Introduction
A VIP program is a fantastic way to incentivize spending and activity on your store. In this article, we'll go through the basics of how to set up this feature as part of your Loyalty, Rewards, and Referrals program.
✨ VIP Tiers are available on the Growth plan and up.
In this article:
Walkthrough Demo
Watch a 5-minute product demo of how Loyalty VIP Tiers work.
What should I name my VIP Tiers?
By default, the names are Bronze, Silver, and Gold. But you can change these to anything you like. It's important to choose your Tier names wisely. It pays to do some initial fieldwork researching successful loyalty programs. Take a look at Starbucks (Starbucks Rewards), Sephora (Beauty Insider), E.L.F. (Beauty Squad) and Amazon (Amazon Prime) for inspiration. Even though these are large established brands, taking note of how they've structured and designed their programs will be really helpful in building yours.
Enabling your VIP Program
You can enable a full-fledged VIP Tier program on your store with the click of a button. Here's how to get started.
From your Loyalty Dashboard, in the left sidebar click Programs.
Click the third option, VIP.
Toggle your VIP program status to ON.
Voila! Your VIP Tier's program is now active. Keep in mind, because VIP Tier rewards are based off of the Points and Referrals programs, both those programs must also be enabled to use VIP Tiers.
How VIP Tiers Work
When setting up VIP Tiers in the app, you'll notice that by default there are 3 Tiers that have already been created. Bronze, Silver, and Gold. You can change, add or edit the names of these programs at any time to fit your brand and vision. Every member of your loyalty program is automatically added as part of the first-level tier.
Let's dive deeper into the details with an example of how points interact with VIP Tiers.
For example: Let's say you've set your Program Settings Entry Method to use Points Earned. If a VIP customer is on the Bronze Tier (0-499 points), for that customer to achieve a Silver tier status, they'll need to earn 500 points on your store. That means once this customer earns 500 points, they'll automatically be promoted up to the second Silver Tier. Depending on how you've set up your store for your customers to earn points, you can determine how many points are valued at which tier.
💡 Learn how your customers earn points by visiting our Points documentation.
Program Settings
Adjusting the program settings lets you determine the conditions of your VIP Tier program. Changing any of the VIP Tier program settings will recalculate and reset your current VIP Tier program according to the setting you changed.
Program Start Date
This option controls what date that your VIP Tiers will start counting points from. If you'd like to start your VIP Tiers by only counting points and purchase activity starting from today, you'd set the date as today's date. We only account for activity from when you've installed the app.
Entry Method
Here you can choose how customers are placed on VIP tiers.
Points Earned: Select this option if you'd like to base your VIP Tiers off the amount of points your customers are earning through your Points program. Choosing this option means your customers are placed onto VIP Tiers based upon their total points earned.
Amount Spent: Select this option if you'd like to base your VIP Tiers based upon your customers total amount spent. Choosing this option means your VIP Tiers are based upon the amount your customers spend on your store.
Number of orders placed: Customers are placed onto VIP Tiers based upon their total number of orders placed. Choosing this option means customers can configure how many orders are placed to reach a certain tier.
Expiration
Set how long you will allow customers to take to achieve a VIP Tier.
A lifetime, once they are a loyalty program member: This is the more generous option. There is no limit to how long they can take to get to Tiers.
A full calendar year: This means that your customers will have until the end of the calendar year (December 31) from your Program Start Date to achieve a VIP Tier. After that, they start back at square one. Introducing a time limit can encourage more activity.
Adding a New VIP Tier
Incentivize customer spending and activity by allowing members to reach exclusive VIP tiers.
On the VIP Programs page, click Add VIP Tier.
Set a Name for your Tier. This is what customers will see when they login to the Loyalty widget on your website.
Next, set a points milestone or Points earned since start date (you can also choose number of orders or amount spent). This is what your customers will have to reach to achieve this Tier.
💡 Pro Tip: Choose your Tier names wisely! It pays to do some initial fieldwork researching successful loyalty programs. Take a look at Starbucks (Starbucks Rewards), Sephora (Beauty Insider), E.L.F. (Beauty Squad) and Amazon (Amazon Prime) to see how they've structured their programs.
Changing VIP Tier Earning Conditions
To edit an existing VIP tier click the edit button next to the Tier name. You'll have several options on this page that you can customize to match your store.
Tier name
This is the name that will show to your customers in the widget
Goal to achieve Tier
The points, amount spent or number or orders your customer will have to earn since their start date to reach this tier status
Rewards to Unlock
Add a reward (hidden) that will only be unlocked once the customer achieves this Tier. Types of VIP Tier Rewards to Unlock include:
Amount Discount: Add a fixed coupon off an order or specific collection
Percentage Off: Add a percentage off coupon to an order or specific collection
Free Shipping: Offer a coupon for free shipping
Free Product: Select a product from your store to offer for free
Additional Benefits
Set custom additional benefits that customers will unlock upon achieving this Tier. Some examples are:
Be the first to know when we have a 50% off sale on our website
Early access to new product releases.
📝 Note: These additional benefits are not clickable links.
Common Questions
Can I change the entry level Tier minimum points?
No. All your loyalty members will automatically start at the entry level tier which is set at 0 points.
Can I add less than 3 VIP tiers to my program?
Yes! However, the minimum number of Tier's that you'll need to have is 1.
How many Tiers should I add to my Loyalty Program?
As a general rule of thumb, using a simple 2-4 Tier program seems to be the most effective.