This article is for Shopify merchants only.
A loyalty campaign rewards your existing customers for coming back. Every qualifying purchase an enrolled customer makes earns them a percentage of that purchase back as Shopify store credit — automatically, like cashback in store credit. The credit is added to their Shopify customer account, ready to spend at checkout like any other store credit, with no codes or separate logins involved.
Loyalty campaigns use Shopify's native store credit system, which is why they're available on Shopify stores only.
What loyalty campaigns are (and aren't): ReferralCandy loyalty campaigns are built around one mechanic — store credit back on every qualifying purchase. They don't currently include points balances, reward tiers, or activity-based earning (like points for reviews, birthdays, or social follows). We're actively building loyalty out, so if a feature would make it work better for your store, let us know.
How a loyalty campaign works
A loyalty campaign runs automatically once it's live — a repeat-purchase loop from enrollment to reward:
When your campaign is live, customers in your target audience are enrolled automatically — there's nothing they need to sign up for.
When an enrolled customer makes a purchase, ReferralCandy calculates their reward: your campaign's commission rate applied to the order's qualifying subtotal (shipping and taxes excluded).
Once the order is fulfilled, the credit lands on the customer's Shopify account as native store credit, and the welcome loyalty email lets them know — for many customers, this email is how they discover your loyalty program in the first place. (The first credit arrives with the welcome email; later credits with the store credit earned email.)
That credit gives the customer a reason to come back: they spend it at checkout on their next purchase — and that repeat purchase earns them credit again, keeping the loop going.
For the full mechanics — what counts as qualifying spend, exactly when credit is released, and what happens with refunds or cancellations — see the companion article [Shopify] How loyalty store credit works.
Where to find Loyalty campaigns
In your Shopify admin, go to Apps → Referral Candy → Loyalty campaigns, or open https://admin.shopify.com/apps/referralcandy/loyalty-campaigns.
The Loyalty campaigns page lists each of your loyalty campaigns with its status, target audience, and commission rate. The Setup help button on this page opens a built-in setup walkthrough you can reference right in the dashboard.
Create your loyalty campaign
To create a loyalty campaign:
On the Loyalty campaigns page, click Create loyalty campaign.
In Campaign name, enter a name (for example, "Loyalty Rewards"). The name is for your own dashboard — customers see your store's name on the emails, not the campaign name.
In Store credits commission rate (%), set the percentage of each qualifying purchase your customers get back as store credit. A 2% rate on a $100 subtotal earns $2 in store credit. The rate can use up to two decimal places, up to a maximum of 100%.
In Store credit expiry in days (optional), leave the field blank if issued store credit should never expire, or enter a number of days to have credit expire that many days after it's issued.
Choose whether to send the two loyalty emails — both are on by default: Send welcome loyalty email (sent with a customer's first store credit — usually how customers discover your program) and Send store credit earned loyalty email (sent each time they earn credit after that). You can change these, and customize the emails themselves, at any point later.
Click Create draft campaign.
New loyalty campaigns are created in the Stopped state on purpose — no customer earns anything until you set the campaign live, so you can finish setting up the target audience and emails safely.
Choose who can earn (Target audience)
Open your campaign's Target audience tab to choose which customers are enrolled. Enrollment is based on segments: when the campaign is live, contacts in the segments you select are enrolled automatically.
To include everyone, select the built-in All Customers segment.
To target specific groups, select existing segments or click Create new segment. Dynamic segments (for example, customers whose lifetime spend crosses an amount, or by signup date) update automatically as customers qualify; static segments are fixed lists you build by CSV upload, by entering emails, or by syncing from Mailchimp.
A target audience needs to be configured before the campaign can go live.
Note: Eligibility is checked when an order is processed. If a customer only becomes eligible after placing an order — for example, that order is what pushes their lifetime spend over your segment's threshold — they won't earn credit for that order, only for their later purchases.
Customize the loyalty emails
Loyalty campaigns send two emails. They're how customers discover the program and what brings them back to spend their credit:
Loyalty Welcome Email — sent the first time a customer earns store credit from your campaign.
Store Credit Earned Email — sent each time they earn store credit after that.
Both emails are sent when the credit is actually issued — after the order is fulfilled — not at the moment of purchase. To change their design and copy, open the campaign's Themes tab and click Customize on your theme; both emails are in the theme editor under Loyalty Emails. To turn either email off, use the checkboxes on the campaign's Settings tab.
The welcome email carries the awareness for your program: customers aren't notified at the moment they're enrolled, so the welcome email — arriving with their first store credit — is usually the moment they learn your loyalty program exists, right when there's credit waiting to bring them back. Keeping both emails on (the default) means every enrolled customer hears about the program as soon as they start earning. If you'd rather announce the program yourself — with a banner on your site, a mention at checkout, or through your own marketing emails (such as Klaviyo) — you can turn either email off on the Settings tab; enrolled customers earn credit either way.
There's no separate loyalty page or portal for your customers. Their credit balance lives in their Shopify customer account, so the loyalty emails and your store's checkout are where they see it.
Related: For how customers see and spend Shopify store credit at checkout — including the account login requirements — see [Shopify] Advocate reward: Store credits.
Set the campaign live
When you're ready, open the Campaign state tab and switch the campaign from Stopped to Live. From that moment, enrolled customers start earning store credit on qualifying purchases.
Loyalty campaigns have two states only — Live and Stopped — there's no pause. Stopping a campaign stops new credit from being earned, but credit already issued stays with your customers. For what stopping means for credit that's still pending, see [Shopify] How loyalty store credit works.
Track performance (Analytics)
The campaign's Analytics tab shows two figures for your selected date range, plus a daily chart:
Store credit issued — credit released to your customers' Shopify accounts during the period.
Store credit pending — credit earned on orders that haven't been fulfilled yet, so it hasn't been released.
Loyalty campaigns FAQ
Is this a points-based loyalty program?
Is this a points-based loyalty program?
No — ReferralCandy loyalty campaigns don't use points. Customers earn a percentage of each qualifying purchase back as Shopify store credit, automatically. There's no points balance to track or redeem, no reward tiers, and no activity-based earning (like points for reviews, birthdays, or social follows). If features like these would make loyalty work better for your store, let us know — loyalty campaigns are actively being built out.
Does a customer earn credit from their friends' purchases?
Does a customer earn credit from their friends' purchases?
No. Loyalty credit comes from a customer's own purchases — it rewards them for coming back and buying again. Rewarding customers for bringing in friends is what referral campaigns do, and the two are separate: a customer can participate in both, but referral rewards and loyalty credit are earned and tracked independently. An advocate doesn't earn loyalty credit from their referred friends' purchases.
How do customers know they're in the loyalty program?
How do customers know they're in the loyalty program?
Through the loyalty emails, by default: a customer's first store credit arrives with the welcome loyalty email, which is usually how they discover your loyalty program — and what brings them back to spend the credit. (There's no separate notification at the moment of enrollment.) If you've turned the loyalty emails off, announce the program yourself — on your site, at checkout, or through your own marketing emails. Customers still earn credit either way and can see their balance in their Shopify customer account.
When does a customer actually receive their store credit?
When does a customer actually receive their store credit?
When their order is fulfilled, not at purchase. The credit is calculated when the order is placed, held as pending, and released to the customer's Shopify account once Shopify reports the order fulfilled — and if an order ships in parts, the credit is released only when the entire order is fulfilled. The customer receives the loyalty email when the credit is released. The companion article [Shopify] How loyalty store credit works covers the full timeline.
Can I run a loyalty campaign alongside my referral or affiliate campaigns?
Can I run a loyalty campaign alongside my referral or affiliate campaigns?
Yes. Loyalty campaigns run independently of referral and affiliate campaigns, and your customers can participate in more than one. The rewards stay separate — loyalty credit comes only from the customer's own purchases, and referral or affiliate rewards are earned and tracked on their own terms.
Can I limit credit earning to specific products or collections?
Can I limit credit earning to specific products or collections?
Not currently — store credit is earned on the order's whole qualifying subtotal (the subtotal minus shipping, taxes, and any store credit or gift cards used to pay). There's no way to restrict earning to specific products, collections, or SKUs today. If product-level control would help your store, let us know.