Shopify Loyalty Program: Native Options vs Loyalty Apps
Shopify has no built-in loyalty points program. It does give you three building blocks for free: store credit you can issue as a reward, customer segments that keep a live list of your best customers, and Shopify Flow to tag or notify on those customers automatically. A simple “thank you” credit or VIP list needs nothing more. Points, tiers, referral links and a rewards widget on the storefront come from a loyalty app.
Shopify facts below come from the Help Center pages on store credit, customer segmentation and Shopify Flow, read on October 23, 2026. App prices are as listings showed them on the same day.
What Shopify gives you for loyalty without an app
Store credit. You can issue store credit to a customer’s account, and Shopify names “a reward or incentive, such as a loyalty or referral program” as one of its uses. The customer sees it as a payment method at checkout when signed in. The rules matter before you build a program on it:
- It works on the online store, Point of Sale and Shop only, not on other sales channels, draft orders or edited orders.
- It needs the new customer accounts; it is not available for legacy customer accounts.
- The customer applies the full credit balance, not part of it.
- One customer account can hold less than $15,000 USD of credit.
- It pays for the first order of a subscription, not the recurring bills.
- Stores created on or after May 12, 2025, pay third-party transaction fees on the part of an order paid with store credit.
Store credit is on by default; check the Store credit toggle under Settings > Customer accounts. Staff need the Store credit permission to manage it.
Customer segments. Segments are rule-based lists that update themselves: a customer joins when they meet the rules and leaves when they stop. Build one for “placed 3 or more orders” or “spent over $300”, or use Shopify’s predicted spend tier to find likely high spenders. That segment is your VIP list for an early-access email or a private discount.
Shopify Flow. Flow tags customers when they are created or place an order, so “VIP” can be added automatically when someone crosses your threshold. Shopify’s own workflow examples include “Send handwritten note after customer places second order”, and its loyalty examples note that many loyalty apps have Flow connectors.
Put together, these cover a “spend $300 this year, get $20 credit” program run by hand once a month, or a VIP early-access list. They do not give customers a points balance to watch grow.
Types of loyalty programs
| Program | How it works | Native or app | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | Customers earn points per dollar or action and redeem them for discounts | App | Frequent, lower-priced purchases (beauty, coffee, pet food) |
| Tiers / VIP | Spending moves customers up to levels with better perks | Segment + manual perks, or app for automatic tiers | Stores with a clear group of big spenders |
| Store credit / cashback | A share of the order comes back as credit for the next one | Native store credit, issued by you or an app | Stores that want the reward spent in their own store |
| Paid membership | Customers pay a fee for ongoing perks (free shipping, member prices) | App | Stores with very frequent buyers |
| Referral | The customer and a friend both get a reward for the friend’s first order | App | Products people talk about |
Points and cashback look similar but cost you differently; our guide to points vs cashback compares them. Our other retention guides are collected in the running a store hub.
How Shopify loyalty points work in an app
A points app keeps a ledger outside Shopify’s own data: each customer’s balance, what they earned it for and when it expires. You set earn rules (points per dollar spent, for creating an account, a birthday, a review, a social follow) and redeem rules (100 points become a $5 discount code, a free product, or free shipping). When a customer redeems, the app hands out the reward in Shopify terms, typically a discount code; check in each app whether it can pay out as store credit instead.
The app also adds a launcher or rewards page to the storefront and a points line to customer emails. That launcher is where customers check their balance and see what the next reward is.
As an example of pricing, Smile (rated 4.9 from 4,649 reviews on its listing) lists a free plan up to 200 orders a month with points and referrals, $15/month up to 500 orders, $79 up to 1,000, and $199 for 2,500 orders, the plan where VIP tiers start. Its price follows your monthly orders, so the bill grows with your store; compare that unit across apps. Our Shopify loyalty apps comparison covers more of them.
Price your rewards so they pay off
Work out what a point costs you before you announce it. Example:
- Earn rule: 1 point per $1. Redeem rule: 100 points = $5 off.
- So every $100 spent earns a $5 reward: 5% of revenue, if everyone redeems.
- Your gross margin on a $100 order is, say, 50%, or $50. The reward takes $5 of that, 10% of your profit on the order.
- Add the app fee. At $15 a month and 300 orders, that is $0.05 per order.
Whether 5% pays off depends on whether customers who earn points come back more often than they did before. Two choices keep the cost honest:
- Reward the second purchase, not the first. A welcome discount goes to everyone, including people who would never return. Points that only become usable on the next order cost you nothing unless the customer comes back.
- Let points expire, for example 12 months after they are earned, if your plan includes expiry. On Smile’s listing, points expiry sits in the $199 Growth plan with VIP tiers, so check this before you count on the cheaper plans. Without expiry, unused points sit on your books as a promise you may have to honor years later.
Start with one reward you can explain in a sentence (“$5 off your next order for every $100 you spend”) and add tiers or referrals only when you can see in your reports that members come back.
Launch checklist
- Write a short terms page: how points are earned, what they are worth, when they expire, and that you can change the program.
- Put the program where customers look: the account page, the order confirmation email and a footer link.
- Announce it to past customers who opted in to email marketing.
- Decide what you will measure before launch: repeat purchase rate, time between orders, and how many members redeem. Our guide to loyalty metrics explains each one.
The step-by-step setup in an app is in set up a Shopify loyalty rewards program.
Why loyalty programs lose money
- Rewards worth more than your margin on low-margin products. Exclude them from earning, or earn less on them.
- Points that never expire.
- A program nobody can find because it lives only on a page in the footer.
- Using store credit as the reward while the store still runs legacy customer accounts, where credit is not available.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopify have a loyalty program? Shopify has no built-in points or tiers program for merchants. It offers store credit, customer segments and Shopify Flow, which cover simple rewards, and loyalty apps from the Shopify App Store add points, tiers and referrals.
Can I use store credit as a loyalty reward? Yes, Shopify lists loyalty and referral rewards as a use for store credit. Customers need the new customer accounts to use it, they spend the full balance at once, and it works on the online store, POS and Shop.
Does Shopify POS support loyalty? Store credit can be accepted on Shopify POS if it is also active on your online store, and staff need the POS Customers permissions to redeem it. Loyalty apps such as Smile list POS support on their listings.
How much does a Shopify loyalty app cost? It depends on the app’s pricing unit, often orders per month. Smile’s listing, for example, shows a free plan up to 200 orders a month and paid plans from $15 a month, with VIP tiers on its $199 plan.