How it works

Follow these 4 simple steps to start automatically rewarding your most loyal subscription customers with a free product

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Order Created

App connector: Recharge • Time to complete: 0 minutes (Auto-configured)
Why this matters: This trigger monitors all new Recharge subscription orders and starts the workflow whenever a customer places an order, giving you the data needed to check their order history.

This step automatically activates when any subscription order is created in Recharge. The trigger captures essential customer information including their email address, order details, and external order ID that connects to Shopify. No configuration is required - it runs in the background and passes the customer data to the next step to begin the order count verification process.

Orders Count

App connector: Recharge • Time to complete: 0 minutes (Auto-configured)
Why this matters: This step retrieves the exact number of orders the customer has placed, which is essential for determining if they've reached the fifth order milestone that qualifies them for the free product reward.

This step automatically queries Recharge's database using the customer's email address to get their total order count. The system uses the email from the trigger step and makes an API call to retrieve the count number. This data gets passed to the filter step to check if the customer has reached exactly 5 orders. No manual configuration is needed as it uses the customer email from the previous step.

Filter for specific order count

App connector: Filter • Time to complete: 0 minutes (Auto-configured)
Why this matters: This filter ensures the free product is only added when customers reach their fifth order, preventing the reward from being given too early or repeatedly on subsequent orders.

The filter compares the customer's order count from the previous step against the target number 5 using an "equals" comparison. If the count matches exactly 5, the workflow continues to add the free product. If the count is less than or greater than 5, the workflow stops here and no action is taken. This step is pre-configured to check for exactly 5 orders, but you can modify this number if you want to reward customers at a different milestone.

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Add Line Item to Order

App connector: Shopify • Time to complete: 2 minutes
Why this matters: This action delivers the actual reward by adding your chosen free product directly to the customer's fifth order with a 100% discount, completing the loyalty incentive automatically.

This step adds a specific product to the customer's Shopify order as a line item with a full discount applied. You need to configure the "Product ID" field with the ID of the free product you want to give away, and the "Variant ID" field with the specific variant (size, color, etc.) of that product. The system automatically sets the quantity to 1, applies a 100% discount, and adds it to the order without notifying the customer immediately. You can find product and variant IDs in your Shopify admin under Products.

Make it your own

Customize this workflow even further:

Add email notifications
Send a personalized congratulations email to customers when they receive their fifth-order reward, explaining the free product and thanking them for their loyalty.
Create customer segments
Tag customers who reach the fifth order milestone in your CRM or email platform to create VIP segments for future marketing campaigns and exclusive offers.
Track loyalty metrics
Store reward data in spreadsheets or databases to monitor which products work best as loyalty incentives and identify your most valuable repeat customers.
Scale the reward system
Build additional workflows for different milestones (10th order, anniversary dates) or create tiered rewards that increase in value as customers place more orders.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if the customer's fifth order gets canceled or refunded?
The workflow triggers when the order is created, so the free product will already be added. If the order is later canceled, you'll need to manually track and potentially adjust the customer's order count or handle the free product separately since this workflow doesn't monitor order cancellations.
Can I set different free products for different subscription types or customer segments?
Currently this workflow uses a single product ID for all qualifying customers. To offer different rewards, you'd need to add filter steps that check subscription product types or customer tags, then route to different "Add Line Item" steps with different product IDs configured.
Will this workflow work if customers have multiple active subscriptions?
Yes, the workflow counts total orders by email address across all subscriptions. However, if a customer places multiple subscription orders on the same day that happens to be their fifth overall order, they might receive multiple free products since each order creation triggers the workflow independently.
What is a template?
Templates are pre-made workflows by our team of experts. Instead of building a workflow from scratch, these have all the steps needed to complete the task.
Can I personalize a template?
Yes! Every step can be customized to meet your exact requirements. Additionally, you can even add more steps and make it more sophisticated.
Are templates free?
Yes! Our entire library containing hundreds of templates are free to use and customize to your exact needs.

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