You're on Shopify Plus, your checkout is already optimized, and you want to add Social Pay without touching your code. Good news: the native app lets you do it in 30 minutes, no dev. Here's the exact timeline our 50+ merchants follow during onboarding.
Before you start: pre-install checklist
Before installing, make sure you have:
- An active Shopify Plus account with App Store access
- KYB info for your company (company ID, bank details, director ID document) for PSP activation
- DNS access to add a CNAME record (optional, for branded share page)
- Internal marketing rules: target cashback rate, monthly cap, excluded segments
Expect 30 minutes of install + 24h of KYB validation by our team.
Day 1 — Install (30 min)
Step 1: App installation (5 min)
From the Shopify admin, open the App Store and search "Social Pay". Click "Add app" then approve the permissions (order read, customer read, checkout write).
Step 2: KYB onboarding (15 min)
The onboarding wizard asks for your company's legal information. Everything is designed to be filled without support: company ID auto-completed via INSEE, bank details verified via IBAN check, ID upload via webcam or file.
Step 3: Cashback configuration (10 min)
From the dashboard, configure:
- Sponsor cashback rate: 5% by default, adjustable
- Referee discount: 5% by default, to incentivize first purchase
- Monthly cap per customer: €200 by default (adjust based on AOV)
- Included/excluded product segments: by Shopify collection
- Link validity: 30, 60, 90 days, or unlimited
Day 2 — Sandbox testing (2 hours)
Social Pay provides a full sandbox environment where you can simulate the end-to-end flow without real payment.
Test 1: Complete consumer flow
- Place an order with the test Visa card 4242 4242 4242 4242
- Validate that the confirmation page shows the referral link
- Test WhatsApp sharing (pre-filled message opens in your app)
- Click the link from another browser
- Check the "Marie recommends you" landing displays with your branding
- Place a "referee" order and check the 5% discount applies
- In the dashboard, verify cashback appears as pending payout
Test 2: Webhooks and analytics
If you want to push Social Pay events to Klaviyo / Segment / Brevo, configure webhooks from the "Integrations" tab of the dashboard. All key events are available: order.shared, referral.converted, cashback.paid.
Day 3 — Production go-live
Once the sandbox is validated, switch to production by clicking "Go live" in the dashboard. Our CSM team manually re-validates your config one final time and activates usually within 4 business hours.
Announce the launch to your customer base: send a campaign email explaining the new program. Our merchants who do this announcement see 3× more adoption in the first 30 days.
After launch: optimize continuously
The dashboard surfaces 4 key metrics to watch:
- Post-purchase share rate — if <50%, increase module visibility on confirmation page
- Shared link conversion — if <6%, maybe lower the referee purchase barrier (increase discount)
- Cashback vs. generated revenue — keep ratio around 5-7% of revenue based on your margin
- Net ROI vs. Meta Ads — the dashboard auto-compares to your declared Meta CAC
Every month, your CSM does a 30-min review with you to analyze these metrics and recommend adjustments. Brands doing these monthly reviews double their performance over 6 months on average.
The 3 most common issues (and how to fix them)
Low share rate (<40%) in week 1: check that your confirmation page hasn't been customized to hide the Social Pay module. On Shopify Plus, some custom themes need a minimal CSS adjustment.
Cashback "pending" for more than 24h: normal on foreign cards (outside SEPA zone). Our push-to-card engine can take 48h for US/UK cards.
Orders not attributed despite link click: check your store allows first-party cookies via the Shopify Customer Privacy settings. Without this, attribution only works in browser session.