Introduction
In this article, we'll take a look at your VIP Program settings. These settings provide you with the tools to tailor your VIP Program according to your brand's vision and customer relationship strategies. This article will focus on the key components: the Program Start Date, the Entry Method, Tier Expiration and the advanced settings.
💡 Find out more: check out our guide on Setting up your VIP Tiers.
Program Start Date
The Program Start Date is a crucial factor, deciding the starting point from which your VIP tiers begin to count points or purchases. For example, if a customer has accumulated 500 points in total but your Program Start Date is set to November, only points earned from November onwards will count towards tier progression.
To update your VIP Program Start Date:
Navigate to Rewards from your Loyoly dashboard.
In the VIP Tiers section, click on edit next to VIP Tiers Settings.
Select a date and click Update.
Your customer's tiers will be recalculated based on the new start date.
📝 Note: we can only account for customer activity from the point when the app was installed.
⚠️ Warning: changing the program start date triggers an immediate recalculation of all your customers' tiers. Some customers may change tier as a result. We recommend making this change before launching the program.
VIP Tiers Access Method
The Entry Method is the mechanism through which your customers ascend through the VIP tiers. You have two options to consider:
Points Earned: Opt for this method if you wish for customers to advance based on the number of points they have accumulated through orders, missions and referral.
Amount Spent: This choice enables customers to progress based on their total spending in your store.
Select the Entry Method that best aligns with your business model and customer base to create an effective VIP program.
To update your VIP Program Entry Method:
Navigate to Rewards from your Loyoly dashboard.
In the VIP Tiers section, click on edit next to VIP Tiers Settings.
Select a method and click Update.
Your customer's tiers will be recalculated based on the new entry method.
⚠️ Changing the method mid-program: if you switch from "Points" to "Amount Spent" (or the other way round) while customers are already in tiers, every tier is recalculated immediately. Customers who have been in their tier for less than a year are not downgraded even if the recalculation gives a lower result — anniversary protection applies. We recommend making this change at launch, before any customer has been placed in a tier.
Reward Management
You can define whether rewards will be retained when moving to a new tier:
Keep rewards: users will keep their previous rewards when changing tiers.
Delete rewards from previous tiers: users will lose rewards acquired in previous tiers.
Deciding reward by reward
The first two options apply to your entire reward catalog: the same behavior holds for every one of them.
The third possibility sits alongside the two above: setting the rule reward by reward rather than globally. This is useful when a tier mixes rewards of a different nature — a welcome gift that has no reason to follow the customer as they move up a tier, and a permanent perk such as free shipping, which on the contrary should follow them.
When this option is active, an extra block appears at the bottom of each reward's form and lets you choose, for that reward only: keep the reward if it has not been used by the time the tier changes, or delete it.
What happens when you switch to per-reward management — your settings are never lost, the global rule simply becomes each reward's starting value:
If you were on Keep rewards → all your rewards start on "keep".
If you were on Delete rewards from previous tiers → all of them start on "delete".
All that is left is to change the few rewards that need to behave differently.
⚠️ A change of rule also applies to rewards already granted. If you move a reward from "delete" to "keep", the ones your customers already hold are kept — no risk. But the other way round, from "keep" to "delete", the rewards concerned are removed from the customer accounts that hold them. On a live program, check the impact before saving, or ask your CSM to walk you through it.
Shopify product or collection deleted: impact on VIP tier rewards
⚠️ Available for Shopify merchants only.
If you have set up a product reward or a reward linked to a Shopify collection as a VIP tier reward, and that product or collection is removed from your Shopify store, Loyoly automatically detects the issue.
In the Loyoly BO, in the VIP tier configuration:
A clear warning is displayed on the affected tier reward, indicating which product or collection no longer exists in Shopify,
You are prompted to update the reward (link a new product / collection) or to deactivate it.
On the VIP customer side, the behavior depends on how many products or collections are linked to the reward:
If all the referenced products / collections have been removed from Shopify → the tier reward is automatically deactivated and is no longer granted to customers reaching the tier. If a VIP customer had already obtained this reward, a notification informs them that the linked reward is no longer available.
If at least one product / collection is still valid → the reward remains active and continues to be granted to customers reaching the tier, on the product that is still available. The BO warning stays visible so you can clean up the broken reference at your own pace.
💡 Best practice: your VIP tiers are a strong promise to your best customers. Reconnect the reward to an equivalent Shopify product quickly to avoid degrading the perceived experience, even if it's still active thanks to another valid product.
How long a tier reward stays valid
A tier reward can work in two very different ways, and the reward validity field is what decides which:
A single use — the customer enjoys it once, then the reward is consumed. That is how a welcome gift works.
Unlimited use for as long as the customer stays in the tier — the reward then behaves as a permanent perk of the status rather than as a coupon. That is what makes a tier worth reaching and worth keeping.
Unlimited use used to be available on free shipping and voucher rewards only. It is now also available on Product reward and Buy X Get Y rewards inside VIP tiers: a free product can therefore become a genuine tier privilege rather than a one-off gift.
💡 These setups also work in physical stores: they are compatible with Cegid, Fastmag and Custom POS. The tier perk therefore stays valid online and in store alike.
Store Credit Cashback
You can reward your VIP customers with Store Credit in the form of cashback: a percentage of each order is returned to them as credit, usable on their next purchases. This cashback is set up directly at each VIP tier level, as an order-based reward.
📝 This feature is enabled brand by brand by the Loyoly team. If you'd like to activate it on your store, contact your CSM or our support team.
To configure a tier's cashback:
Go to VIP Tiers from your Loyoly dashboard.
Click Edit on the desired tier.
You'll find the cashback percentage configuration at the bottom of the page.
Credit expiration date:
You can manage the expiration date of the store credits granted to your customers, to define how long the credit remains usable.
💡 You can set a different cashback rate per tier (for example a higher rate on the top tiers).
You can create a 0 € tier so that all your customers benefit from a cashback rate, and freely choose the percentage applied.
On the widget and in the Front User, the cashback rate is shown directly in the VIP tier card (for example "5% store credit").
For full details on Store Credit (tracking credits on the customer profile, eligible orders, etc.), see our guide Store Credits (Cashback).
Expiration
Expiration determines how long customers have to reach and keep a VIP tier.
3 modes are available:
1. Valid for 1 year, reset upon reaching a higher tier
Customers have one year to move up the VIP tiers. After spending a year in the tier, their activity over the past 12 months is assessed to determine whether they stay in the same tier, are downgraded, or move up.
Example:
You enter the Bronze tier on June 1, 2025 → it remains valid until June 1, 2026.
You move up to the Silver tier on August 1, 2025 → this new tier is then valid until August 1, 2026.
If you don't change tiers before then, we'll look at what you've spent between August 1, 2025 and August 1, 2026 to determine whether you stay in the Silver tier or move down.
2. Valid for 1 year, reset after 12 months
Customers have one year to reach VIP tiers. Each year, starting from the customer's entry date into the VIP program, their progress is reset to zero.
You enter the Bronze tier on June 1, 2025 → it lasts until June 1, 2026.
You move up to the Silver tier on August 1, 2025 → it lasts until June 1, 2026.
This is because this setting only takes into account the customer's global entry date into the VIP program, rather than the date they reached a specific tier.
3. Valid for life
With this option, customers keep their points or progress indefinitely, with no time limit. This is suited for more flexible or long-term-oriented programs.
⚠️ If you change the expiration settings, your customers' tiers will automatically be recalculated based on the new expiration rule.
What happens on the anniversary date?
On the anniversary date (1 year after entering the current tier), Loyoly automatically recalculates the customer's position by looking at their activity over the last 12 months.
3 possible scenarios:
✅ The customer has enough points/spend to stay in their tier → they keep it, and their rewards + tier points are granted again automatically.
⬆️ The customer has reached the threshold of the tier above → they move up and unlock the rewards of the new tier.
⬇️ The customer no longer has enough activity → they are downgraded to the tier matching their actual activity, or they leave the program if they are below the first tier's threshold.
💡 Important: a customer is never downgraded before their anniversary date, even if their points balance has become insufficient in the meantime. The recalculation only happens on that date.
Order validation delay
This feature reduces the risk of fraud and ensures that orders are only counted in VIP tiers if they have not been returned within the allotted time.
Available options:
Validate as soon as order is placed: this default option counts the order immediately towards VIP tiers.
Standard delay: the order is counted automatically after 7 / 14 / 30 / 45 days, except in the case of a reported return.
Custom delay: allows you to define a specific delay according to your needs or applicable return policy.
💡 Tier delay vs points delay: these two settings are independent and can be configured separately. The points allocation delay decides when loyalty points are credited to the customer's balance. The tier validation delay decides when an order is taken into account in the VIP tier calculation. You can, for example, credit points immediately while waiting 30 days before counting the order towards tiers.
Synchronization with your CRM
VIP tier data (tier name, customer status) is only sent to your CRM once the VIP program is activated (Klaviyo, Brevo, Gorgias, etc.).
If you set up your email flows before activating the program, the tier variables will not be available in your CRM yet.
Recommended order:
Set up your tiers in Loyoly
Activate the VIP program
Check that the properties are coming through in your CRM
Set up your email flows based on the available variables
Resetting points and tier management
You can reset the points of customers who are in a tier, but only if your program uses the "Points Earned" method (not "Amount Spent").
📝 Note: resetting a customer's points balance to 0 does not change their VIP tier — the tier is kept until the next anniversary date. If you want to carry out a selective reset, contact your Loyoly CSM, who will guide you through the procedure.