How to Start a Loyalty Program for Shopify: 10 Simple Tips

A Loyalty Program is exactly what it sounds like — a system that allows customers to accrue points and earn rewards for choosing to continue to do business with your brand.

They're time-tested and proven to be successful; in fact, one of the first documented examples of a brand who leveraged a Loyalty Program was General Mills, when the company began putting discount tokens and coupons in its products all the way back in 1931. These coupons could be redeemed for purchases in a Betty Crocker cookware catalog. Repeat purchases earn rewards for the consumers, incentivizing them to make more purchases — increasing revenue for the brand.

As modern customer Loyalty Programs have become much more sophisticated, the benefits have only increased — and if you have a Shopify store and you're not operating a Loyalty Program, you may be missing out.

Customer Loyalty and Profitability

The more loyal your customers, the more profits you'll drive back to your business. Here's how it works:

1. Loyal and repeat customers make more purchases and spend more. This means higher profit per purchase and an overall increase in revenue.

2. Loyal customers have a higher lifetime value. The top 10% most loyal customers you have will spend 3 times more than the bottom 90%.

3. Loyal customers are more likely to recommend your brand to their friends. These recommendations turn into referrals with virtually no acquisition cost.

All this can have a dramatic effect on your bottom line. Businesses that increase customer loyalty and repeat business by just 5% can expect to see between a 25% and 125% increase in profits.

10 Tips to Start a Winning Shopify Loyalty Program

With these benefits in mind, here are 10 things to think about as you're designing a Loyalty Program for your Shopify store.

1. Start with Your Unique Store in Mind

Many eCommerce entrepreneurs use Shopify because of the many available options to organize their store, customize the shopping experience, and control interactions at the point of sale. This is what makes your brand unique from any of the others on the platform, and when you start to design your Loyalty Program, you'll want to keep this in mind.

For example, Shopify lets you customize the look of your online store, so you'll want to choose a rewards software that lets you lay out rewards pages to match the unique visual aspects of your brand.

2. Choose a Low Entry Point

The less effort it takes to engage in a Loyalty Program for the first time, the more customers will opt in to start. This enables you to build loyalty with your Loyalty Program, instead of only attracting the customers who are already devoted.

Opting in should be as easy as possible. For example, if you're sending emails about signing up, they should link directly to a page where customers can sign up in as few steps as possible. If you're trying to get opt-ins at the point of sale, anything more than a simple form or additional box to check will drive potential Loyalty Program members away.

3. Set the First Milestones Low

Are you noticing a trend here? In the digital age, people crave instant gratification. They want value while they decide whether something is worth continuing or not.

Make it extremely easy to earn points by making purchases or interacting with your brand on social media and make the first few milestones easy to achieve to show customers that your loyalty program is built with their experience in mind.

4. Make Customers Want to Advance

Your Loyalty Program shouldn't be like the punch card at your local sub shop: buy nine and get the 10th one free, without no change over time.

Digital loyalty programs have the potential to be so much more. You have customers coming back again and again to your Shopify store — you need to start offering rewards that not only incentivize repeat business, but increase those incentives as 5 purchases become 10, 10 becomes 50, and so on. Having a system that increases rewards over time or offers tiers can make your most loyal customer feel like the VIPs that they are.

5. Tailor Your Rewards

One mistake that eCommerce entrepreneurs tend to make is assuming every customer will respond to a single-option incentive. For example, advertising that after 10 purchases of over $20, customers will receive a free branded tote bag will exclude anyone who doesn't want a tote bag from being motivated to reach that goal.

Instead, consider offering a pool of different rewards, increasing the likelihood that more people will be incentivized to reach the milestones you set.

6. Personalize Your Loyalty Communications

The longer a customer is part of your Loyalty Program, the more you can learn about them. Send them additional rewards for special occasions like birthdays or customer anniversaries and make sure you're sending texts and emails that reflect the more personal relationship you're more able to build with a repeat customer than a new one.

7. But, Personalize More than Just Communications

If you're only personalizing the texts and emails, you may be missing out on providing real, lasting value to your customers. Think of some other ways you could use the information you're gathering — specifically with purchases to deepen the connection you have with your customers.

For example, you might set up a tiered Loyalty Program that involves sending a personalized catalog of products after a certain number of purchases. Once you learn a customers' style or preferences, you can use this information to help them find the products they're more likely to purchase.

8. Don't Miss Chances to Reward Customers

Don't make the mistake of looking at loyalty campaigns and other campaigns as separate. If you combine your loyalty rewards with everyday discounts, it will create more value over the long term.

Running a sale? Add on an additional 5% discount for Loyalty Program members. This will both communicate that you value members of your loyalty program and encourage non-members to sign up.

9. Integrate with a Referral Program

Loyalty and word-of-mouth promotion go hand-in-hand — don't miss your chance to capitalize on it. Loyal customers are more likely to recommend brands to their peers, and research shows that referral customers have a 16% higher lifetime value on average. Thus, adding a referral program to your loyalty model is a proven way to add new (and better) customers.

10. Take Advantage of Shopify's Range of Compatible Apps

One of the benefits of using Shopify over other eCommerce website builders is the sheer number of apps that are compatible with it. Shopify does have a native loyalty and rewards app, but in the Shopify app store, there are countless other options that offer you the ability to customize the functionality you want in your rewards and loyalty software.

Introducing Stamped.io Customer Loyalty Software. Integrating seamlessly with Shopify and Shopify Plus, Stamped gives nearly limitless flexibility at your fingertips when it comes to gathering your most loyal customers and offering rewards that keep them coming back.

With the ability to customize your Loyalty Program's points and incentives, build a referral network that drives new business every day, build beautiful landing pages, and create a VIP program that pays back your most loyal customers, Stamped has everything you need to capitalize on repeat business, over and over again.