Choosing The Best Shopify Rewards App 

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Elevate your Shopify business with the right rewards app. Discover how these eight core elements can transform customer engagement, boost retention, and drive lasting profitability.
Elevate your Shopify business with the right rewards app. Discover how these eight core elements can transform customer engagement, boost retention, and drive lasting profitability.

Unlocking the full potential of your Shopify business goes beyond just delivering great products. It involves building lasting relationships with your customers.

That's where Shopify rewards apps come into play. 

The right one can revolutionize your customer engagement, improve your customer lifetime value, boost retention, and ultimately drive increased profitability.

But there’s often a disconnect between loyalty programs and customer activation. 

Rewards mean nothing if points are siloed, activities don’t activate, and you treat your superfans like everyone else.

To bring your business into the new era of customer retention, where loyalty becomes more than a buzzword and transforms into tangible sustained growth, you need to consider these eight core elements when choosing a rewards app for Shopify.

8 Things To Consider When Choosing a Shopify Rewards App 

Each Shopify rewards app offers varying pricing structures, features, and integrations. But if you want to find the right loyalty partner for your brand, these are the top things to consider.


1. Loyalty is Now Pointless 

Here’s the thing.

Your customer wants to support your brand, but not if your earned loyalty program is stuck in the dark ages.

Accumulating meaningless points and sending out $10 birthday gift cards doesn’t cut it anymore. 

Instead, your earned loyalty program needs a reboot, with meaningful rewards taking center stage.

The best Shopify rewards apps go beyond points and offer better perks to your day ones.

What does that look like?

  • Accumulating store credit and collecting cash back.
  • Activating superfans regularly with loyalty campaigns.
  • Creating reward touch points throughout the customer journey.

2. Activating Rewards Through Activities 

Follow us on Instagram for 5 points.”

Share your referral code with a friend for 10 points.”

Sound familiar?

Some Shopify rewards apps focus on asking consumers to perform the same three activities.

While those actions have merit, it’s boring for the customer.

Plus, those activities aren’t really ACTIVATING your audience or improving your relationship. 

The solution?

Using different types of activities that drive true engagement and sprinkling them throughout the customer journey.

Think polls, scavenger hunts, challenges, and exclusive experiences.

That’s way more engaging for the consumer, and it does a better job of setting your loyalty program apart from the competition, increasing brand loyalty, and driving sales.

3. Using Paid Memberships to Increase Customer Retention 

Does your Shopify rewards app offer paid memberships?

Here’s why it should:

  • Paid subscriptions give you a steady stream of consistent and predictable revenue.
  • It improves brand affinity, with 59% more likely to choose your brand over a competitor.
  • Subscriptions create a consequence for switching brands.
  • It’s convenient for the customer and reduces churn.

Need more proof?

Take a look at Amazon Prime. Despite increasing their annual fee from $99 to $119, the e-commerce juggernaut still hit 100 million subscribers. It shows that people are willing to pay an extra fee if the benefits are worth it.

So, how do you make your paid membership irresistible? Choose a Shopify rewards app that offers:

  • Flexibility: Offer annual, quarterly, or monthly subscriptions with flexible pricing rules.
  • Creative perks: Reward your subscribers with regular discounts, store credit, gifts, exclusive promotions, and access to voting activities.
  • Simplicity: Use one platform for earned and paid loyalty.

4. Co-Creating Your Brand with Your Audience 

Feel like you’re running out of ideas or want to offer more creative perks? Add co-creation to your loyalty program strategy and become customer-driven every step of the way.

Involving your customers in brand decisions does two things:

  1. It improves innovation and helps you create products your audience wants.
  2. It creates an emotional connection that drives brand loyalty and community engagement.

Let’s look at an example.

RAIZE, a specialty online bakery, used TOKI’s voting activities to improve their loyalty perks and products.

Customers can earn their way into Tiered Memberships with access to new flavor drops and voting abilities. These drops are completely co-created, with members voting on new flavors and gaining access to exclusive drops before anyone else.

The result?

RAIZE can see what new flavors will resonate with superfans before creating a single batch, improving sales and brand affinity.

5. Amping Up Referrals to Activate Your Superfans

Referrals have the highest conversion rate for any acquisition channel.

With almost 4x the average, it drives home why having a solid referral strategy that rewards your community is essential.

…But how do you get the most out of referrals, especially as an omnichannel brand?

Activate your superfans in person and online effortlessly with Google and Apple Wallet referral passes

The functionality unlocks a new messaging channel with push notifications, amplifies word-of-mouth referrals, and connects you to your customers without an app download.

6. Incentivizing and Rewarding Zero Party Data

What is zero-party data? It’s optional information a  customer willingly shares with your brand and a way for you to improve the overall customer experience and your loyalty program.

The best Shopify reward apps give you the ability to incentivize zero-party data by rewarding profile completions and survey responses with store credit, cashback, or gifts.

What are the benefits of leveraging zero-party data for your brand?

  • It’s cost-effective. You don’t need to pay someone to hand it over.
  • It’s data protection regulation compliant. The source and manner of collection is secure.
  • The data is accurate and qualitative. You’re getting answers directly from your biggest fans to inform your business decisions.

7. Adopting Next-Gen Loyalty: Store Credit, Cash Back, and More 

Consumers' expectations for loyalty programs are changing.

45% of consumers don’t like how long it takes to earn rewards, and  27% don’t think the rewards are valuable enough.

What’s the solution?

A flexible program that benefits you and your customers.

Here’s what we think next-gen loyalty should look like:

  • Store credit: Give users score credit for completing activities and challenges. It’s an additional incentive to get customers to return to your shop.

  • Cash back: Coupons, discounts, and points are nice, but 80% of consumers prefer cash as a reward currency.  Let users get cash back after completing activities, which can be spent wherever they like. 

8. Creating Alliances With Like-Minded Brands 

Loyalty alliances play a pivotal role in next-gen loyalty.

The majority of Shopify reward apps offer a siloed experience. Brands can’t collaborate, and points can’t be shared, gifted, or redeemed anywhere else.

It’s not the greatest customer experience.

If you want your loyalty program to stand out, tap into collaborative partnerships and watch your loyalty sign-ups increase. 

You’re giving customers benefits they can’t get anywhere else, boosting your value proposition, user engagement, and retention.

TOKI helps take the admin out of finding partnerships. Plug into our brand ecosystem, and use our smart matcher to find the right partner for your strategic alliance.

Connect to the New Era of Customer Retention With Next-Gen Loyalty Programs 

We’re in a new era of customer retention. To succeed, your loyalty program needs to provide meaningful value.

The best Shopify rewards app for your business aligns with your vision and goals but, most importantly, the consumer’s expectations. Choose a loyalty partner with features that tick all three boxes, and you’ll create a profitable experience that resonates with your audience.

Ready to try an innovative rewards app? Get started with TOKI for free.

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