6 Approaches to building customer loyalty (and the 6 Shopify apps to do it with)

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?

EQL is not exactly a 'loyalty app for Shopify,' but, 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’re taking a look at the surprisingly wide range of ways that sellers can approach loyalty, the best Shopify apps for executing on a multi-faceted loyalty strategy, and where we fit into the mix.

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

We’re looking at a number of ways to build and reward loyalty in this blog, but we believe that having a strong loyalty program is essential for any brand — other strategies can complement and build upon that foundation.

To get started with building out your program, we suggest finding a Shopify loyalty app offering the following features:

• 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 business

Let’s dive into the apps we like the best.

Smile

Used for: Establishing a robust loyalty program

It’s all in the name! Smile is a Shopify app built to generate positive feelings from your customers toward your brand, and it touches on all of the functionality we’ve listed above. 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.

There are many Shopify apps offering similar functionality to Smile, but in our experience, this one is the gold standard.

Gorgias

Used for: Building loyalty through exceptional experiences

A strong loyalty program goes a long way, but it’s important for brands to consider the entirety of the experience they’re providing their customers, and find every possible way to encourage repeat business. A strong customer service program is one of those key connection points that can make the difference between a disappointed customer and one who tells all their friends about your brand.

Gorgias makes it incredibly easy and seamless for customers to interact with your brand, whether that’s asking questions about product, requesting purchase support, or initiating returns. The Shopify app’s powerful adaptive AI can field many basic requests seamlessly, significantly extending the reach of your customer service manpower. 

Gorgias can even offer dynamic product recommendations based on each customer’s profile and purchase history. This contributes to relationship building by offering your customers a personalized experience and indicating that your brand gets them and understands what they like.

SKIO

Used for: Fostering connections through subscriptions

Subscription models are a great way to approach loyalty. Your brand stays top of mind for the customer and becomes a regular part of their life — one they don’t have to think about or proactively engage with. In a way, selling subscriptions jumpstarts the loyalty experience. 

Of course, customers can cancel their subscription at any time, so a signup doesn’t guarantee loyalty for life. Brands must continually earn their subscribers’ interest and participation by providing a desirable experience. SKIO helps with this, too.

SKIO features a host of loyalty-driving enhancement features like volume discounts, family plans, and the “surprise and delight” option which adds a free gift to churn-risk customers’ orders. We also love SKIO for its operational efficiency and the data insights it provides.

Postscript

Used for: SMS as a CRM channel

The Postscript Shopify app unlocks SMS as a communications channel to engage with customers and build loyalty. With Postscript, sellers can seamlessly conduct marketing and sales campaigns via text message, a strategy that boasts high open rates and engagement levels while also enabling personalized connections.

Postscript takes the personalization possibilities even further with its advanced AI, which can even be trained on your brand voice to ensure authenticity in its interactions with your customers.

This Shopify app also provides consumer insights gained through this unique access point into your customers’ experiences.

Okendo

Used for: Increasing ROI of loyalty

Loyalty is inherently valuable, but it doesn’t stop there. Once you’ve established strong customer connections through a robust loyalty program and consistent attention to the buyer experience, it’s time to bring in a Shopify app like Okendo to maximize the ROI of all that positive sentiment.

Okendo uses the power of social proof to attract new people to your brand by encouraging your happiest customers to share their opinion with their networks. Extensive referral functionality turns loyalty into revenue by prompting customers to invite others when the moment is right. 

Okendo also incorporates quizzes and surveys that indirectly build loyalty by demonstrating your interest in your followers’ experience and inviting them to be part of the conversation. Bonus: those engagements turn into uniquely thorough and detailed zero-party data that translates into actionable strategy.

EQL (Coming Soon) 

Used for: Rewarding loyalty through exclusive or early access to product

EQL is a soon-to-be Shopify app takes another unique spin on building and rewarding loyalty. 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.

The app will support sellers who run limited-edition launches in which demand may far 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. 

It 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 verifies each launch entrant on the back end 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 building out a comprehensive loyalty strategy and engaging the right tools to pull it off. 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, you should also 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. All of the apps in our list integrate seamlessly with Shopify and other popular eCommerce tools that sellers may have in their arsenals.

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 for Shopify and how we power launches that drive lasting connections between brands and fans.