VIP Program: Overview and Setup

We created our VIP functionality to offer merchants a new avenue for effective customer retention and revenue growth. It doesn't only serve as a tool, but a way to enhance customer engagement by leveraging exclusivity and scarcity, making customers feel valued and encouraging them to spend more.

Our VIP functionality is available to merchants who have subscribed to the Loyalty plugin’s Advanced plan or above.

This section contains three global settings that control the program’s starting date, the entry method required for customer eligibility, and the progress expiry type.

Different settings will have info bubbles, providing more information to make things easier to understand.

The progress expiry type determines if, how, and when the tiers get reset.

Merchants can select only one progress expiry type at a time:

• Lifetime — customers keep their tier forever, once achieved;

• Calendar year — customers keep their tier for the current and full future year, once achieved;

• Rolling year — customers keep their tier for 365 days, once achieved;

• Calendar month — customers keep their tier for the current and full future month, once achieved.

— N.B.: This can be changed at any point, but it might affect customers, so caution should be exercised.

Before creating tiers you should add a start date, select your preferred entry method, and choose a progress expiry type.

These global settings will determine a tier’s milestone; when the tier’s progress expires; and from what point in time customer activity matters toward the tier.

For instance: setting up the start date as today will only take into account the customer's activity from that date toward the tier; selecting the entry method as points means that customers must accumulate points to enter and advance through tiers; and lastly, choosing the progress expiry as lifetime will keep customers on that tier forever once they achieve it.

— N.B.: Merchants can create a maximum of 4 tiers.

Before activating the VIP program, you should create some tiers for your customers to advance through. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Press the “Add” button adjacent to the tiers overview title.
   You’ll notice that the popup window contains name and milestone fields.

2. Add the name you want the tier to have in the “Name” field.

3. Add the amount a customer needs to achieve that tier in the “Milestone” field.

4. Press the “Save” button to create the new tier (or “Cancel” to terminate the action and close the popup).

— N.B.: The tier name and milestone amount values are customer-facing, so keep that in mind.

After saving the tier, you’ll receive a confirmation message and be redirected to the tier’s configuration page.

There are 5 sections on the tier configuration page, each giving merchants different customisation possibilities.

This section allows merchants to change the tier’s name or milestone; choose a colour for the default icon; and use a custom icon instead of the default one.

Ticking the “Use custom icon” checkbox will display an additional field where merchants can add the icon’s URL. You can upload the icons in your Shopify Admin > Content > Files section and copy the file’s URL.

This section allows merchants to award customers points for placing orders differently than the general “Place an order” earning rule. Customers can receive more points depending on the tier they reach.

As with the general “Place an order” earning rule, merchants have full control over the settings in the tier-specific earning rule.

— N.B.: This section becomes visible and can be configured only if the general “Place an order” earning rule is active. Merchants can enable it in the app’s Loyalty > Program > Earning Rules tab.

This section allows merchants to add tier-specific rewards, similar to the general spending rules. It displays the tier’s available rewards and the button to add more rewards. Once a reward is added, it appears as a separate row with the reward type, value, and actions (edit and delete).

To create a reward, press the “Add” button adjacent to the section’s title. Merchants will notice a popup window is displayed, and depending on the “Reward type” the options will change. Merchants can select from 4 reward types:

• Points — only the “Value” field needs to be completed;

• Amount discount — several fields become available, similar to the general “Amount discount” spending rule;

— N.B.: Merchants can add a value, allow it to be applied to the entire order or specific collections; set a minimum order value and expiration period; and allow the generated discount to be combined with other types of discounts.

• Percentage discount — the same options appear as with the “Amount discount” type, except that the generated discount will be a percentage instead of an amount;

• Free shipping — several fields become available, similar to the general “Free shipping” spending rule.

— N.B.: Merchants can set a maximum shipping amount; an expiration period; and whether the generated discount can be combined with other discounts.

This section allows merchants to add tier-specific benefits. Perks are additional benefits that customers can unlock when they achieve a tier. It displays the tier’s available perks and the button to add more perks. Once a perk is added, it’ll show as a separate row containing the perk’s name and actions (edit and delete).

To add a perk, press the “Add” button adjacent to the section’s title. Merchants will notice that the popup window only contains the name field. That’s because merchants are responsible for managing the perks outside of our Froonze Loyalty plugin.

— N.B.: While we allow merchants to inform customers of the perks they can unlock when they achieve a tier, these perks must be managed outside the Froonze Loyalty plugin. Consider this when adding perks.

While merchants can activate the VIP tier at any point, we recommend this step to be the last in the VIP program setup process.

Once merchants configured the general settings and created their desired tiers, they can toggle on the activation button. A success message informs merchants that the “VIP program has been activated. Tier assessment for all customers will start in around 10 minutes.”

The VIP program is live and your customers can benefit from joining and advancing through it!

— N.B.: Once the VIP program has been activated, merchants will also have the ability to deactivate it. However, there are some drawbacks. Deactivation will permanently remove all the admin-assigned minimum tiers. Also, all customers will be reassessed from scratch in case of reactivation.

You can view in the image how the customer-facing VIP tab looks and feels when accessed for the first time.

In this example, we’ve configured the VIP program’s general settings as follows:

• Start date — January 1st, 2025

• Entry method — Points

• Progress expiry — Calendar month

Customers will notice 3 main sections:

1. Navigation menu

2. Current VIP status

3. All VIP tiers

We’ll assume that the Loyalty program’s navigation menu is self-explanatory, so we’ll focus on the other two sections.

This provides information about:

1. whether the customer has entered the VIP program or reached a certain tier;

2. the entry method and their accumulated value;

3. the current tier and progress towards the next one;

4. when the accumulation cycle refreshes.

The progress bar will indicate the progression percentage visually as customers advance through the VIP tiers.

This is self-explanatory as this section displays the available tiers created by merchants with each tier showing more information when the “View details” button is pressed.

In this example, we’ve created the maximum number of tiers allowed, four in total. We’ve also configured the individual VIP tier, imaginatively called “Tier 1”, as follows:

1. Enabled the “More points for placing orders” tier-specific earning rule as an “Increments of points” earning type through which customers get 1 loyalty point for 1 currency unit spent;

2. Created a one-time “Points” reward worth 100 points and an “Amount discount” reward worth a 10 currency units discount;

3. Added a “Perk”, once again, very imaginatively called “New perk 1” that we would manage and award outside the Loyalty program.

As customers enter the VIP program and engage in activities that help them to advance through the tiers and unlock new rewards and benefits, the customer-facing VIP tab changes.

This not only offers customers an overview of their achievements but also provides a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment, priming them to become avid buyers and raving fans of your brand!