Start with warmer traffic
Build the audience around people who followed a personal referral link and reached the friend-offer experience.
Ads and retargeting integration
Referral and affiliate audiences you can retarget with Google Ads
Your advocates have already introduced a high-intent visitor. The Google Ads integration helps your team continue that conversation by adding tracking to the friend-offer landing page and building an audience of referred visitors who have not yet purchased.
Not on Shopify? Try ReferralCandy for free.
Google Ads tag placement on the ReferralCandy friend-offer landing page.
Referral audienceLast 30 daysFriend-offer visits12.4kIllustrative view
Audience statusBuildingReferred visitors
Direct WhatsApp Social
Example dashboard for layout exploration. Not customer data.
Why connect Google Ads
Give referred visitors a thoughtful second path back to the store.
A referred friend has context that a cold visitor does not: someone they know has already made the introduction. ReferralCandy places the Google Ads tag on the offer-claim experience so your paid team can create an audience around that signal and use retargeting to continue the journey.
Use the ad platform your team already operates
Keep audience strategy, creative, budgeting, and campaign optimization inside Google Ads.
Separate interest from completed purchase
Exclude customers who already converted so the retargeting budget stays focused on referred visitors who still need a reason to return.
See it in your stack
Build the program around your customer journey.
Start with the integration you already run, then shape the campaign, reward, and message around the relationships your brand has earned.
Not on Shopify? Try ReferralCandy for free.
How it works
How ReferralCandy works with Google Ads
Connect the tracking identifier, collect eligible friend-offer visits, define the audience, and run the retargeting campaign in your ad platform.
- 1
Prepare tracking in Google Ads
Open Audience Manager in Google Ads, choose the audience source, and locate the property ID in the Google tag setup.
- 2
Add the Google Ads property ID in ReferralCandy
Open Integrations and Ads & Retargeting, enter the Google Ads property ID, and save the connection.
- 3
Build the referral audience
Use visits to URLs that begin with https://go.referralcandy.com as the audience signal for referred friends who reached the offer experience.
- 4
Retarget without chasing purchasers
Exclude successful customers and use the audience in a campaign that gives the referred visitor a relevant path back to the store.
Audience design
Use Google Ads to continue an introduction, not repeat it.
The referral already supplied social context. Retargeting should preserve that advantage with creative and an offer that feel connected to the recommendation rather than like a generic acquisition ad.
A friend followed a personal recommendation
The audience begins when a referred visitor reaches the ReferralCandy friend-offer landing page after clicking an advocate’s link.
Focus on referred visitors who did not buy
Create the website-visitor audience and exclude completed purchasers before the campaign starts serving.
Bring the visitor back with context
Run the retargeting campaign from Google Ads, using the same audience controls, creative standards, and reporting process as the rest of your paid program.
Who it is for
For paid teams that want more value from the referral traffic they already earned.
Use the Google Ads integration when referred visitors reach the offer but do not convert on the first session, and the team wants a structured way to re-engage them.
- ✓Paid acquisition teams using Google Ads
- ✓Referral programs with meaningful friend-offer traffic
- ✓Brands that can exclude completed customers from retargeting
Questions, answered
Google Ads integration FAQ
Marketing overview first. When you are ready to configure the integration, the technical guide has the exact settings.
What does the ReferralCandy integration with Google Ads track?
It adds the Google Ads tracking tag to the ReferralCandy friend-offer landing page so visits from referred friends can populate a retargeting audience.
Who should be included in the audience?
Include referred visitors who reached the friend-offer experience and exclude people who already completed a successful purchase.
Where do I configure the Google Ads campaign?
ReferralCandy supplies the page-level audience signal. Audience rules, ads, budgets, and campaign optimization remain in Google Ads.
What ReferralCandy page should the audience use?
URLs that begin with https://go.referralcandy.com
How quickly does the audience populate?
Audience timing depends on the ad platform, the configured tag, and the volume of eligible friend-offer visits.
+Let your strongest relationships bring the next customer.
Connect Google Ads to ReferralCandy and make referral and affiliate growth part of the stack your team already runs.
Not on Shopify? Try ReferralCandy for free.