How can you inspire unwavering customer loyalty in an era teeming with choices?
Simple, with an engaging loyalty program. The right one can help you stand out in a fiercely competitive marketplace and turn one-time shoppers into mega superfans.
But to reap these benefits, you must face the formidable task of choosing the right rewards program for your e-commerce business.
To help you out, we’re comparing one of the biggest loyalty program platforms, Smile.io, against its biggest competitors to answer the question - is Smile.io pricing a steal or a splurge?
Let the showdown commence.
Smile.io is a leading loyalty management software for e-commerce businesses and powers over 100k active reward programs. Starting in 2012 as Sweet Tooth Rewards (a points-based loyalty program), it re-branded in 2017 to power reward programs of all kinds.
It comes with three main features:
With an easy-to-use interface, it’s a good option if you’re not tech-savvy and don’t want to spend hours watching how-to tutorials.
Smile.io pricing tiers for Shopify, Woo-Commerce, and Wix users:
Free: The freemium version has a cap of 200 orders per month and comes with points and referral program features.
Starter: For $49 per month, your monthly order limit goes up to 500, and you gain access to customizable features like advanced branding, email rewards, and on-site reminders.
Growth: For $199 per month, you get 2,500 orders, unlimited integrations, access to Smile’s VIP program, advanced analytics, gift card rewards, and points redemption at checkout for Shopify Plus.
Plus: For $999 per month, your order limit bumps up to 7,500 and gives you access to advanced Enterprise functionality like on-demand access to loyalty data, priority customer support, API access, and curated reports.
TOKI is a next-generation loyalty program for e-commerce brands - with a twist.
While other platforms focus on the traditional “points for likes” model, TOKI believes loyalty is pointless. Instead, it helps you create a retention strategy around meaningful, tangible perks (like cashback and in-store credit) and experiential rewards.
TOKI offers four pricing plans as well as a free 14-day trial.
Starter Plan
Growth Plan:
ProPlan:
Enterprise: Pricing is available on request and comes with PoS integrations, zero-data party activities, custom integrations, offline rewards, and token stores.
A crucial difference between Smile.io and TOKI’s pricing model is how each platform will charge you. Smile.io uses an order-based pricing module, whereas TOKI offers an affordable monthly rate based on features.
It’s a more sustainable option, allowing your business to grow into specific features.
When comparing TOKI’s and Smile.io’s features, it depends on what you want out of your loyalty program. TOKI has more customization and unique features like paid memberships, branded Apple Wallet referral passes, and loyalty alliances.
On the other hand, if you’re after a super basic free loyalty program, Smile.io is a good option. However, you need to consider how quickly you’ll outgrow it, what strategic features you want to implement in the future, and the cost of potentially migrating your rewards platform if you want capabilities Smile.io doesn’t offer.
Stamped.io is a loyalty and reviews platform for e-commerce brands. It’s a good option if your marketing strategy focuses heavily on product reviews, ratings, and UGC, and you want to incentivize it as much as possible.
Stamped.io offers pricing plans for Reviews, Loyalty, and a combination of both products.
For the standalone loyalty program, you get the following:
Free
Premium
Business
Professional
If you want loyalty and referral program features, the combo package, the Business Tier, is $229 monthly, and the Professional starts at $549 monthly.
The main difference between Smile.io and Stamped.io is the focus on reviews and collecting user-generated content, as these features are not in Smile.io’s wheelhouse.
If you’re only looking for a loyalty and referral program, Smile.io and Stamped.io start their paid plans at $49 monthly for up to 500 orders and offer the same features.
However, when you go to the next tier, Smile.io does give you more value with 2,500 orders for $199 vs. Stamped.io’s 1,500 for $149 per month.
Yotpo is a retention marketing platform with a slew of features to help you engage your audience and build long-lasting customer relationships.
It offers user-generated content (UGC), reviews, referrals, and rewards programs with plenty of integrations to slot into your tech stack seamlessly.
The downsides? It doesn’t reward product-specific purchases and connects with a limited number of social media platforms.
Yotpo lets you opt-in for specific products, bundle products, or access the entire platform.
For the loyalty & referrals product, the following pricing plans are available:
Free
Gold
Platinum
Enterprise
Yotpo offers a lot more functionality compared to Smile.io. With its standalone product bundles or a complete suite of features, you’ll have more flexibility to build a robust retention strategy, but it comes at a higher price point.
If you’re a new e-commerce brand, Smile.io is the more attractive option. For $49 per month, you get 500 orders and more functionality compared to Yotpo’s free plan. You’ll end up paying $199 at Yotpo to get the same amount of orders.
In a hurry? Here’s a quick overview of what you can expect from Smile vs. competitors.
Smile.io is a formidable competitor in the rewards program space. It has affordable pricing plans, an easy-to-use interface, and all the basic features to make any e-commerce business owner happy.
However, it has its limitations.
That’s what the “steal of splurge” verdict hinges upon. You need to look at your business priorities, size, and desired features to assess if Smile.io pricing stacks up.
If you need more flexibility in your loyalty program, want to co-create with your audience, and offer rewards that go beyond the “points for likes” priority, TOKI is the better option for you.
With a pricing module based on features instead of usage, you never have to worry about unexpected expenses when your usage increases.
Get started with TOKI for free and switch to the modern loyalty playbook.