Paid ads are not a growth strategy. They’re a coping mechanism. In this episode, I sat down with Raúl Galera, Growth Lead at ReferralCandy, to talk about building a real Shopify growth engine. A referral flywheel that turns happy customers into your most valuable acquisition channel. 88% of people trust recommendations from people they know, and acquiring a new customer can cost 5 to 25 times more than keeping one. If you want Shopify growth without living in the ads dashboard, this one’s for you.

• When is the right time to launch a referral program on Shopify, and when is it just wishful thinking?
• What referral incentives actually work without torching your margins?
• Where should you ask for referrals so it feels natural, not desperate?
• How do you build referral plus affiliate programs that do not turn into coupon chaos?
• Why do loyalty points programs often create discount addiction. What should “real loyalty” look like instead?
• What is “Moments” by ReferralCandy, and how does surprise and delight become a system, not a random act?
• What are the top mistakes that quietly kill referral and affiliate programs over time?
• How do Tremendous payouts remove reward ops as the bottleneck when you finally scale?

• ReferralCandy: https://www.referralcandy.com/
• Moments by ReferralCandy: https://www.referralcandy.com/moments
• Press release. Tremendous payouts: https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/new-tremendous-payouts-are-now-available-in-referralcandy
• ReferralCandy on the Shopify App Store: https://apps.shopify.com/referralcandy
• Raúl Galera on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raulgalera/
• ReferralCandy (Anafore) on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anafore/

Omnisend - I personally use Omnisend for every Shopify store I manage! I’ve tried them all and Omnisend is hands down the easiest way to set up email and sms automations and campaigns, leverage segmentation to personalize them, and A/B test everything to optimize conversion. The push notifications and gamified email collection tools are just the icing on the cake 🤌

(plus most report paying about half the price of Klaviyo 🤫)

🚨Listeners (YOU) get an exclusive 30% OFF for 3 MONTHS: https://shopify1percent.com/omnisend

Bold Commerce - Maximize your Shopify sales with Bold's suite of powerful apps. From AI Upselling, to powerful Subscriptions, Memberships, and VIP Pricing tools, Bold has everything you need to Maximize your Shopify revenue!

Try Bold apps for free here: shopify1percent.com/bold

(* Golden Tickets mentioned in the show are linked below) Over the past 6 months, we've quietly been testing something with 50 Shopify brands.

I believe there is a massive shift happening in the way people shop. I've been noticing it for a few years now. It's happening right before us, and yet Shopify brands don't have the tools to adapt.

Which is why today's episode is special. I'm finally pulling back the curtain on something that's been consuming my life for the past year: the first brand-new app Bold has launched in 9 years. It's our attempt to help Shopify brands navigate this shift in buyer behavior.

The timing couldn't be more critical. Customer acquisition costs have doubled in the past 4-5 years. Search traffic is down 35% to over 50% for most brands , and agentic commerce (people buying through AI) is officially here. This means customers will visit your site less and less. The bottom line? When you actually get a customer, keeping them is more important—and harder—than ever.

At the same time, the tool that used to keep customers coming back is actually causing brands to lose them. Subscription fatigue is at an all-time high. You aren't losing customers because they don't like your product; you're losing them because they don't want the friction of a subscription!

So, over the past year, we've been building a solution for this. We tested it with 50 merchants for 6 months, and the results have been absolutely amazing. On average, every single store increased their reorder rate by 6.6% , with some of the top stores hitting nearly 20%!

What we built is rePete!

rePete is the world's first AI reorder agent. He's smart, friendly, and built for this exact moment. rePete gets to know each of your customers' individual shopping habits and patterns. Then, he predicts when they need a refill and sends a friendly nudge at exactly the right time. No subscription. No friction. Just a click.

rePete is still invite-only, but I'm giving every listener a personal Golden Ticket. Click the link below, answer three questions, and I'll personally email you the ticket today! Golden Ticket Access: https://bit.ly/rpt-tix

Most Shopify founders think they’ll sell “someday.” Most will never. Only 20% to 30% of businesses that go to market actually sell, which is a fun little statistic if you enjoy pain. In this episode, I sit down with Lexi Grant, founder of They Got Acquired, to talk about how to build a Shopify business that buyers actually want. We break down profit, SDE, add-backs, founder dependency, and why recurring revenue and repeat customers can push your Shopify valuation into the “this was worth it” zone.

• Why do so many Shopify founders think “revenue” equals value, and why do buyers disagree?

• If you want to sell in 2 to 4 years, what should you start doing this month?

• What are the most common “multiple killers” in ecommerce. Founder dependency, channel concentration, declining growth?

• How do SDE and add-backs work. What’s legit, what gets laughed out of diligence?

• Why do subscriptions and repeat purchase behavior change how buyers price your Shopify business?

• Should you fix weaknesses before you sell, or leave them as upside for the buyer?

• When does it make sense to hire a broker or M&A advisor, and how do you avoid hiring the wrong one?

• What does “no surprises” due diligence actually look like in the real world?

They Got Acquired: https://theygotacquired.com/ Lexi Grant (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisgrant/ They Got Acquired (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/company/they-got-acquired/ Free Founder to Advisor Matching (They Got Acquired): https://theygotacquired.com/recommend-ma-advisor/ Due Diligence Checklists (They Got Acquired): https://theygotacquired.com/due-diligence-checklists/ The Exit Playbook Course (They Got Acquired): https://playbook.theygotacquired.com/ Profit First (Mike Michalowicz): https://profitfirstbook.com/ Mike Michalowicz (site): https://mikemichalowicz.com/

Special offers mentioned: Lexi offers a free founder to M&A advisor or broker matching service, plus her Exit Playbook course for founders who want to “sell for more later.”