PointDrop help: Shopify loyalty setup guide

PointDrop is a loyalty program for your store. Customers collect points every time they buy something. When they have enough, they swap the points for a discount on a future order. That gives them a reason to come back.

• Earning is automatic. Points are added as soon as an order is paid. You don't have to do anything.
• Rewards are real discount codes. When a customer redeems, PointDrop creates a one-time Shopify discount code just for them.
• You're in control. You decide how many points people earn and what the rewards are, and you can change them any time.

Do these five things and your loyalty program is live.

1. Install PointDrop from the Shopify App Store and approve the permissions. You'll find it in your Shopify admin under Apps → PointDrop.
2. Choose your earning rate in Settings → General, for example 1 point for every $1. How to set up your program
3. Switch on the Rewards button for your store from the Storefront setup card on the PointDrop Home page. How to show rewards on your store
4. Create at least one reward in Rewards, such as “100 points = $5 off”. How to create rewards
5. Place a test order on your store, then check the points appear under Customers.

Open PointDrop → Settings (the General tab), change what you need, then click Save in the bar at the top of the page.

Program name

The name customers see, like “VIP Club” or “Rewards”.

Points name

What you call your points: “Points”, “Coins”, “Stars”…

Discount code prefix

The start of every reward code, so you can spot them in Shopify (e.g. LOYAL-).

Points per dollar spent

Points earned for each $1 spent. 1 is a good start.

Award points on shipping / taxes

Also give points on shipping and tax. Most stores leave these off.

Minimum points to redeem

The fewest points a customer needs before claiming any reward.

Reward codes expire after (days)

How long a reward code works after it's claimed (1–365 days).

Show the rewards widget on my store

Shows the Rewards button on your store. Keep this on.

The Widget preview on the right shows what a signed-in customer sees in the Rewards button with your program name, points name and cheapest rewards.

The Rewards button sits in the corner of your store. Customers click it to see their points and claim rewards. You switch it on once in your theme.

1. Open PointDrop → Home. In the Storefront setup card, click Add next to Rewards widget. (If the widget isn't on yet, the yellow message at the top has a Turn on rewards widget button that does the same.)
2. The theme editor opens with Loyalty widget already switched on, and the Rewards button shows in the preview.
3. Optional: change the button text or colours, or move it to the bottom-left.
4. Click Save in the top-right corner. Done.

Optional: “Earn X points” on product pages

Show shoppers how many points a product is worth, right under the price.

1. In the theme editor, choose Products → Default product from the menu at the top.
2. Click Add block, open Apps, and pick Earn points badge.
3. Drag it under the price and click Save.

Rewards are what customers spend their points on. Go to PointDrop → Rewards and fill in Create reward:

Name

What customers see, e.g. “$5 off your order”.

Cost (points)

How many points the reward takes.

Reward type

A percentage off, a fixed amount off, or free shipping.

Reward value

For example 10 for 10% off, or 5 for $5 off.

Applies to

Percentage and fixed amount rewards only. The entire order, or only the products you pick with Browse products (up to 50). Customers see which products the reward covers.

Minimum requirement

Optional. A minimum order amount or item count before the code works.

Who can use the code

Anyone with the code, or only the customer who redeemed it.

Code expiry

Use the shop default from Settings, or set your own number of days.

When a customer claims a reward, PointDrop creates a real Shopify discount code just for them. They enter it at checkout like any other code.

Use Turn off to hide a reward without losing it, or Delete to remove it. Codes already given out keep working.

Customers always earn points on purchases. In PointDrop → Rewards → Ways to earn you can also give bonus points for:

• Signing up for a customer account.
• Their birthday, once a year (Growth plan and above).
• Referring a friend who then places their first order (Starter plan and above).
• Following you on social media or leaving a product review.

In Add bonus rule, pick the Trigger, enter the bonus, and click Add rule. Anything marked “plan required” needs a higher plan. The rate for purchases lives in Settings → General.

PointDrop can also show points on your customers' account pages, so they can check their balance any time after logging in.

1. In Shopify go to Settings → Checkout (or Customer accounts) and click Customize.
2. Open the Profile page and add the Loyalty balance block. You can add it to the Order status page too.
3. Add the Loyalty rewards page to give customers a full rewards page in their account menu.
4. Click Save.

PointDrop → Customers lists everyone in your program and their points. Use the view menu next to the search box (All) to narrow the list: customers who can redeem a reward, active or inactive customers, new members, or VIPs. Click a name to see their full history. From there you can:

• Adjust balance: add or remove points by hand, for example as a thank-you. Add a short reason; it shows in their history.
• Redeem a reward on their behalf, for example when they ask by email or phone.

Transactions

PointDrop → Activity → Transactions shows every point earned, spent, refunded or adjusted, for all customers. Search by customer email, name or order ID, and pick a view (Earned, Redeemed, Bonuses, Adjustments, Refunds or Imported) to see one kind at a time.

Redemptions

PointDrop → Activity → Redemptions lists every reward code that's been claimed and when it expires. Pick a view (Unused, Used, Expired or Cancelled), search by code or customer, filter by reward, and click Cancel code to switch a code off and give the points back.

Moving from another loyalty app? Import your members and their points.

Switching loyalty apps? Upload one CSV file and your members arrive in PointDrop with their points balance. Available on the Growth and Pro plans.

1. Export your members from your old app (most apps have an Export customers or Export points button). You don't need to edit the file.
2. Open PointDrop → Customers and click Import at the top of the page.
3. Drop the file onto the upload box. PointDrop shows which columns it found, how many rows are ready and any rows with problems, before anything is saved.
4. Click Import and keep the page open until it finishes. Large files take a minute or two.
5. Check the results. Download the skipped rows, fix them and upload that file again if needed.

What the file needs

Email (required)

The customer's email in Shopify. Headers like Email or Email address work.

Points balance (required)

Current points. Headers like Points, Points balance or Balance work. Whole numbers; 1,200 is fine.

Lifetime earned / redeemed (optional)

Totals shown on the customer page. Headers like Points earned and Points spent work.

First name / Last name (optional)

Only used when the Shopify customer has no name. Names on the Shopify customer record always win.

Up to 10,000 rows and 5 MB per file. Not sure about the format? Click Download template on the import page.

Good to know

• Customers must already exist in Shopify with the same email. PointDrop never creates Shopify customers; rows without a match are skipped.
• Customers who are already PointDrop members are skipped, so uploading the same file twice never doubles points.
• No emails are sent to customers during an import.
• Imported points show as Imported in Activity → Transactions and follow your normal points expiry from the import date.
• Your plan's customer limit still applies (Growth: 5,000 customers). Rows past the limit are skipped.

PointDrop can email customers at these moments. Emails are on the Starter plan and above.

Welcome

When a customer joins and gets the signup bonus

Points earned

When an order earns points

Reward code

When a customer redeems points for a code

Birthday

On a customer's birthday, with the birthday bonus (Growth and above)

Points expiring

Two weeks before a customer's points expire (only when you set points to expire)

Open Settings → Emails to preview each email and send yourself a test, or switch any email off. To see what was sent, open Activity → Email log. Search by recipient, pick a view (Sent, Failed or Not sent), filter by email, and spot failed sends. Entries are kept for 90 days.

To change the wording, pick an email there and click Edit email. You can rewrite the subject line, heading, message and button text, and use placeholders like {first_name} or {points} that fill in for each customer. Leave a field empty to use the default, or click Restore default to undo all your edits. Editing is on paid plans.

Switch each email on or off on the same Settings → Emails page. Set the reply-to address in Settings → Integrations.

VIP tiers reward your most loyal customers with extra points on every order. Customers move up automatically based on the total points they've ever earned. Available on the Growth plan and above.

Turn this on in Settings → General → VIP tiers (tick Turn on VIP tiers). The numbers above are the defaults, and you can change them there. Spending points never moves a customer down a tier.

1. They shop and pay as usual. Points are added once the order is paid.
2. They click the Rewards button on your store to see their points, their tier, and the rewards they can afford. Shoppers who aren't logged in are asked to sign in first.
3. They click Redeem on a reward and get a discount code straight away.
4. They enter the code at checkout. Each code works once and expires after the number of days you chose.

Change plans any time in PointDrop → Settings → Plan. Charges appear on your normal Shopify bill.