07 Best Loyalty Apps For Small Businesses: Reviews and Comparison

Are you a small business owner that is looking for the best loyalty app for your online store? Then you’re not alone. There are hundreds of loyalty apps on the market and it’s getting too hard to choose which app is the best fit for your online business. With loyalty apps you will be able to engage with clients and stay connected with customers in a more personal way. 

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There are already so many important aspects in running a successful Shopify store today – and one of them is deciding which tools, services and features should be added to your online store to create a better shopping experience. In order to engage more with your audience there are a lot of extra tools and features that can be added to your Shopify store that can help you build strong customer engagement and rapidly grow your sales. And in this article I would like to tell you more about the Loyalty and Rewards feature - why do you need it and which apps you should consider installing. But first of all, it’s important to understand why online stores need to implement loyalty programs for their customers. 

I. What Is A Loyalty and Reward Program?

You’ve probably seen a lot of offers where you get something extra if you shop at a certain store, spend a predetermined amount of money or buy selected products. All that is a loyalty program - a marketing strategy in which a company encourages its clients to shop with them or use their services again later. The main purpose of a loyalty program is to encourage customers to purchase more from you. Customers get voucher codes or receive certain discounts or rewards when they shop at your store. Loyalty programs are proven to be a good investment and, in return, they will give you long term benefits.

II. Why Should I Use A Loyalty Tool?

Loyalty program is the most important measure. A well organized loyalty program can provide analytics on your customers, letting you see how much money they spend, what products they prefer to buy and a lot of other information that you could use to plan your marketing strategy. Using that data you can make smarter offers and get higher sales numbers.

The study shows that 69% of customers say that loyalty programs influence their choice of retailer. And one of the most important reasons why loyalty program is the key to success is that they let you offer value to your customers. Giving them rewards and discounts motivates them to purchase more from you and become your brand advocates as they like and promote your business.

As you can see, loyalty programs for small businesses are a crucial part in building customer engagement. So now it’s time to choose the best one for your small business. But what if you didn’t have to search through all those loyalty app options on your own and there was a resource that could help you. Well, I did some research and selected the most popular and useful loyalty apps on the Shopify market, that I believe will help you increase customer loyalty and, of course, sales.

We will review 7 best loyalty apps that fit best for small businesses, discuss prices, plans, benefits and integrations.

III. 07 Best Loyalty Apps For Small Businesses on the Shopify Market

01. Joy: Rewards, Loyalty Program by AVADA

Price: Free plan available

Free trial: n/a

Average Shopify Rating: 5.0 (324 reviews)

Integrates with: Loox, Judge.me, Ali Reviews, Automizely, Yotpo, Fera, Stamped

Features and Benefits:

• Create multiple earning and spending rules with a powerful reward point system to turn purchasers into loyal customers.
• Configure redeeming conditions, point expiration period, minimum purchase amount with spending points, and other settings to control your reward programs.
• Track clients’ activities and adjust or redeem their points easily. 

Joy: Loyalty program app helps e-businesses effortlessly build a professional reward system to retain current customers and attract new buyers. Numerous interesting loyal programs are available for stores to encourage shoppers’ engagement and motivate them to purchase more. With simple but effective features, improving customer experience and boosting sales are in your hands.

02. Growave

Price: Free plan available. Starter plan starts at $29.99/month 

Free Trial: 14-day free trial

Average Shopify Rating (out of 5 stars): 4.9 (1,320 reviews)

Integrates with: pushowl - firepush, searchanise - tobi, klaviyo - swell, shippingeasy - flow, recharge - ampify, GemPages - Shopney

Import from: Yotpo, Smile.io, Judge.me, Loox, Vitals, Stamped.io, Ali reviews, Okendo.

Growave is an all-in-one marketing platform that helps Shopify brands to reach, engage and convert their audience. One of the strongest points of the app is that it comes with a great variety of tools, such as Reviews, Wishlists, Rewards and Loyalty, Instagram galleries, and Social login, all while staying on the affordable side of the spectrum. If you would like to scale-up your loyal customer base, then Growave is exactly what you are looking for! Such multi-functionality of the app makes it the ultimate platform for online store conversions and sales, with it being as much as 6 times more cost-effective than any of the alternatives on the market. 

Main features and benefits:

• Analytics - you can see engagement metrics, the most wanted items, customers' wishlists, and export data in CSV file
• Fully customizable - perfectly fits your custom theme and can be further customized easily
• Growave has 5 features - Reviews, Wishlists, Rewards and Loyalty, Instagram galleries, and Social login, that you’re looking for in different apps are in one app, under one dashboard, saving your company's money and time

03. Rise.ai

Price: Starter plan starts at $19.99/month 

Free Trial: 7-day free trial

Average Shopify Rating (out of 5 stars): 4.9 (737 reviews)

Integrates with: Yotpo, Klaviyo, Recharge, loox, Bold cashier, Pushowl

Rise is another great app for small businesses. It lets you establish an intuitive customer loyalty program using automated store credit rewards and attract a strong base of loyal customers who will spread word-of-mouth and act as brand ambassadors. Your customers will be able to send branded Gift Cards directly to recipients, using the Gift Card gallery & customization options.

Main features and benefits:

• Lets you build an enhanced Gift Card and Store Credit program on every Shopify plan.
• Free Re-platforming/Migration - you can migrate your gift cards, store credit and loyalty points for free
• Multi-channel capability allows you to offer Gift Cards usable across multiple stores (Online, Shopify POS / Point of Sale)

04. Referral Candy

Price: Premium plan starts at $49/month 

Free Trial: 30-day free trial

Average Shopify Rating (out of 5 stars): 4.8 (1,367 reviews)

Integrates with: Paywhirl, ReCharge, s-loyalty, bold, Mailchimp, Klaviyo

Over 30,000 Shopify brands are using Refferal Candy app. It’s a referral app for fast-growing Shopify and Shopify plus brands, and works for small businesses. Merchants can use ReferralCandy to set up a referral program that brings in new customers, creates social proof, and increases customer retention.

Main features and benefits:

• You can customize Reward Options Choose from cash rewards, store discounts or custom gifts
• One-Click Integrations Connects easily to eCommerce and marketing platforms
• Data and Dashboards See analytics and insights like industry benchmarks and top referrers

05. Yotpo

Price: Free plan available. Silver plan starts at $29/month 

Free Trial: n/a

Average Shopify Rating (out of 5 stars): 4.7 (2,172 reviews)

Integrates with: Yotpo, Klaviyo, ReCharge, Gorgias, SMSbump

Yotpo helps businesses to maximize lifetime value as merchants can build customized, on-brand loyalty programs to incentivize repeat purchases, referrals, social engagement, and more. These features will help you to engage existing customers and reach new ones.  

Main features and benefits:

• Let you increase Lifetime Value by rewarding loyal customers with points for valuable actions - purchases, sign-ups, birthdays, reviews, referrals, social media share, and more
• You are able to incentivize repeat purchase with diverse points’ redemption options such as coupons, discounts, free shipping, free products, and more
• You can build a customized Referral Program - offer points and discounts to encourage customers to spread the word.

See the difference between Growave and Yotpo

06. LoyaltyLion

Price: Free plan available. Small business plan starts at $159/month 

Free Trial: n/a

Average Shopify Rating (out of 5 stars): 4.6 (358 reviews)

Integrates with: ReCharge, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, stamped.io, Loox, zendesk

LoyaltyLion lets ecommerce businesses increase customer engagement and retention. You can add a custom loyalty and rewards program to your store in minutes with no technical expertise required. It will help you to encourage long term loyalty from your customers and increase your store’s revenue by awarding customers points which they can redeem for rewards at your store.

Main features and benefits:

• You can use points to incentivize reviews from happy customers
• You will be able to access your loyalty program’s customer insights and data
• Easy to customize match your brand with a widget or a fully-integrated page

07. Smile.io

Price: Free plan available. Starter plan starts at $49/month 

Free Trial: n/a

Average Shopify Rating (out of 5 stars): 4.7 (3,837 reviews)

Integrates with: Shopify POS, PushOwl, Loox, Judge.me, Privy, Omnisend

Smile.io helps you build an engaging and modern rewards program experience that seamlessly aligns with your existing brand so you can grow your business. It gives your customers access to exclusive perks, attractive discounts, and a fun way to engage with your brand every time they log in to your store. 

Main features and benefits:

• Customization takes minutes with our intuitive UI, with 0 coding skills required
• 24/7 email and online customer support available on paid plans
• Customers can redeem points for coupon codes or free gifts at checkout

See the difference between Growave and Smile

As you can see, a Loyalty app can help you connect with your customers and drive more sales with a minimum effort. You need to make sure you set up a program that fits best for your store, here are more tips on how to set up a rewards program. Regardless of which app you select, you will see the outcome almost right away. So make sure you make your customers feel valued and implement loyalty and rewards to your online store today and the great results won’t make you wait too long.

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Author’s bio:

Aida Kubatova is a Content Strategy Manager at Growave. She believes in the power of eCommerce and loves online shopping herself. Every day she creates useful content to help entrepreneurs around the world to learn more about the latest news and innovations from the world of Digital Marketing and eCommerce in order to grow their online business and, of course, sales.