Shopify Apps
April 18, 2018
ReferralCandy Review: An Ecommerce Referral Program That Boost Your Store
I have reviewed all sorts of e-commerce systems on this site, and a majority of it has to do with Shopify. Due to that, we've crossed paths with the ReferralCandy app quite a few times.
The reason for this is because ReferralCandy offers customer referral program tools for e-commerce sites, and it integrates seamlessly with a wonderful Shopify app. So, Shopify users are blessed with such a high-quality referral app.
But what about every other platform?
Well, it turns out that ReferralCandy also integrates with Bigcommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and a wide range of other platforms and custom stores. In this ReferralCandy review, I'll show you the most promising features of the app, along with areas like pricing, support, and overall user experience.
To start with, it's worth talking about who the ReferralCandy app is for. As I mentioned before, ReferralCandy builds a customer referral program for your e-commerce store. The system is all configured once you launch the app.
All you have to do is customize it for your brand and specify the types of rewards given out for those who make the referrals. I simply love referral programs for all sizes of e-commerce stores. From Dropbox to Uber and Airbnb to Amazon, it proves that referrals pay off.
Referral marketing is one of the most effective types of marketing since it hinges on word of mouth (people aren't going to refer others if your product isn't good,) yet users are incentivized, so they have a stake in the game.
Smaller companies might cringe a bit at the pricing, but I would argue that you should free up money elsewhere to focus on a referral program. It's an easy way to get people to share your products on social media, and it generates a community around your company, as opposed to showing Google Ads or other marketing tactics.
So, if that all sounds good to you, keep reading this ReferralCandy review to understand exactly what it can do for your company.
ReferralCandy Review: The Best Features
With most referral programs you can expect the standard system where the company specifies a reward for each referral. Then, you can create an area where unique links are generated for each user. These links are shared with friends so that the referral can be traced back to an individual.
ReferralCandy is much more than just that. Yes, that's the basic idea behind the app, however, you have a wide variety of other features to look into.
Stunning Templates to Bring In More Referrals
The backbone of any referral program is the ability to market your program and to look professional at the same time. Since I'm assuming most e-commerce professionals aren't coders, the ReferralCandy templates come in handy.
The templates are kind of like landing pages since they are small, optimized pages, meant for boosting referrals and sales. The templates are mobile-friendly, and they are easy to plug right into your website.
So, you would have to upload an image and background, then talk about what users get when they refer a friend or family member.
Developers should also enjoy the templates since ReferralCandy opens up the HTML and CSS editing areas for unlimited customization options.
Multi-channel Promotion Tools
The big question for most referral programs is “Where do I start promoting it?”
Whereas many referral apps give you the tools to make a referral platform, ReferralCandy takes it a step further by including a complete promotional suite.
Firstly, ReferralCandy has a module for sending email blasts. It automatically makes every person on your email list part of the referral program. Then, an email is sent out notifying people of this, so they can go to the website and grab the link to share.
The automated emails don't stop there. When someone makes a purchase on your site they also receive an email prompting them to join the referral program. This way, no one gets left out and you don't miss any of the traffic going through your site.
ReferralCandy also provides landing pages and an embeddable signup area to post on your store. The checkout area is a great place to add an embedded referral module, so ReferralCandy has a sweet spot for this as well.
Automatic Reward Distribution
All rewards are sent out without any work on your end. Therefore, after you launch a referral program you don't have to send out individual emails to the people who get their rewards or for those who are referred.
This works by detecting the successful referrals by customers in your system. You won't see anything if a person doesn't click on the referral link and make a purchase, so it doesn't make the water appear muddy.
Since there are multiple types of rewards available, (discount coupons, cash rewards, custom gifts, and more) you have the opportunity to switch between these options in the middle of your referral campaign. You can also run multiple referral programs if you'd like to, depending on the types of customers.
We mentioned this before, but part of reward distribution is the safeguard against fraudulent activity. Sometimes people try to take advantage of referral programs by creating invalid referrals or trying to get more rewards than what is acceptable. Because of this, ReferralCandy tracks and reports suspicious cases so you can block a user.
Finally, the reward management system helps you out with all of your coupon codes. The coupons and cash rewards are sent out automatically, but you can go through and contact some customers if the need arises.
Revenue and Engagement Tracking
Without analytics, a referral program leaves you with many assumptions. That's why the ReferralCandy engagement and revenue center provides sleek stats and pages for understanding the performance of your brand's referral program and how your customers are interacting with it.
You get to measure how much your customers love your company and also learn about which of your customers are the best at giving referrals. You might find some VIPs who are easy to partner with and reward even more. You might even find that some people are blogging about your products and pushing tons of people through your website.
This area also covers your referral program's growth, with metrics for how many emails are sent, the number of purchases, clicks, and much more.
How Much Do You Pay for Referral Candy?
ReferralCandy has no free plan, so there's no way for you to avoid paying a monthly fee. However, ReferralCandy does offer a 30-day free trial, which lets you test out the product and cancel it at any time.
The pricing from ReferralCandy is about the simplest you can find online.
In fact, there's only one primary plan that goes for $49 per month + a monthly ReferralCandy commission.
The commission starts at 5%, but it drops as your website grows and as you bring in more sales.
The commission scale looks like this:
- A 5% commission fee for your first $1,000 referral sales.
- A 3.5% commission fee for the next $10,000 in sales.
- A 1.5% commission for the next $100,000 in referral sales.
- A 0.25% commission for everything above that.
As you can see, the commissions are only collected when the sale comes from a ReferralCandy referral. Therefore, if you make a sale with your email list or Google Ads, ReferralCandy doesn't take credit.
The pricing website has a handy calculator tool where you specify your monthly sales and it tells you how much you would have to pay and your expected ROI.
The Enterprise Plan
The only other pricing plan available is for Enterprise customers. You'll have to contact ReferralCandy to set up a custom plan, but the minimum rate listed on the website is a $3,999 monthly fee. It doesn't make you pay any commissions, so this is strictly for enterprise partners who want the extra support and advanced customization.
How Good is Customer Support?
ReferralCandy is known for offering a highly responsive customer support. It all starts with the best practices and guides listed on the website. You also receive email support and access to a large knowledge base.
The fraud protection is considered part of the customer support since it prevents people, and bots, from hacking into your referral system and trying to mess around with it.
Another part of the ReferralCandy support involves the automated communication system. You obviously don't want to have problems with your campaigns or expired coupons floating around in the system.
Have no fear.
Because ReferralCandy sends you automated notifications when a campaign error shows up or when you have an expired coupon coming up.
The Referral Marketing Guide is one of the best places to start when you're launching your campaign, and the Help Center is where you'll find the majority of articles about managing and setting up your program. ReferralCandy also provides access to the API, along with a blog and full demo for those thinking about purchasing.
The only problem I see with the ReferralCandy customer support is the lack of direct support. It's a successful company with lots of customers, but it doesn't have an option to call a customer rep or even live chat on the website. Maybe we'll be seeing that in the future.
Is ReferralCandy the Best Software for You?
As you've probably figured out, I can't seem to find any downsides to using this e-commerce referral program. I would have a tough time not recommending ReferralCandy to anyone.
It makes it easily possible for growing your brand and also for scaling up when you get bigger.
With the automated tools, beautiful templates, and simple stats, you can't go wrong anywhere.
A must-have for every e-commerce website, small or big.
a pop up asking the user to submit their email and add items to their cart. This very effective and powerful tool comes with exclusive templates that can be customized on demand. The ReCart popup editor offers great customization from header to button style.
Hello, My Name is Hassan Raza and I am an enterprenuer and I help people to build their business