
You'll also see a Dynamic type for custom discount logic. Chat with us and we'll set it up with you.
Under Additional settings, the Additional discount rules section refines the friend's discount:
- Collections — limit the discount to specific collections. Leave it blank and the discount applies to all products.
- Combination settings — control whether the discount can combine with other product, order, or shipping discounts.
Referral codes
Every customer gets a personal referral code. Two settings in Additional settings control how it works:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Referral code as discount code | Turn this on and the referral code doubles as the discount code — the friend can type it at checkout. |
| Referral code template | Set the pattern for generated referral codes. Leave it blank for a random code. |
In the template, {first_name} and {last_name} insert the customer's
first and last name. For example, {first_name}10 gives a customer named
Anna the code Anna10. If a generated code is already taken, Toki adds a
short random suffix so every customer's code stays unique.
When the referrer gets rewarded
By default, the referrer earns their reward for the first order placed by the referred customer. Two switches in Additional settings change that:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| First time purchasers only | Turn this on and the discount code only works for first-time purchasers — and referrers only earn rewards for bringing in new customers. |
| Reward for each order | Turn this on and the referrer earns a reward for every new order the referred customer places, not just the first. |
When Reward for each order is on, two more fields appear:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Minimum referred customer orders | The number of orders the referred customer must place before the referrer starts earning. |
| Referral commission duration | How long the referrer keeps earning on the referred customer's new orders. Leave it blank and it never ends. |
How an order is linked to the referrer
The referrer earns their reward when the friend's order is linked to them. Toki links an order in two ways:
- The discount code. The friend's order uses the referral discount code: the code applied from the referral link, or the referral code itself typed at checkout when Referral code as discount code is on.
- The cart. With Enable referral cart tracking on, a friend who arrives through the referral link carries a referral tag in their cart, and their order counts even if the discount code isn't used on it.
In both cases the order must meet the activity's Minimum order total price, pass the rule's Discounts rules, and, with First time purchasers only on, be the friend's first order with you. A customer can't earn by referring themselves.
The first linked order ties the friend to the referrer. The friend's later orders reward the referrer only when Reward for each order is on, and only within the Referral commission duration, counted from that first order.
Referral tracking
In Additional settings, the Enable referral cart tracking switch adds a referral property to the cart when a customer arrives through a referral link. This ties the friend's order back to the referrer even when the discount code is removed from the cart before checkout. Toki checks both the cart and the order's discount codes; when the same referral shows up in both, it counts once. See How an order is linked to the referrer.
Referral safeguards
Toki checks for self-referrals twice:
- When a friend opens a referral link. Toki creates the friend's discount code at this point, often before it knows who they are. A visitor who is signed in to the wallet as the referrer gets no code. To also catch visitors who aren't signed in, check the Check IP Address box in the reward's Rules card. It's off by default. Toki then compares the visitor's IP address with the ones the referrer has opened your wallet from in the past month, and on a match the link applies no discount. A friend on the referrer's network, such as the same home Wi-Fi, gets no discount from the link either.
- When the order comes in. Toki compares the buyer's email with the referrer's. If they match, the referrer earns nothing for that order.
Each discount code a referral link creates works for one order and expires 24 hours after the friend opens the link. A friend who opens the link again later gets a new code. With Referral code as discount code on, the link applies the referrer's referral code instead, which has no end date.
The share link
The Sharing card on the reward page controls the link customers send to their friends:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Referral Link | The referral link shown to customers. Paste your own link if you want to send friends to a specific page — Toki automatically adds the parameters it needs for tracking. |
| Hide UTM parameters | Check this to keep utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign out of generated referral links. |
Invite friends by email
Customers can also invite a friend by email from the refer-a-friend reward in their wallet: they enter the friend's address under "Invite your friend by email" and click Send Email. You write the email:
- Open Design and click Edit on the Wallet module.
- Open the Style section and scroll to Refer a Friend: Components Settings.
- Keep Show Email Component checked, and write the
Email Component Subject and Email Component Body. Put
{link}in the body where the customer's referral link should go. Until you change it, the body holds only the link.
The Refer A Friend module has the same option: set its Module variant to Share email and fill in Share - email subject and Share email - message. Toki adds the referral link after the message.
By default, the customer's own email app opens with your subject and message filled in, and they send the email themselves. Once Klaviyo is connected, the reward's Rules card also shows Send invite via. Choose Klaviyo and Toki sends each invite to Klaviyo as the Toki Send Refer A Friend Invite metric for the friend, so a Klaviyo flow on it can send the email in your own design. See Klaviyo for both options.
Right after they order, customers can also share from the Referral block on your Thank you page. It shows their referral link or a field to invite friends by email. Email invites from this block go out through Klaviyo, so set Send invite via to Klaviyo if you use that option. To add the block, see the "Order confirmation page" section of Install modules on your storefront.
To email referrers the discount code they earned, start a Klaviyo flow on the Toki Reward Created metric. It carries the code when the referrer's rule gives a Discount code with Create discount immediately turned on. The properties are listed in Toki events and properties in your email and SMS tools.
Referral QR codes at the point of sale
A customer's referral link doubles as their in-store ID. Your staff can scan a customer's referral QR code at Shopify POS to bring up their loyalty account — no email or customer lookup needed. One QR code works for both sharing with friends and checking in at the register.
This option is off by default. To turn it on:
- Open Wallet Passes.
- Scroll to the Additional Settings card at the bottom of the page. It appears once you have at least one pass.
- Check Allow POS authentication with referral code.
- Click Save in the bar at the top.
See QR codes and POS authentication for the pass setup and what staff see at the register.
More settings shared with other rewards
Refer-a-friend rewards also include the Discounts rules section (control which discount codes block or allow the reward) and the Reward Delay section (wait before granting the reward, or leave it blank for an instant reward). Both work the same way as on purchase rewards — see Purchase reward rules.
If you run more than one shop with Toki, Shops to apply the reward lets you pick where the rule applies. Leave it blank to apply it to all shops.