Automate your word-of-mouth marketing programs with customer referrals, influencer partnerships, and affiliate management to improve customer acquisition costs.
Social Snowball is one of the best affiliate marketing apps available for Shopify merchants looking to automate their word-of-mouth programs. While it's not free, starting at $199/month, it offers comprehensive features including customer-to-affiliate conversion, bulk payout processing, Safelinks technology to prevent coupon fraud, and detailed attribution tracking. The platform's user-friendly interface and seamless Shopify integration make it particularly valuable for merchants serious about scaling their affiliate marketing efforts.
For free alternatives to Social Snowball, consider Shopify Collabs (free to install) which allows working with influencers to promote your brand and drive sales. Another option is AfterShip Referral & Affiliate (4.8/5 stars, free) that helps build brand trust and generate more revenue through referral programs. BLP Referral Program Affiliate (4.9/5 stars, free plan available) also offers referral program functionality with affiliate capabilities. However, these alternatives may lack the comprehensive features like Safelinks, social listening, and advanced attribution that Social Snowball provides.
To set up automatic customer-to-affiliate conversion, navigate to your Social Snowball dashboard and enable the post-purchase pop-up feature. This automatically converts customers into affiliates immediately after they complete a purchase. You can customize the welcome message and incentive structure in the affiliate program settings. The integration works seamlessly with Shopify checkout, requiring no additional code installation. Merchants can also configure specific commission rates and tracking parameters for these automatically converted affiliates.
To prevent coupon code leaks using Safelinks, navigate to your program settings and enable the Safelinks feature. This generates unique, single-use discount codes for every customer that clicks on affiliate links, eliminating the risk of codes leaking to coupon sites. You can customize the Safelinks popup appearance and configure tracking parameters. The system automatically manages code generation and usage tracking, ensuring each code is only used once and properly attributed to the correct affiliate. This significantly reduces coupon fraud while maintaining affiliate attribution accuracy.
To integrate Social Snowball with Klaviyo, first connect both platforms through the integrations section in your Social Snowball dashboard. Then, create targeted email campaigns by segmenting your affiliates based on performance, program type, or other criteria. You can incorporate Social Snowball data into existing Klaviyo flows to send performance updates, commission notifications, and recruitment emails. The integration allows you to create welcome emails for new affiliates and track affiliate-generated content through UTM parameters, enabling comprehensive email marketing automation for your affiliate program.
