Do referrers earn entries when their friends buy something?

No. Refer a friend rewards the friend's sign-up, not their orders. To reward purchases, add the Make a Purchase action. See how purchase-based giveaway entries work .

Where does the referral link send friends?

To the URL to share set on the action, or to your store's home page when it's empty. A landing page that shows the giveaway converts best. See how to embed a giveaway on a Shopify landing page .

Can I give a prize only to my best referrers?

Yes. In the Draw Winners wizard, set "Must have referred at least" to the number of friends you require. See how to draw and notify giveaway winners .

How do I stop fake referrals?

Use Bot Protection in the GIVEAWAY tab: limit sign-ups per IP, block VPNs and reject sign-ups referred by a disqualified entrant. Add reCAPTCHA to your giveaway to stop bots.

Non-Purchase Entry Actions

How does the refer-a-friend entry action work?

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Quick answer

Add the Refer a friend entry action and every entrant gets a personal referral link in the giveaway widget, with share buttons for Facebook, X, Messenger, email, LinkedIn and Pinterest. When a friend opens the link and signs up for the giveaway, the entrant who shared it earns the action's entries, 3 by default.

Refer a friend turns every entrant into a promoter. Each person who joins your giveaway gets a personal link to share, and earns bonus entries for every friend who signs up through it. Your giveaway spreads by word of mouth, the channel shoppers trust most, and you only pay in entries.

How does refer-a-friend work?

Entrant signs up
Gets a personal link
Shares it
Friend opens the link
Friend signs up
Entrant earns entries

After signing up, the entrant sees their personal link in the widget: your page URL followed by ?njref= and a code unique to them. Clicking the link copies it.
They share it with the share buttons you switch on, or paste it anywhere: WhatsApp, Discord, Instagram stories, a group chat.
When a friend opens the link, Giveaway Ninja remembers the code in the friend's browser while they browse your store.
As soon as the friend signs up for the giveaway, the entrant who shared the link earns the action's entries.

What counts as a referral: a friend who joins the giveaway as a new entrant. Opening or sharing the link earns nothing by itself, people who already entered can't be referred again, and the friend's purchases don't earn the referrer anything. If a friend opens links from two entrants, the last link they opened gets the credit.

How do I set up refer-a-friend?

Edit your giveaway, open the ENTRY ACTIONS tab and click Refer a friend in the Get More Traffic group. A giveaway has one Refer a friend action: clicking it again opens the one you added.
Write the Title and Description. Put {referral-url} where the entrant's link should appear and {value} where the number of entries should appear.
Set the Value: the entries earned for each friend who joins. The default is 3.
Enter the URL to share: your giveaway landing page or its Direct URL. Leave it empty to use your store's home page.
Switch on the share buttons you want and fill in their details (see the table below).
Click the small SAVE button, then save the giveaway.

Share button	What you can set
Facebook	URL
Twitter (X)	URL and the message to post
Pinterest	URL, image URL (required) and description
LinkedIn	URL and title
Messenger	URL
E-mail	Subject and message (both required)

Each button's own URL is optional: when it's empty, the button shares the URL to share. The entrant's referral code is added to every link automatically.

Use a URL without a question mark. Giveaway Ninja adds ?njref= and the code to the end of the URL, so a URL that already has parameters, such as UTM tags, would break. Point it at a page where your giveaway appears, so friends can join straight away.

How can refer-a-friend help my brand?

Friends of your entrants look a lot like your entrants: same interests, same age group, often the same city. Referral turns your giveaway into a lookalike audience you don't pay a network for, and every new friend is a new email for your list. A few ways to get more from it:

Make sharing the best deal on the page. Give 1 entry for signing up and 5 per friend, so referring is the obvious way to climb.
Reward both sides. Add sign-up bonus entries so invited friends get an entry too, then say so in the share message: "Join with my link and get a free entry."
Crown your top promoters. Keep a prize for entrants who referred at least 3 friends with the "Must have referred at least" filter in the Draw Winners wizard, and switch on the Leaderboard in the DESIGN tab to make it a competition.
Put the link in your emails. With Klaviyo connected, each synced entrant's personal link is saved on their profile as GNJ_ReferFriendURL. Add it to your welcome or reminder flow: "3 more friends and you'll have 15 extra entries." See how to connect Giveaway Ninja to Klaviyo.
Make the shared link look good. Point it at a landing page with its own image and title, so every share looks like an ad you designed. See how to customize the share preview.

How do I track referrals and stop cheating?

Entries page: filter by Refer a Friend to see each referral with the referrer and the friend's email and IP address.
Users page: the Referrals column shows how many friends each entrant brought. Sort by it to find your best promoters.
Bot Advisor: the Referrals Health card shows how many entrants joined through a link and flags suspicious referred sign-ups. Open it from the giveaway's menu in the overview.
Bot Protection: in the GIVEAWAY tab, limit sign-ups from the same IP, block VPNs and servers, and switch on Reject sign-ups if referral user is disqualified. Once you disqualify a cheater, new sign-ups through their link are rejected.

Removing an entrant also takes back the referral entries they generated for someone else, so fake friends don't leave extra entries behind.