This guide will help you get started with the essential features to launch your loyalty program successfully. Drawing on over 10 years of experience helping Shopify merchants grow and retain customers, we've put together a recommended setup based on proven best practices.

Whether your goal is to increase repeat purchases, improve customer engagement, or automate your marketing, this guide will help you configure Ako Marketing to fit your store's needs. We recommend completing your setup in the following four stages:

Core Settings

A successful loyalty program starts by rewarding customers for shopping with you. The easier it is for customers to earn and redeem rewards, the more likely they are to make repeat purchases.

Choose how customers earn rewards

Start by enabling at least one loyalty currency:

  • Points Program lets customers collect points through purchases and redeem them for rewards. This works well for merchants who want to create an engaging, gamified loyalty experience.
  • Store Credit Program rewards customers with store credit they can apply to future orders. This is ideal if your goal is to encourage repeat purchases with a simple cashback-style incentive.

Many Shopify merchants offer both, allowing customers to choose how they engage with the program.

Reward every purchase automatically

After choosing your store currency, it is highly recommended to enable the Place an Order reward so customers receive points or store credit whenever they complete a purchase. This is the foundation of your loyalty program. Customers quickly understand that every order moves them closer to their next reward, creating a clear incentive to shop again.

Ako Marketing loyalty program setup guide for placing orders

Make your loyalty program easy to find

Enable the Loyalty Widget to give customers instant access to their rewards account while browsing your store. From the widget, customers can view their points balance, check VIP progress, browse available rewards, and access referral activities - all without leaving your storefront.

The more visible your loyalty program is, the more likely customers are to participate.

Ako Marketing loyalty program widget for easy reward redemption

Let customers redeem rewards effortlessly

Enable the Points Redemption Widget so customers can apply their rewards during their shopping journey. Displaying available rewards before checkout reminds customers they've earned value by shopping with you.  

Ako Marketing checkout screen showing earned customer rewards

Keep Customers Engaged After Every Purchase

A loyalty program shouldn't end after checkout. Keeping customers informed about their rewards encourages them to return and continue participating.

Send automated loyalty updates with Email Notifications

Enable Email Notifications to automatically notify customers when they earn rewards, redeem points, unlock a VIP tier, or receive referral rewards. These updates help customers recognize the value of your loyalty program.

Ako Marketing email notification setup for loyalty program updates

Akohub app showing Klaviyo integration for repeat purchases

Give customers a place to manage their rewards

Giving customers easy access to their loyalty information makes your rewards program more transparent and encourages continued participation. When customers can clearly see how close they are to earning their next reward, they're more likely to return and make another purchase. Configure your customer account pages, including:

  1. Loyalty Program page. Learn how to setup here

Ako Marketing Shopify loyalty program page setup instructions 2. Loyalty Program Status, Learn how to setup here

Ako Marketing personal details page setup for loyalty program

3.  Personal Details page. Learn how to setup here

Ako Marketing dashboard for turning customer data into campaigns

Turn Customer Data into Marketing Campaigns

Once your loyalty program is live, you can use your customer data to bring shoppers back through targeted advertising.

To launch your retargeting campaign, you need to connect your Google and Facebook account,

Retargeting is an effective way to reconnect with customers who have already interacted with your brand, whether they've abandoned a cart, become inactive, or earned rewards they haven't redeemed yet. You can learn more about creating a retention retargeting campaign in our FAQs here.

Bonus: You can also set up Automated Response Campaigns for Comments to Your Instagram Posts/Reels 

Ako Marketing Instagram comment automation with AI insights

Use AI to Identify Your Best Opportunities

As your business grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor every metric, identify emerging trends, and know which issues require immediate attention. Instead of spending hours reviewing reports, our AI Marketing feature continuously monitors your Shopify store and alerts you when important changes occur.

Whether it's a drop in conversion rate, an increase in cart abandonment, slowing customer retention, or a new sales opportunity, AI Marketing helps you understand what changed, why it matters, and what actions you can take next. Our AI Marketing feature is meant for all stores:

  • Growing Shopify stores that generate more data than they can easily monitor.
  • Marketing teams that want to identify opportunities without manually reviewing reports.
  • Merchants who want early warnings before small issues impact revenue.

Ako Marketing help center for loyalty program assistance

 Where can I get help if I’m stuck?

If you need assistance: