# Building an Ecommerce Referral Program > Create referral rewards that attract genuine new customers and are issued only after a qualifying order is verified. - Type: Merchant guide - Level: Intermediate - Reading time: About 6 minutes - Audience: Written for store owners, builders, and designers refining high-performance ecommerce stores. - Last updated: 2026-11-04 - Canonical page: https://academy.getzenbasket.com/merchant-questions/building-an-ecommerce-referral-program/ - Part of: [Merchant Questions](https://academy.getzenbasket.com/merchant-questions/) on ZenBasket Academy --- ## What you need to know ### What is an ecommerce referral program? A referral program rewards or recognizes customers who introduce eligible new customers that complete a defined action. ### Referral program vs loyalty program: what's the difference? Referral programs focus on acquiring new customers through advocates; loyalty programs focus on ongoing behavior by existing customers. ### Should ecommerce stores offer referral rewards? Offer referral rewards when genuine referred customers are valuable enough to fund the benefit, and the store can verify qualification. A program is not suitable if attribution or abuse controls are too weak. ### Should both the referrer and new customer receive rewards? Both may receive a reward when the two benefits serve different purposes: the new customer gets a reason to try, and the referrer gets recognition. The combined cost must still fit the expected contribution from a genuinely new buyer. ### What should referral rewards be? Use a reward customers value that the business can afford, such as store credit, a defined benefit or an appropriate discount. Avoid rewards so large that self-referral becomes more attractive than genuine advocacy. ### When should referral rewards be issued? Issue the reward only after the referred customer and qualifying order pass the program's verification, cancellation and return-risk rules. Show the referrer whether the reward is pending, approved, or reversed. ### What happens if the referred order is refunded? Reverse or cancel rewards tied to the refunded qualifying value under the published rules. Partial refunds need a defined threshold, so staff and customers know whether qualification remains. ### How do merchants prevent referral abuse? Verify new-customer eligibility, account and payment relationships, order status and suspicious repetition without relying on one signal alone. Hold rewards for review when evidence conflicts instead of automatically accusing a customer. ### A quick store check Test self-referral, duplicate account, cancelled order, refund and repeated-device scenarios before launch. --- ## Frequently asked questions ### Should employees participate in a referral program? Only under a separate, clearly disclosed rule if permitted; their referrals should not be mixed invisibly with customer advocacy. ### Can one household make a valid referral? Possibly, but eligibility must be defined consistently and reviewed with other identity and order signals rather than address alone. --- ## Related learning path - **Ecommerce Loyalty Program Economics** - **Ecommerce Reviews and User-Generated Content** - [ZenBasket Build Guide](https://help.getzenbasket.com/zenbasket-builder/)