What are the best Shopify loyalty apps? Here are 7 we love.

We all know rewarding loyalty is an effective way to create stickier customers, and these top Shopify apps make it easier to build and execute a strong loyalty strategy.

Loyal customers are worth their weight in gold for businesses — so a strategy to reward and encourage loyalty is an essential piece of any smart growth plan.

As one of the most versatile and customizable platforms for ecommerce sellers, it’s no surprise that Shopify offers a wide selection of loyalty-driving apps with easy setup for your store. But which ones are worth the money, and how can a seller pinpoint the best option for their needs?

Now admittedly, EQL is not a 'loyalty app for Shopify', though, in powering launches for the world's most in-demand products, we know our fair share about loyalty and what it means to truly reward your biggest fans. We'll dive into how we're bringing the power of launches (including a suite of tools for rewarding your best customers) a little farther down.

In the meantime, here are our picks for the best Shopify loyalty apps, and what specific needs they can fill for your brand.

First, why reward loyalty?

Rewarding your loyal customer base is essential for small business owners because it helps foster long-term relationships, increase customer retention, and drive repeat purchases. 

Acquiring new customers is more expensive than retaining existing ones, so it’s smart strategy for business owners to invest in fostering those relationships that bring customers back again and again. Well-structured loyalty programs encourage more purchases, increasing the customer lifetime value. And a loyalty or rewards program that feels fun and exciting for the customer is more likely to motivate them to recommend your business via word of mouth or positive reviews — promotion that’s way less expensive, and more effective, than most marketing efforts.

In short, earning customer loyalty helps businesses grow and stay resilient. True loyalty isn’t just about gamifying purchases, but about building real connections between your followers and your brand. Along with a strong product and a consistently great user experience, Shopify apps that reward loyalty can help you achieve this.

What to look for in a loyalty rewards Shopify app

There are a few pieces of functionality that can play into a loyalty strategy. And many of the Shopify loyalty apps meet very different and specific needs. Some things to look for in a Shopify app for loyalty are:

• Tiered reward levels to gamify the experience and encourage more purchases if your membership program is tiered or based on specific actions
• Various ways to earn loyalty points (such as purchasing, social media engagement, and referring friends)if you plan to prioritize the customer behaviors most in line with your overall strategic goals
• Integration capabilities for a seamless experience that doesn’t take manual effort from you
• Referrals and reviews to easily capitalize on the goodwill you’re earning from your well-rewarded VIP customers
• Features to allow you to execute on your specific type loyalty strategy along with other ways of growing your busines

Shopify App #1: BON Loyalty

Best for: Driving referrals

BON Loyalty is an app built for Shopify that boasts lots of flexibility and great features for rewarding loyalty. The system is points-based, and allows sellers to establish their own rules, creating several avenues for customers to earn loyalty. BON also allows for friends-and-family referrals, creating exclusive moments and driving more interest in your brand.

With BON, there are different ways to cash in rewards: as an amount discount (ie, $5 off), a percentage discount (10% off), or in the form of free product.

BON is available for a monthly subscription, with tiered pricing that ranges from free to $349/month. Unsurprisingly, some of the more desirable features, like VIP tiers, are only available at the higher price points — but it still tops out at a lower monthly cost than many competitors.

Shopify App #2: Smile

Best for: Retention

It’s all in the name! Smile is a Shopify app built to generate positive feelings from your customers toward your brand. It tends to make sellers smile too with its easy, user-friendly interface. Smile offers customizable loyalty programs, tiered rewards, and built-in referral systems.

With Smile, you can choose to reward things like social media engagement, or set other customizable actions for customers to earn points. It easily integrates not just with Shopify, but also other popular apps like Klaviyo and Gorgias. And with data that compares your performance to similar stores, it’s easy for sellers to benchmark success.

Smile is another monthly subscription-based app. Pricing tiers range from free to $999 per month. That top-tier price point may seem high, but it includes a detailed launch plan that removes all guesswork for the seller and helps set you up for success.

Shopify App #3: Rivo

Best for: Enhanced customization

Rivo has set a high bar for itself in a play to stand apart from the competition, committing to constant improvements and updates released every week. Users love its dedicated loyalty page builder, which features customizable banners, icons, and page elements.

Rivo’s free version is fairly feature-rich, supporting up to 200 monthly orders, branding options, and automated email campaigns — but of course, the paid versions do even more. Advanced analytics and a developer toolkit are available at the top pricing tier, perfect for brands that want total control over their loyalty experience on Shopify.

Rivo’s monthly subscription pricing tiers range from free to $499.

Shopify App #4: Loloyalty

Best for: Easy setup

Loloyalty, another app built specifically for Shopify integration, appeals to sellers looking for ease of use. It’s super simple to set up with a no-code builder, so you can have it up and running on your shop in no time at all. Loloyalty also runs efficiently and won’t slow down your site’s loading speed.

This Shopify loyalty app comes with highly rated support that’s available in multiple languages. However, one downside is that integration options are a little more limited, and some are only available at higher price tiers — so sellers should keep that in mind, depending on what’s part of your stack.

Loloyalty pricing tiers range from free to $499/month.

Shopify App #5: Growave

Best for: A more comprehensive growth strategy

Growave is a multifunctional app built for Shopify that supports your business goals in a few ways beyond just loyalty. Its features are designed to increase conversions, retention, and growth. 

Some of Growave’s capabilities include a loyalty program, VIP tiers, referrals, reviews, user-generated content (UCG), wishlists, and gift cards — although some features are only available at the higher pricing tiers. Growave also supports seamless integrations with quite a few different apps, but the number of integrations available to you will also depend on your subscription tier.

Growave’s pricing ranges from a free plan to $499 per month.

Shopify App #6: Yotpo Loyalty

Best for: Flexibility

A Shopify app designed for sellers who want to increase loyalty without having to create a bespoke strategy, Yotpo features 20+ out-of-the-box campaign options to support a quick and effective launch.

Yotpo offers the same basic suite of loyalty features as most of the other apps on this list, like tiered rewards and various redemption options. Yotpo Loyalty complements other Yotpo apps that can help sellers achieve similar goals, like Yotpo Reviews. When used together, the family of apps provide a full loyalty and growth-driving experience — but some users may prefer to have it all in just one app.

Pricing tiers for the Yotpo Loyalty app range from free to $799 per month. It’s worth noting that the second tier is $199, marking a big jump from the free level. Most other apps on this list have a more middle-of-the-road pricing option.

Shopify App #7: EQL (Coming Soon) 

Best for: Rewarding loyalty with special or early access to product

Like we mentioned, EQL is a soon-to-be Shopify app that’s a little different from the rest of this list. It’s a comprehensive launch platform that is not specific to loyalty — but it offers some unique features designed to improve customer retention metrics and drive loyalty in a meaningful and out-of-the-box way. 

EQL is about to hit the Shopify app store. You can join the waitlist here to be one of the first to try it.

EQL's Shopify app will support sellers who run limited-edition or exclusive access launches in which demand may exceed supply. It addresses some of the common challenges for this type of eCommerce, like by blocking bots, preventing sites from crashing under traffic spikes, and providing a better user experience compared to first-come-first-serve or queue systems. 

EQL's Shopify app will also allow sellers to customize who has access to any launch, and this is where loyalty comes in. By running an Exclusive Access launch, sellers can extend access to an exclusive group based on who you’d like to reward — for example, VIP customers, new customers, or even people who have participated in past launches and haven’t gotten a win yet. 

Unlike similar systems that are easily leaked or hacked, EQL's platform verifies each launch entrant based on several signals to ensure that only the members of your desired audience get access to your product. It’s a great way to customize the experience and outcome of exactly the people you want to target, creating a true sense of exclusivity and a genuinely valuable reward.

Choosing a Shopify loyalty app

Sellers have quite a few options when it comes to choosing how to reward loyalty on their Shopify store. Shopify’s vast selection of apps means lots of flexibility to make decisions based on which features will support the type of loyalty program you have and your goals. 

When selecting a loyalty app, consider factors such as integration capabilities, customization options, reward types, and pricing to ensure the app aligns with your business objectives and enhances your customer experience and retention strategies. 

For a more unique approach to loyalty — and to address some of the other common headaches that come along with high-demand retail — EQL offers a host of unique features that fans and sellers love. And above all, providing a great shopping experience goes further than any loyalty program ever could in bringing customers back again and again.

Learn more about EQL's Shopify App and how we power launches that drive lasting connections between brands and fans.

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