Referral and loyalty programs tend to go in the same bucket. Both are intended to reward your customers for coming back, although there are a few ways to incentivize your customers. From points to discount codes, there are several things to consider as you set up your referral or loyalty programs for your unique customer base.  In this article, we’re exploring the differences between Conjured Referrals and Rivo, two highly rated Shopify apps powering referral marketing and loyalty programs with some clear differences.

We’ll base our comparison on four major categories that we hear the most about from Shopify businesses like yourself:

1. Display and branding
2. Ease of setup and customer service
3. Customization of rewards and reward mechanics
4. Pricing

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Display and branding

Conjured: We have three display types to choose from as you set up your campaign - Custom Page, Post-purchase Modal, and Post-purchase Email. The Custom Page display type is a small bit of widget code you can place in a variety of locations, just one of them being on a landing page of its own. This means headless Shopify stores can use this widget, or it can be placed in a custom location like your homepage or in a floating button.

We also offer the ability to create multiple campaigns to cater to different customer groups or A/B test incentives. If you wanted to expand visibility, you could create a campaign for each display type to reach the most customers. There is a builder included in the app to change things like layout, images, colors, text, fonts, or you can select one of our premade templates. All of these capabilities can be edited no matter which paid plan you are on.  

Rivo: The program has one display type and one campaign, which is a floating widget. This contains a straightforward and clean design that they offer for all their stores. A floating widget appears by clicking a small button in the corner that displays across your website. If you aren’t concerned with branding, you can absolutely go with their out-of-the-box package and launch your campaign without changing anything.  

As you explore some of their settings, you’ll see that if you are on the free plan, you can only modify the theme colors. If you choose one of their paid plans ($29 or $99 per month) you can expand to changing the images, corners, custom CSS, removing the “powered by Rivo” branding, and notification emails. Their default program is very straightforward, so if you aren’t entirely concerned with a unique brand voice or story, then this won’t be a problem for you!

Ease of setup and customer service

Conjured: Getting set up with the available controls and builder means you can find yourself with a fully functioning program fairly quickly. You might want to spend a couple of hours tweaking the appearance and testing depending on your desired specifications. If you are looking to take advantage of our customization services, you’ll start with our small and talented support team.

Your design needs are where the extra time may come in, but we are more than ready to walk you through the entire process and refine it as much as you need. Our support is based in the US, English-speaking, and available 7 days a week during daylight hours.  

Rivo: With their default options, you can get up and running with very little decision-making! Even if you choose to modify their available settings, there isn’t a huge amount of customization to spend time on. Quick and easy.  If you run into any questions, they have a live chat bubble available through the app. They offer English-speaking support 24/7 via email or chat!

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Customization of rewards and reward mechanics

Conjured: Advocates can share discount codes with their friends, and once these friends use their code on an order, the advocate is also rewarded with a discount code. You can adjust what these codes apply to (a specific product or collection), how much they are worth, and when they expire. Our system automatically creates and distributes these for you so you can set it and forget it.  

We have a variety of settings in place to prevent fraudulent referrals, and if a friend cancels their order we won’t send the advocate their reward. Our system focuses on bringing you real, qualified referrals.  We also offer two campaign goal types, one to reward advocates for more purchases and another for more newsletter signups (for prelaunch stores).  

Rivo: Their program is largely a points-based system. This means that customers can earn points for a variety of actions on your website. Two examples included in their free plan are placing an order and signing up for the program. Customers can then redeem these points, which means they can translate them into discount codes.

If you upgrade to one of their higher plans ($29 or $99 per month), you can have more control and expansion over how customers earn points. This could mean rewarding them on their birthday, for social engagement, like sharing or following.  Although their program includes a referral mechanism, it’s largely focused on an individual customer’s actions to generate points.

It’s worth noting that the step to translate points to discount codes is a point of friction that might ultimately prevent purchases at the end of the day.

Read: Create customer-centric emails that stand out.

Pricing

Conjured: We offer a 30-day free trial to get fully set up and comfortable with the app. Our pricing structure is based on referred revenue, the revenue directly coming from referred friends. The tiers are $29/month for up to $500 in referred revenue, $99/month for up to $2,000 in referred revenue, and $299 for unlimited referred revenue. Each monthly fee is meant to be dramatically outweighed by the revenue you see coming in.

All features and settings are available on all tiers! This is also flexible, if you ever want to downgrade for a slow month, you have the freedom to do so and we’ll let you know when it’s time to upgrade.  

Rivo: They have three options to choose from - A free plan (includes points system, referral system, and automated emails), $29/month (adds on birthday and referral points, free product and shipping rewards, ability to remove Rivo branding, and customize the emails), and $99/month for all features (adds on reward expiration, VIP tiers, and custom icons).  The plan best for you depends on your ideal loyalty program, and you’ll have to stick to it to retain your settings. You have a 7-day free trial to decide and get everything rolling!

Check out 5 inspiring referral marketing programs to learn from.

Conclusion

Conjured Referrals and Rivo offer two different strategies. If you are looking for a system to bring in new, qualified customers through trusted referrals, Conjured Referrals is the way to go. Our mechanics are focused on vetting referrals, and ensuring the rewards are quick and easy to use to bring in the most revenue.

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