Loyalty programs — points earned on purchases, redeemable for discounts — are effective retention tools for repeat-purchase categories (beauty, coffee, supplements, fashion). WooCommerce stores typically use the WooCommerce Points and Rewards extension, or YITH Points and Rewards. Shopify has no native loyalty programme; dedicated apps handle this. The migration challenge is transferring existing customer point balances without losing the loyalty you've built.

WooCommerce loyalty plugins

Common WooCommerce loyalty setups:

WooCommerce Points and Rewards (official Woo extension): points earned per £ spent, redeemable for cart discounts. Basic but widely used.
YITH WooCommerce Points and Rewards: More feature-rich — points for reviews, sign-up, social shares. VIP tier support.
Gratisfaction: Full referral and loyalty suite for WooCommerce.

Shopify loyalty apps

App	Best for	Price
Smile.io	Most popular. Easy setup, good UI, referral programme included	Free / $49/mo (Growth) / $199/mo (Plus)
LoyaltyLion	Data-driven loyalty, deep analytics, advanced segmentation	Free (up to 800 orders/mo) / $159/mo+
Yotpo Loyalty	Combined with Yotpo Reviews — single platform for reviews + loyalty	Free (up to 100 orders/mo) / $199/mo+
BON Loyalty	Cost-effective for smaller stores, VIP tiers, point expiry	Free / $25/mo+
Rise.ai	Store credit (gift cards as currency) rather than traditional points	$19.99/mo+

Smile.io is the default choice for most Shopify merchants — large ecosystem, stable, good documentation for WooCommerce migrations. LoyaltyLion is the choice if analytics and customer lifetime value measurement matter most.

Migrating customer point balances

Existing customer loyalty points represent real value — losing them is a significant negative signal to your most loyal customers:

Export customer point balances from WooCommerce (WooCommerce Points and Rewards exports to CSV)
Install your chosen Shopify loyalty app
Import customer emails with their point balances using the app's CSV import tool (Smile.io and LoyaltyLion both support this)
Notify customers by email before launch: "Your [X] points have been transferred to your account at [new store]"

Points matching is done by email address. Customers who used different email addresses on WooCommerce vs their Shopify account need manual matching or will need to contact support.

VIP tiers

VIP tiers (e.g. Silver / Gold / Platinum based on cumulative spend or points) are available in Smile.io Growth plan and above, LoyaltyLion Standard plan and above:

Tiers unlock earning multipliers (Gold members earn 2× points per £1 spent)
Tiers unlock exclusive rewards (free shipping, early access, birthday gift)
When migrating, map existing WooCommerce tier membership to Shopify tier — either by importing with tier assignment, or by setting the spend threshold to match historical customer spend

Referral programmes

Referral programmes (customer refers a friend, both get a reward) are included in most loyalty apps:

Smile.io: referral programme included in all plans (even free)
Referral link is unique per customer — old WooCommerce referral links stop working after migration; customers need new referral links from the Shopify app
Notify top referrers by email with their new referral link on migration day

Points earning events beyond purchases

Modern loyalty apps earn points for non-purchase actions:

Account creation
Birthday bonus
Product review
Social media follow/share
Referring a friend

Review your WooCommerce plugin's earning events and replicate the relevant ones in the Shopify app. Customers who earned points via reviews or referrals should have those carried over in the point balance import.

Post-migration loyalty checklist

Loyalty app installed and configured (earning rules, redemption rules)
Customer point balances exported from WooCommerce and imported to Shopify app
VIP tier assignments migrated or thresholds set to preserve tier status
Customer notification email sent explaining loyalty migration
Referral programme configured; top referrers notified of new referral link
Loyalty widget visible in theme (usually bottom-right corner "Points balance" launcher)
Redemption tested at checkout: points applied correctly as discount
Non-purchase earning events configured (reviews, account creation, birthday)

Shopify loyalty programs after migrating from WooCommerce (2026)