A trusted recommendation can get someone interested in your brand before they are ready to buy. If your product makes its strongest case through experience, give that recommendation something tangible to carry.
ReferralCandy now lets Shopify affiliate campaigns offer friends a free product. Your affiliate shares the offer; the friend can use Get it now to go straight to checkout with the selected product 100% discounted. You can then see which friends go on to buy.
Choose the product that makes the introduction
Think about what a new customer needs to experience first. A trial-size product could introduce a skincare range, for example. That is an illustrative use case: choose a product that fits your own economics and customer experience.
In Affiliate campaigns → Friend offer, select Free product and choose the product. Check how the offer appears to the friend before sharing it more widely. The offer discounts the product; it does not establish that shipping or taxes are free.
Decide how to thank the affiliate
The Free product bonus on the Affiliate reward page starts at No reward. You can leave it there or set an optional bonus for the affiliate who brings in a new friend.
The bonus is paid once per new friend and sits outside reward tiers. A free-product order earns that bonus rather than a commission. Review it in Purchases & referrals; the affiliate receives the bonus when review ends and can see pending and earned bonus rows in the portal.
Follow the introduction through to a purchase
Campaign Overview and affiliate pages show free product orders, friends who went on to buy, and bonus cost. Use those views to examine what happens after the initial gift. Product trials and later purchases are different moments; the reporting helps you see both.
This release is live for all Shopify affiliate campaigns from 5 November 2026. It does not apply to referral campaigns or other ecommerce platforms.
Start with the product you would most want a new customer to try, review the optional affiliate bonus, and use your campaign reporting to follow what happens next.
