In this article:
Overview
Your customers earn points, then spend them on rewards. Most rewards give your customer a discount code to enter at checkout, but not every reward works that way: some are added straight to the cart, some are applied inside the checkout itself, and custom rewards are fulfilled by you.
Types of rewards
Click a reward to find out how it works and how to set it up:
Voucher rewards, covering free product, product discount and collection discount
Free product (subscriber), for customers with an active subscription
Cross-store rewards, which a customer claims in one of your stores and uses in another
How much each point is worth
Take a program set up like this:
Make a purchase rule: 5 points per $1
Money off voucher: $5, redeemable for 500 points
A customer would need to spend $100 with you to earn those 500 points.
To work out what a point is worth, divide the money-off amount by the points required. Here, $5 divided by 500 points means each point is worth 1 cent. Put another way, 500 points per $100 spent gives your customers 5% back.
Success tip. We recommend giving no more than 5% back.
Setting a minimum spend
We do not usually recommend this. Your customers have earned those points, and it reads oddly to say they have earned points for spending hundreds with you but cannot use them unless they spend hundreds more.
Success tip. Work out your margin, set the points for purchases well within it, and avoid conditions on vouchers, unless it is a referral voucher. If you offer free shipping on your products, make sure that is included in your margin too.
Reward expiry
Rewards do not expire unless you give them an expiration period. Setting one encourages your customers to come back sooner and keeps your outstanding reward liability under control. We recommend 6 months, which creates a sense of urgency while leaving your customer plenty of time to make a purchase.
You set the period on the individual reward, either when you create it or by editing it later. It applies only to rewards claimed after you turn it on, so anything your customers have already claimed stays without an expiry date.
When a reward expires, the points your customer spent to claim it are not returned to them.
Reward expiry is available on Shopify, on the Classic plan and above, and you can set up notifications that warn your customers before a reward runs out.
Points can expire too. That is a separate setting, covered in points expiration.
How voucher codes behave
Two settings decide how every voucher code in your program works. Both are in Settings, then the Program settings tab, then the Rewards page.
Who can use voucher codes decides whether a code is tied to the customer who claimed it:
Only the customer who redeemed the reward can use the voucher code. A code passed to someone else will not work
Anyone can use the voucher code. Whoever holds the code can redeem it
How voucher codes are applied decides whether your customer has to do anything with the code. This one is Shopify only:
Automatic. The discount is applied to the cart when the customer redeems
Manual. Customers copy and paste the code themselves
Reward and discount combinations (Shopify only)
Loyalty rewards can be combined at checkout with other discount types on Shopify. To enable or disable discount combinations for Seamless Free Product rewards:
Log in to your LoyaltyLion account
Select Settings in the bottom left corner
Select the Program settings tab
Scroll down to the Rewards section, and then to Discount combinations
Seamless Free Product rewards can then be combined with other product, order and shipping discounts, as long as the other discount is also set to be combinable. The combinations available to you, and the eligibility requirements behind them, are covered in reward and discount combinations.
For all other rewards, discount combination settings live in the reward itself. Go to Program, then Rewards, select the reward, and you will see its discount combination settings.
Refunding unused rewards
If a customer claims a reward by mistake or changes their mind, you can refund the unused reward from their customer profile, and their points go back to them immediately.
Exporting all claimed rewards
You can export every reward your customers have claimed, along with the points each one cost them.
FAQ
Can I split a voucher over two purchases?
No. Each voucher has to be used on one purchase.
Can I change the number of points needed to claim a reward?
Yes. Go to Program, then Rewards, open the reward, change the Points cost and save. Customers who have already claimed the reward keep the cost they claimed it at.
You cannot change the discount amount, the discount type, or the collection a reward applies to once it has been created. To offer a reward with any of those changed, create a new one.
As a custom store, can I import non-unique codes to share weekly with my customers?
We do not support that, and an upload of that kind would fail. You would most likely end up with one deduplicated code, because we require a minimum voucher count.
Can I temporarily hide a reward without deleting it?
Yes. Edit the reward and set it to inactive, and it will not show on your site. You can reactivate it at any time.
Note: if a customer already has an unused reward, they can still apply it to their order even if you later set it to inactive.
Can I restrict a reward to specific countries without affecting the rest of my loyalty program?
Yes, on Shopify and on the Advanced plan. Country availability is set on the individual reward, so you can limit free shipping to your profitable markets and leave every other reward visible globally.
It also needs one extra Shopify permission, because the country list comes from your Shopify Markets. If you have not granted that permission yet, LoyaltyLion shows you the prompt to grant it when you open a reward.