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VIP Program Settings

Learn how to set your VIP Tiers to optimize your customer loyalty strategy

Laurence Leech avatar
Written by Laurence Leech
Updated over a week ago

Introduction

In this article, we'll take a look at managing your VIP program settings in Rivo. These settings allow you to shape your VIP tiers to align with your brand vision and customer relationship strategies. We'll focus on three key aspects: Program start date, the entry method, and tier expiry.

✨ VIP Tiers are available on the Scale plan and above.


Program Start Date

The Program Start Date is a crucial factor, deciding the starting point from which your VIP tiers begin to count points or purchases. For example, if a customer has accumulated 500 points since they joined the first VIP tier in January, but your Program Start Date is set to February, only the points earned from February onward will count toward tier progression.

Update start date

  1. Go to Loyalty > VIP Tiers.

  2. Go to Program Settings.

  3. Click Edit on Program Start Date.

    Program Start Date setting
  4. Select a date and click Update. Your customers' tiers will be recalculated based on the new start date.

πŸ“ Note: We can only account for activity since the customer's first tier enrollment date.


Entry Method

The Entry Method is how your customers ascend the VIP tiers. There are three options to choose from, allowing you to select the one that best aligns with your business model and customer base.

Entry method

Criteria

Points earned

Customers advance tiers based on the total points they accumulate through your Points program

Amount spent

Customers advance tiers based on their total expenditure in your store

Number of orders placed

Customers advance tiers based on the number of orders placed in your store

Update entry method

  1. Go to Loyalty > VIP Tiers.

  2. Go to Program Settings.

  3. Click Edit on Entry Method.

    Entry Method setting
  4. Select your preferred method and click Update. Your customers' tiers will be recalculated based on the new entry method.

πŸ’‘ Tip: Check each VIP tier's thresholds ('Goal to achieve tier') to make sure you're happy with the amounts after you update the Entry Method.


Tier Progress Expiry

The Tier Progress Expiry determines how long customers have to reach the highest VIP tier before their current progress resets. Once the period ends, any points earned, orders placed, or spending from the previous period will no longer count. There are three options you can choose from.

Expiry

Time limit

Term

A lifetime

No time limit

Customers can take as long as they need to progress through the different VIP Tiers

A full calendar year

Until December 31

If customers don't reach the highest tier by the end of the current calendar year, they will remain in their current tier but will need to start accumulating the required amount for the next tier from zero

A rolling year

12 months from the date the customer first enters a VIP tier

If customers don't reach the highest tier within the 12 months, they will remain in their current tier but will need to start accumulating the required amount for the next tier from zero

Update expiry method

  1. Go to Loyalty > VIP Tiers.

  2. Go to Program Settings.

  3. Click Edit on Tier Progress Expiry.

    Tier Progress Expiry settings
  4. Optional: When you select A rolling year, you can enable the option Start from Program Date to override each customer's first VIP enrollment date. This sets all customers' rolling year to start on the same day, based on the day and month of your program start date

  5. Select the option you prefer and click Update. Your customers' tier status will have an expiration date based on the new expiry method.

πŸ“ Important Note: Customers are not downgraded to the lowest tier (entry tier) upon expiration unless you enable the advanced settings.

Expiry example scenarios

We will use the same scenario to demonstrate how each expiry method works:

  • Tiers: Bronze ($0), Silver ($500), Gold ($1,000)

  • Program Start Date: January 1, 2024

  • Customer's first tier enrollment date: March 1, 2024

Expiry

How it works

A calendar year

The customer joins the program on 2024-03-01 and spends $500 before 2024-12-31. They reach the Silver tier, but they do not spend more to unlock Gold.

On 2025-01-01, they retain the Silver status, but their progress resets. To reach the Gold tier, they'll need to spend $1,000 by 2025-12-31, starting from zero

A rolling year

The customer joins the program on 2024-03-01 and spends $500 before 2025-03-01. They reach the Silver tier, but they do not spend more to unlock Gold.

On 2025-03-01, they retain the Silver status, but their progress resets. To reach the Gold tier, they'll need to spend $1,000 by 2026-03-01, starting from zero

A rolling year that starts on the Program Start Date

The customer joins the program on 2024-03-01 and spends $500 before 2025-01-01. They reach the Silver tier, but they do not spend more to unlock Gold.

On 2025-01-01, they retain the Silver status, but their progress resets. Now they have to spend $1,000 by 2026-01-01, starting from zero


Advanced Settings

Use the advanced settings to set different earning values for your Ways to Earn based on VIP tiers, and to manage additional downgrade rules tied to the tier progress expiry.

Allow customers to earn different points on different tiers

Reset and recalculate tiers after the period ends

Enable this option to support a tier progress expiry strategy that not only resets customers' progress but also downgrades them to the entry tier if they don't reach the highest tier within the set time frame. This ensures a fresh start at the beginning of each year.

  1. Go to Loyalty > VIP Tiers.

  2. Go to Program Settings.

  3. Click Edit on Advanced Settings.

  4. Check Reset and recalculate tiers after the period ends.

    Advanced Settings
  5. Click Update.

πŸ“ Important: Tier downgrades are only compatible with the tier progress expiry methods A calendar year and A rolling year with an expiration on the Program Start Date.


Common questions

Can I downgrade customers if they don't unlock the highest tier?

Yes. Please go to Reset and recalculate tiers after the period ends to learn more about this strategy.

Does Rivo delete the past activity after the calendar or rolling year ends?

No. All of your customers' program activity recorded in Rivo remains saved. Once the calendar or rolling year ends, we simply stop counting past activity when calculating the tier progress.

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