What to Reward Customers for in a Shopify Loyalty Program

Quick Answer

Yes, a Shopify loyalty program can reward several different customer actions, not just purchases. Keystone Loyalty Rewards supports points for purchases, signups, and referrals, plus custom and conditional earning rules, so the real question is which of these actions actually matter for your specific business.

Merchants often default to rewarding purchases alone, without considering whether signups or referrals would actually serve their goals better. This guide is for anyone deciding which specific actions to build earning rules around.

We will go through the main categories of rewardable actions, when each one makes sense, and how to avoid rewarding everything at once just because the option exists.

What Actions Can Be Rewarded in a Loyalty Program?

The most common rewardable actions are purchases, account signups, and referrals. Beyond these, custom and conditional earning rules let you reward more specific behaviors, like a minimum order value or a particular product category, depending on what actually matters to your business.

Who Needs to Think Carefully About What to Reward?

• New loyalty programs deciding their initial earning rules
• Stores wanting to encourage referrals specifically, not just repeat purchases
• Brands with a strong word-of-mouth component to their growth
• Businesses wanting to reward account creation to build a customer database
• Stores with existing loyalty programs wanting to reconsider what they currently reward
• Merchants who added several earning rules early and now want to simplify

Why Choosing the Right Actions Matters for Your Business

• Rewarding the wrong actions wastes margin on behavior that does not help your business
• Purchase rewards connect directly to revenue but do not encourage new customer acquisition
• Referral rewards can bring in new customers at a lower cost than paid advertising
• Signup rewards build your customer account base for future marketing
• Rewarding too many actions at once can make the program confusing to explain
• Each rewarded action should have a clear business reason behind it
• Focusing on fewer actions makes it easier to measure whether the program is actually working

How to Decide What to Reward on Shopify

Step 1: Define Your Loyalty Goal

Start by listing the specific business outcomes you actually want, not just increase loyalty in general. This list should drive which actions you reward.

• Decide if repeat purchases, new customer growth, or account signups matter most right now
• Rank these goals so you know which earning rule to prioritize first
• Avoid trying to reward every possible action in the first version of the program

Step 2: Install and Configure Keystone Loyalty Rewards

Install Keystone Loyalty Rewards and translate your prioritized goals into a specific set of earning rules, rather than guessing at settings.

• Connect the app to your Shopify store
• Configure earning rules matching your top priority
• Add a second earning rule only once the first one is live and working

Step 3: Create Earning Rules and Rewards

Build out the specific rules for whichever actions you have decided matter most, keeping the initial setup narrow.

• Set up purchase points if revenue-driven repeat buying is the priority
• Set up referral points if new customer acquisition matters more right now
• Set up signup points if building your customer account base is the goal
• Add a custom or conditional earning rule only if a specific behavior needs it

Step 4: Add the Loyalty Experience to Your Store

Add the loyalty experience to the store in a way that clearly explains which actions earn points, so customers are not left guessing.

• Display the specific earning rules clearly in the customer account
• Add the loyalty widget to relevant pages explaining how to earn
• Mention referral rewards specifically if that is one of your earning rules

Step 5: Test the Program

Test each earning rule individually to confirm it awards points correctly for the specific action it is tied to.

• Test a purchase and confirm points are awarded as configured
• Test the referral flow if referral points are included
• Test account signup if that earns points in your setup

Step 6: Go Live

Before launch, confirm the rewarded actions still make sense given your original prioritized goals.

• Check that the earning rules match what you actually decided to prioritize
• Confirm customer-facing messaging explains each rewarded action clearly
• Review whether any rule needs adjusting after seeing it in a real test

Choosing What to Reward Examples

Industry: Athletic apparel brand
Problem: The brand rewarded purchases only, but new customer growth had slowed and needed more support from existing customers.
Setup: Referral points were added alongside existing purchase points, prioritizing new customer acquisition specifically.
Result: Existing customers had a direct incentive to refer friends, supporting new customer growth.

Industry: Skincare subscription brand
Problem: The business wanted more customers to create accounts rather than checking out as guests.
Setup: Signup points were introduced as a standalone earning rule separate from purchase points.
Result: Account creation increased as customers had a concrete reason to sign up rather than skip it.

Read more case studies for our apps.

Best Practices for Deciding What to Reward

• Start with the one or two actions that connect most directly to your current goals
• Avoid rewarding every possible action just because the feature exists
• Add referral rewards specifically if new customer growth is a priority
• Reconsider your rewarded actions periodically as business goals shift
• Keep earning rules simple enough to explain to a customer in one sentence
• Test each earning rule separately before combining several at once
• Track whether each rewarded action is actually producing the outcome you expected

Summary

Deciding what to reward customers for in a Shopify loyalty program should start with your actual business goals, not a list of available features. Keystone Loyalty Rewards supports purchases, signups, referrals, and custom rules, but picking the right one or two to start with matters more than using all of them at once.

If you want to reward the specific actions that matter most to your business, Keystone Loyalty Rewards app gives you the earning rules to set it up directly.