Moving a loyalty program is a data project your best customers can see. Done well, every member keeps their points and VIP status, earning never stops, and the one change they notice is where they find their rewards. Blue Banana, a Shopify Plus streetwear brand, moved its program from LoyaltyLion to Smile in one week, online and across 20+ retail locations, and member lifetime value was up 10% within its first 30 days.
This guide is for Shopify Plus and enterprise teams changing loyalty platforms from any provider. Smile facts come from smile.io and Smile's Help Center, read on November 2, 2026.
TL;DR: Smile is our pick for Shopify Plus brands changing loyalty platforms, because on Smile Plus its own team runs a white-glove migration that carries members, point balances and VIP tiers over intact while the old program stays live. To migrate a loyalty program, decide what moves, clean and export the data, map earning rules, rewards and tiers, rebuild Klaviyo, Shopify POS and checkout, tell members, then import final balances at cutover and cancel the old platform only after they reconcile. More Shopify Plus brands run loyalty on Smile than on any other platform (Store Leads, October 2026).
What Moves When You Migrate a Loyalty Program
Some data moves as is, some is rebuilt, and some needs a decision before the final export. Smile's published migration scope covers members, point balances and VIP tiers, with your ways to earn and rewards rebuilt to match.
| What | Moves to Smile | How to handle it |
|---|---|---|
| Members | Synced from Shopify and matched to each Shopify customer record, so customers set up nothing | |
| Point balances | Imported from the old platform's export, down to the last point | |
| VIP tiers and status | Mapped across on a white-glove migration, or imported by CSV, so top customers keep their standing | |
| VIP qualifying history | Plan it | Keep each member's progress toward the next tier from the final export (Step 2) |
| Ways to earn, rewards and redemption options | Rebuilt in Smile to match your program | |
| Referral links | Not in the published scope. Each Smile member gets a unique link, so send advocates theirs at launch | |
| Claimed but unused rewards | Not in the published scope. Honor the codes or refund them to points before the final export | |
| Store credit | Stays in Shopify | Shopify store credit sits on the customer's Shopify profile; credit held in an app's own ledger needs converting first |
| Points and reward history | Keep the old platform's exports for finance and support |
Shopify store credit is spent online, at Shopify POS and in Shop (Shopify Help Center, November 2, 2026), and Smile's loyalty landing page shows signed-in members their store credit beside their points.
Step 1: Audit Your Program and Export the Data
Export twice: a working file now, to map and test against, and a final file at cutover. Download every export your current platform offers: members with balances and tiers, referral links, points transactions and reward history. Some platforms only allow exports on an active subscription, so treat the cancellation date as your export deadline.
Then clean the data:
- One email per member. Smile's points import matches customers by email. Rows that match no customer are skipped, and customers without an email cannot be updated by CSV, so add emails to in-store sign-ups first or adjust their balances by hand after.
- A clean file. The import takes two columns, email and points, with points written without commas. Smile's Help Center says Mac Numbers does not export these files correctly.
- Duplicates and test accounts. Resolve duplicate customer records in Shopify and remove staff and test accounts, so each balance lands once.
- Approved or pending. If points sit as pending until a return window closes, decide whether they move at cutover or are credited as they clear.
- Totals to sign off against. Record the member count, total outstanding points and members per tier. They are your reconciliation check, and finance's points liability.
Pull a 12-month baseline of member spend too, so you can measure the program's ROI after the move.
Step 2: Map Earning Rules, Rewards and VIP Tiers
A migration is a rebuild, not a copy. Map each part of the old program to its place in Smile, then freeze changes in the old platform: what you map is what you import.
- Keep the point value. If 100 points are worth $1 today, keep that value at launch. If it must change, convert every balance so its dollar value stays the same, and say so in the announcement.
- Ways to earn and rewards. Rebuild each one; drop campaigns nobody used.
- Tier rules. Smile tiers qualify on money spent or points earned, over a calendar year or a customer's lifetime. Tiers built on orders placed, products bought or a rolling window need a Smile threshold and window that keep the right members in each tier; see our guide to tiered loyalty programs.
- Qualifying history. Status is what moves; progress needs a rule, so keep each member's spend or points in the current window from the final export. Per Smile's Help Center, a VIP tier import by CSV places members in their tiers with no entry rewards or tier emails, and tier names must match exactly. A points import that lifts a member's total points earned into a new tier does issue that tier's entry reward and any enabled tier emails, so model who crosses a threshold before you run it.
- Points expiry. If you plan to turn on points expiry in Smile, announce it after launch, separately from the move.
Step 3: Plan the Cutover So Members Never Lose Points
One rule protects every point: the old program stays live until Smile is ready, and the old platform is canceled last. On a white-glove migration on Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, there is never a gap where customers cannot earn.
- Pick the window. Avoid Black Friday, Cyber Monday and product drops, and check your contract's renewal and notice dates.
- Install Smile first. Smile syncs your customers from Shopify after installation. Import points only after the sync, so they land on the right accounts.
- Test on a small file. Smile's Help Center says CSV imports are not reversible, so import a few staff accounts first.
- Freeze, settle, export. Stop program changes, settle unused rewards, and run the final export as close to go-live as you can.
- Import final balances. Smile's import can add points to existing balances or reset balances to the values in the file; resetting to the final export sets each member to exactly what they held. Then credit points from orders placed between the export and go-live.
- Go live and reconcile. Check member count, total points and members per tier against the export, plus a sample of top-tier members.
- Cancel the old platform last. Save the remaining exports, uninstall the app, and remove leftover theme code, app blocks and old customer tags.
On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, Smile's launch team runs the Smile side of these steps. For the launch itself, see how to launch a loyalty program on Shopify Plus.
Step 4: Reconnect Klaviyo, Shopify POS and Checkout
Integrations break quietly, so rebuild each one before launch and test it with a real member.
- Klaviyo. Smile matches customers to Klaviyo profiles by email and writes five properties (Smile Points Balance, Smile Referral URL, Smile VIP Tier Name, Smile VIP Tier ID and Smile State) plus eight loyalty events. Repoint every flow, segment and template at Smile's properties, or start from Smile's eight pre-built flows, and turn off any Smile email a Klaviyo flow replaces. See loyalty apps that integrate with Klaviyo.
- Shopify POS. Remove the old app's tile and add the Smile tile to each location's smart grid. Smile supports Shopify POS on every plan, with one balance in store and online. Brief store staff before launch day.
- Checkout and customer accounts. On Shopify Plus, swap old checkout blocks for Smile's redeem points block in Shopify's checkout editor, and old account widgets for Loyalty Hub in Shopify customer accounts, both from Growth.
- Segments and Shopify Flow. Smile syncs VIP tiers to Shopify customer metafields, so rebuild segments, discounts and Flow workflows that read the old app's tags.
Step 5: Tell Members and Brief Your Team
Smile's imports send members no email, apart from tier emails when a points import moves someone up a tier, so the announcement is yours to send. Keep it short: same points, same status, new home.
- Before launch. Their points and status are moving, when, and there is nothing they need to do.
- At launch. Where rewards live now: the loyalty landing page and Loyalty Hub in their Shopify customer account. Send advocates a separate note with their new referral link.
- Your support team. The launch date, the member email and the old export. Smile's loyalty block on Shopify customer pages shows each customer's balance, referral link and VIP tier, and lets staff adjust points without leaving Shopify.
Loyalty Program Migration Checklist
| # | Checklist item | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Launch window | Contract dates and peak sales on one calendar |
| 2 | Full exports | Members, balances, tiers, referral links, transactions and rewards saved |
| 3 | Clean data | One email per member; duplicates and test accounts resolved |
| 4 | Program map | Point value, ways to earn, rewards and tier rules signed off and frozen |
| 5 | Smile installed | Customers synced from Shopify; a test import checked |
| 6 | Integrations | Klaviyo, Shopify POS, checkout, segments and Flow tested |
| 7 | Communication | Member announcement sent; support team briefed |
| 8 | Final import | Unused rewards settled; final balances imported; the gap credited |
| 9 | Reconciliation | Members, total points and tier counts match the export |
| 10 | Old platform retired | Last exports saved; app, theme code and old tags removed |
Loyalty Program Migration Timeline
Smile does not publish a standard timeline: your launch team maps it up front, against your rewards, tiers and launch date. Blue Banana's took one week. The order of events is fixed ("Who leads" as on Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise):
| Phase | What happens | Who leads | What members see |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before you set a date | Contract and calendar check | You | No change |
| Kickoff | Program audit and a switch plan for your rewards, tiers and timeline | Smile, with your loyalty owner | No change |
| Build, old program live | Customer sync, rebuild, integrations, end-to-end testing | Smile, with your approval | They keep earning as before |
| Final days | Member email, unused rewards settled, final export | You | The announcement |
| Launch day | Balances and VIP status imported; Smile goes live | Smile and you | Same balance and tier, new rewards page |
| First 90 days | Named launch support, check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days | Smile | A program tuned on early results |
| After balances reconcile | Old platform canceled and uninstalled | You | No change |
| Every quarter | Program reviews grounded in your data | Smile | A program that keeps improving |
Common Loyalty Migration Mistakes
- Canceling the old platform first. You lose the exports and the fallback.
- Changing the point value and the platform at once. Members read a smaller number as lost points.
- Forgetting what an import triggers. Tier entry rewards and VIP emails can go out when imported points cross a threshold.
Platform-Specific Switching Guides
For the exports, tier rules and billing details of a specific platform, see switching from Yotpo to Smile, switching from LoyaltyLion to Smile and switching from Rivo to Smile.
Real Loyalty Migrations to Smile
Blue Banana. On LoyaltyLion, the Spanish streetwear brand's program had become a top-five driver of support inquiries. Its move to Smile reached all 20+ POS retail locations with zero developer dependency, and redeemers now show 40% higher average annual purchase frequency than non-redeemers. Javier Millan, Loyalty Lead: "The migration took a week, and we were live everywhere, online and in all our stores."
ROKA. The performance eyewear and apparel brand ran its loyalty program on Yotpo for more than five years before moving to Smile, on a headless Shopify storefront. Its members show a 75% redemption rate and 31% higher purchase frequency than non-members. The ROKA team's advice: "Plan end-to-end with a headless integration and make sure that you have help at every step along the way."
Where Smile Stands Out for Loyalty Migrations
- A white-glove migration and launch plan, from Smile Plus. On Switch to Smile, a migration specialist audits your program and builds a switch plan; members, point balances and VIP tiers come over intact while the old program stays live.
- A team after launch. The Smile Plus success team adds named launch support through your first 90 days, quarterly program monitoring and priority support; see account management.
- Surfaces members find at launch. A loyalty landing page published in one click, Loyalty Hub in Shopify customer accounts in 20+ languages from Growth, and Shopify POS on every plan.
- Ready for enterprise review. SOC 2 Type II (audited May 2026), Built for Shopify and a Shopify Certified Technology Partner, with a REST API and JavaScript SDK on Smile Plus for headless builds; see Smile for enterprise.
Smile Plus is $999 a month, billed annually, with 7,500 monthly orders (smile.io/pricing, November 2, 2026); price yours with the pricing calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you migrate a loyalty program to a new platform? Inventory what moves, export and clean the data, map rules, rewards and tiers, rebuild integrations and tell members. Import final balances at cutover while the old program is still live, reconcile, then cancel the old platform. On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, Smile's team runs this as a white-glove migration.
Will customers lose their points if we switch loyalty programs? No, if balances are imported at cutover. Smile matches each member to their Shopify customer record and imports balances down to the last point. Credit orders placed between the final export and go-live.
How long does a loyalty program migration take? It depends on your program and your stack. Smile's launch team maps the timeline up front, against your rewards, tiers and launch date. Blue Banana's full migration took one week across its online store and 20+ retail locations.
Can VIP tiers move to a new loyalty platform? Yes. On a Smile white-glove migration, VIP tiers and status are mapped across so top customers keep their standing, and Smile can also import tiers by CSV. Smile tiers qualify on money spent or points earned, so tiers built on orders or a rolling window need a mapping first. VIP tiers start on Smile's Growth plan.
Do referral links carry over when you switch loyalty program providers? Plan on new links: referral links are not in Smile's published migration scope. Smile gives each member a unique referral link, synced to Klaviyo as Smile Referral URL, so send advocates theirs at launch.
What should a loyalty program migration checklist include? A launch window away from peak sales, full exports, clean data, a signed-off program map, a customer sync and test import, tested integrations, a member announcement, the final import, a reconciliation and the old platform retired last.
Which loyalty platform should a Shopify Plus brand migrate to? Smile is our pick for Shopify Plus brands: Smile Plus includes a white-glove migration and launch plan run by Smile's team, and Smile is Built for Shopify, a Shopify Certified Technology Partner and SOC 2 Type II audited. Compare the field in our guide to loyalty apps for Shopify Plus.
