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Managing customer accounts for your Loyalty program

A guide to walk you through the legacy accounts and customer accounts from Shopify

Ana Rincon avatar
Written by Ana Rincon
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Introduction

Accounts provide customers effortless access to your store's loyalty program, order history, and profile management. Shopify offers two types of customer account systems:

  • Customer accounts - The newer system that streamlines login with secure one-time verification codes instead of passwords, offering a faster and more user-friendly experience.

  • Legacy accounts - The traditional password-based system where customers register and log in with usernames and passwords.

✨ Rivo is fully compatible with both Shopify's legacy accounts and customer accounts


Switching to customer accounts

The customer accounts offer several advantages over legacy accounts:

  • Faster checkout with secure magic links instead of passwords

  • Higher conversion rates with simplified login process

  • Enhanced security with one-time verification codes

  • Improved customer experience with seamless account access

To manage a Loyalty program compatible with customer accounts, it's essential to understand how Rivo integrates within Shopify’s current structure.

📝 Note: If you switch from legacy accounts to customer accounts, all your customers will be guests unless they had previously enabled a legacy account. In that case, the customers will remain as members.

  • A new customer profile created from the new login page (email + one-time verification code) will have the loyalty status Guest

  • A customer who never enabled a legacy account and logs in through the new login page will keep the Loyalty status Guest

  • A customer who enabled a legacy customer account will now use the new login page to access their account but will keep their loyalty status Member.

Changing your loyalty program participants for customer accounts

By default, Rivo sets program participants to members only, applicable solely to stores using the legacy accounts. To enable customer accounts to join the loyalty program, please follow the steps below.

  1. Go to Settings > General

  2. Under Program Participants, switch from Members to All customers

  3. Check the option Customers are eligible for all loyalty programs (VIP Tiers and Emails)

    Program Participants settings
  4. Click Save.


Feature comparison: Loyalty program capabilities by account type

Feature

Legacy accounts

Customer accounts

Loyalty status

A customer who signs up from the /account/register page is a Member. A customer who hasn't enabled an account yet is a Guest

All new customers are flagged as Guest

Earn points through:

  • Sign up

Only members

No

Earn points through:

  • Share and like on social media

  • Celebrate a birthday

  • Complete a referral

  • Visit a URL

Only members

Yes

Earn points through:

  • Place an order

  • Post a product review

  • Custom Actions

  • Rivo Actions set up in Shopify Flow

Only members unless you change the program participants to 'All customers'

Yes

Redeem points

Only members

Yes

Refer friends

(Legacy version)

Only members

Yes

Refer friends

(Referral campaigns)

Both members and guests regardless of your program participants

Yes

Join the VIP program

Only members unless you change the program participants to 'All customers'

Yes

Receive Rivo email notifications

Only members unless you change the program participants to 'All customers'

Yes

Access Loyalty data through the Dedicated Page and Floating Widget

Only members

Yes

Access Loyalty data through the /account page

Only members

Yes

📝 Important Note: Make sure to enable the settings for supporting new customer accounts in your Loyalty program.


Best practices for managing customer accounts in your loyalty program

Configure your loyalty widgets for optimal engagement

The on-site loyalty experience is crucial for customer engagement. Rivo offers multiple widget options to help your customers interact with the loyalty program:

  • Floating Widget: A widget that appears in the corner of your store, giving customers quick access to their loyalty program information

  • Account Embed Widget: Integrates loyalty program information directly into customer account pages

  • Account Widget: Provides a comprehensive customer account experience with loyalty features

Pro tip: When using customer accounts, enable the Account Embed Widget to seamlessly integrate loyalty information into Shopify's account pages.

Communicate account changes to your customers

If you're switching from legacy accounts to customer accounts, it's important to communicate this change to your customers:

  • Send an email explaining the benefits of the new account system and how it affects their loyalty program participation

  • Add a banner to your store announcing the change

  • Update your FAQ page with information about the new login process

  • Consider offering bonus points for customers who log in using the new system


Common questions

I use the customer accounts (new account experience), can my customers become members?

No. Internally, Shopify does not differentiate a customer account that logged in with a one-time verification code from an account that has never logged in. For now, all customers will remain as guests, unless they had previously enabled a legacy account.

Is there a workaround to have guests activate as members?

If a customer logs in / activates their account using a feature such as Rivo Accounts, it would convert them to a member. This is possible due to the use of Shopify Multipass.

My store is on the legacy account but I want guests to earn points, what can I do?

Please update your program participants to 'All customers' to make your guests earn points. If you want them to also be eligible for joining a VIP tier and receiving emails, please check the additional option.

I'm using the customer accounts, how can I add Loyalty data to the new /account page?

Go to your checkout editor, click on the 'Apps' section, and add the 'Loyalty Status' extension to your profile and/or orders page. You will be able to display your the customer's points balance and VIP tier.

I switched to the customer accounts, what will happen with the 'Sign Up' and 'Sign In' buttons on my onsite displays?

If you change to the customer accounts, both links will redirect customers to the new login page (email + one-time verification code).

How do I encourage customers to engage with the loyalty program when using customer accounts?

Since all customers using the new system start as guests, consider highlighting the loyalty program in your store with prominent widgets, email campaigns about available points, and special promotions. Making the program visible encourages participation even without the traditional account activation.

Will my existing loyalty program automations and flows still work with customer accounts?

Yes, all your loyalty program automations, including point accrual for purchases, birthday bonuses, and referral rewards, will continue to function with customer accounts. Just make sure you've enabled the "All customers" setting for program participants.

How can I tell which customers are using legacy accounts versus customer accounts?

In your Shopify admin, customer accounts don't explicitly show which system they're using. However, within Rivo, customers who were created or have only logged in using the new system will have the "Guest" loyalty status, while those who activated through the legacy system will show as "Member" status.

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