An ecommerce loyalty program needs 15 KPIs in three groups: program health (is the program working as designed), customer value (does it change what customers do) and cost and return (what that change earns, and what it costs). Loyalty leaders already measure by outcome: in EY's 2025 Loyalty Market Study, the key performance criteria they named most often were program retention (50%), overall sales growth (48%) and customer lifetime value (41%).
This page is the list, for Shopify Plus and enterprise teams who run or report on a loyalty program: what each KPI tells you, its formula, a benchmark where a credible dated source publishes one, and where to see it. To turn these numbers into a return on investment, see our guide to measuring loyalty program ROI.
TL;DR: Smile is our pick for Shopify Plus brands that want to track loyalty program KPIs, because its analytics inside Shopify admin report loyalty-driven revenue, members against non-members and four engagement rates benchmarked against similar stores, from the Growth plan. Track five program health KPIs (membership, active member, order earning, redemption and reward usage rates), five customer value KPIs (repeat purchase rate, purchase frequency, average order value, customer lifetime value and member churn) and five cost and return KPIs (loyalty-driven revenue, share of sales from members, reward cost, breakage and points liability, and ROI). More Shopify Plus brands run loyalty on Smile than on any other platform (Store Leads, October 2026).
The 15 Loyalty Program KPIs at a Glance
Benchmarks appear only where a credible, dated source publishes one. Elsewhere, compare with your own baseline or with stores like yours. EY's figures are the ranges brands most often reported in its 2025 survey of 397 loyalty leaders at companies with $100 million to more than $5 billion in annual revenue. More sourced figures are in our loyalty program statistics.
| Goal | KPI | What it tells you | Formula | Benchmark | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program health | Membership rate | Whether buyers join | Customers who ordered in the last 30 days who are members ÷ all who ordered (Smile's definition) | Share of customers enrolled: most often 41% to 60% (EY, 2025) | Smile benchmarks, from Growth |
| Program health | Active member rate | Whether members keep using the program | Members who earned or redeemed in the period ÷ all members | Most often 61% to 80% (EY, 2025) | Smile points activity export, then your calculation |
| Program health | Order earning rate | Whether the program reaches every order | Orders that earned points ÷ all orders, last 30 days | Against similar stores on Smile | Smile benchmarks, from Growth |
| Program health | Redemption rate | Whether customers value the rewards | Points redeemed ÷ points earned, last 30 days (Smile's definition) | Reward redemption: most often 41% to 60%, as each brand defines it (EY, 2025) | Smile points activity and benchmarks |
| Program health | Reward usage rate | Whether redeemed rewards become orders | Redeemed rewards used on an order ÷ rewards redeemed | Against similar stores on Smile | Smile benchmarks, from Growth |
| Customer value | Repeat purchase rate | Whether customers come back | Customers with 2+ orders ÷ customers who ordered, same period | Your own trend by first-order month | Shopify customer reports |
| Customer value | Purchase frequency, members vs non-members | Whether members buy more often | Orders ÷ customers, last 12 months, for each group | Your own baseline | Smile customer segments |
| Customer value | Average order value, redeemers vs non-redeemers | Whether rewards lift the basket | Sales ÷ orders, for each group | Redeemers spend 31% more per order across Smile's platform (Smile data, February 2026) | Smile customer segments |
| Customer value | Customer lifetime value, members vs non-members | What a member is worth over time | AOV × purchase frequency × customer lifespan × gross margin | Your own baseline | Smile business growth and customer segments |
| Customer value | Annual member churn | Whether members lapse | Members with no order in 12 months ÷ members at the start | Most often 6% to 15% (EY, 2025) | Shopify cohort analysis; Klaviyo churn risk |
| Cost and return | Loyalty-driven revenue | The program's direct sales | Sales where a loyalty reward was used | Your own trend, month by month | Smile business growth |
| Cost and return | Share of sales from members | How much revenue runs through the program | Member sales ÷ total sales | Most often 26% to 50% (EY, 2025) | Smile customer segments with Shopify sales |
| Cost and return | Reward cost | What rewards cost you | Loyalty discounts used on orders, plus the product cost of free products | Your own baseline, as a share of member sales | Smile points accounting |
| Cost and return | Breakage and points liability | What goes unredeemed, and what you owe | Points never redeemed ÷ points issued; outstanding points × value per point | Breakage: most often 31% to 40% (EY, 2025) | Smile points accounting; financial reports from Smile Plus |
| Cost and return | Incremental revenue and ROI | What the program caused, net of cost | (Incremental gross profit minus program cost) ÷ program cost | Average annual ROI: most often 10% to 20% (EY, 2025) | Our ROI guide |
Two definitions differ from EY's. Smile's membership rate counts recent buyers who are members; EY's counts all customers enrolled. Smile's redemption rate is points based over 30 days; EY's is each brand's own.
Program Health KPIs
Program health KPIs answer one question: is the program working as designed? Read them monthly. Smile's loyalty benchmarks set four of them beside merchants of similar size and industry on Smile: membership, order earning, redemption and reward usage rates. They sit in the analytics dashboard inside Shopify admin, from the Growth plan.
- Membership rate. A low rate usually means buyers do not see the program or its value. Promote it across the store, the thank you page and your emails.
- Active member rate. Enrollment counts sign-ups; activity counts members who still earn or redeem. Smile's points activity export lists the points each customer earned, redeemed or had adjusted, so you can count active members for any window.
- Order earning rate. Smile rewards every order by default. If the rate is low, customers may not know how to join, or guest earning may be off.
- Redemption rate. A low rate suggests rewards that do not appeal or customers who need reminders. Try new reward types, adjust point values, or remind members what their balance buys.
- Reward usage rate. A low rate means customers redeem and then do not order, often because of friction at checkout. Redemption at checkout, on Smile from Growth, puts the reward where the order happens.
A rate means little without context. At Applied Nutrition, a Shopify Plus sports nutrition brand, the redemption rate of 19% sits above the Smile benchmark for comparable merchants, and 94% of orders earn points. Burbank Sportscards, a Shopify Plus collectibles retailer, runs a 70% redemption rate, 93% reward usage, a 67% order earning rate and a 62% membership rate. A single industry target would misjudge one of them; stores like yours are the fair comparison.
Customer Value KPIs
Customer value KPIs show whether the program changes what customers do. Compare members with non-members, and redeemers with non-redeemers, over the same 12 months. Smile's customer segments report total customers, average annual spend, annual purchase frequency and average order value for each group, for customers who ordered in the last 12 months. Its business growth view adds member lifetime value and member purchase frequency.
Two KPIs in this group come from your store data rather than from Smile:
- Repeat purchase rate. Shopify's Returning customers and New vs returning customers reports give the counts. Track it by first-order month so a holiday cohort does not flatter the trend; our guide to increasing repeat purchase rate covers the second-purchase window.
- Member churn. Shopify's customer cohort analysis report groups customers by first order date and shows a customer retention rate for each cohort. In Klaviyo, predictive analytics adds a churn risk prediction and predicted CLV to each profile (for accounts that meet its data requirements), and Smile syncs Smile State (member, candidate or disabled) to the same profile, so one segment can split churn risk by membership.
At Applied Nutrition, members are worth 215% more in lifetime value than non-members and buy 76% more often, and redeemers spend 449% more each year than customers who never redeem. Treat gaps like these as a description of engaged customers, not proof of cause: members self-select. A matched comparison, set out in our ROI guide, isolates what the program caused. To raise the number, see how to use loyalty to improve customer lifetime value.
Cost and Return KPIs
These are the numbers finance reads.
Loyalty-driven revenue is the sales where a loyalty reward was used. Smile counts every sale where a Smile discount was used: points redemptions, referral rewards and VIP perks. Smile's customer stories also call it Smile-Generated Value. Watch the trend after each change to rewards or tiers: at Fiesta Tableware, Smile-influenced orders are up an average of 32% month over month since the Plate Pal Perks launch. It is the program's direct contribution, not its incremental return.
Reward cost, breakage and points liability belong together. Smile's points accounting reports the value of outstanding, unredeemed points, the discounts issued and the discounts used on orders, and points expiry keeps the balance in check. Smile Plus adds financial reports, and Smile Enterprise adds custom reports and data warehouse sync. Agree the treatment of unredeemed points with finance before you report them.
Incremental revenue and ROI close the group. Software is part of the cost: price Smile at your order volume with the pricing calculator, and see what a loyalty program costs for rewards and team time. The method, a worked example and the finance questions are in our ROI guide.
Referral and VIP Program KPIs
If your program runs referrals or VIP tiers, add these to the core 15.
| Program | KPI | Formula | Where to see it in Smile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals | Referral share rate | Orders placed by referred customers ÷ all orders | Referral performance |
| Referrals | Referral conversion rate | Referrals completed ÷ clicks on referral links | Referral performance |
| Referrals | Revenue from referred customers | Sales from referred customers, including their later orders | Referral performance |
| VIP tiers | Tier mix | Customers in each tier ÷ all members | VIP insights, from Growth |
| VIP tiers | Spend by tier | Average annual spend per customer in each tier, against the base tier | VIP insights, from Growth |
| VIP tiers | Tier progression | Members who moved up a tier ÷ members in the lower tier | VIP tier changes export, then your calculation |
At Great Garden Plants, a Shopify Plus online nursery, Gold tier customers spend 1,411% more than the base tier. For tier design, see tiered loyalty programs; for referral basics, see what a referral program is.
Which Loyalty KPIs to Report to Leadership
Report five numbers to leadership, each with its definition and trend:
- Incremental revenue and ROI, quarterly. The number that defends the budget.
- Loyalty-driven revenue and share of sales from members, monthly. How much of the business runs through the program.
- Member value against non-members, quarterly: annual spend, purchase frequency and lifetime value.
- Program health against similar stores, monthly: the four benchmarked rates, each marked above or below the benchmark.
- Reward cost and points liability, quarterly, with breakage reviewed with finance once a year.
Lead with outcomes, not sign-ups: in EY's 2025 study, loyalty leaders named retention, sales growth and lifetime value as key criteria more often than overall enrollment (40%), customer engagement (39%) or ROI (36%).
| Cadence | KPIs to review | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | The five program health rates, loyalty-driven revenue | Which reward, reminder or earning rule to change next |
| Quarterly | Member value against non-members, incremental revenue and ROI, reward cost | Budget and program design |
| Annually | Breakage and points liability, the full 15 against last year | Finance and audit sign-off, next year's targets |
On Smile Plus, quarterly program monitoring is included.
Common Mistakes When Tracking Loyalty KPIs
- Reporting enrollment as success. A member who never earns or redeems changes nothing. Report active members and the value gap.
- Calling loyalty-driven revenue the return. It includes orders members would have placed anyway. Use incremental revenue for ROI.
- Mixing definitions. A 30-day points redemption rate and a survey's reward redemption rate are different measures.
- Sending leadership all 15. Give the five-line scorecard and keep the rest for the team that runs the program.
Where Smile Stands Out for Tracking Loyalty KPIs
- Every core KPI inside Shopify admin. Six analytics dashboards cover loyalty revenue, ROI and program health, with 25 pre-built reports on Growth and 30+ on Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise.
- Context for every rate. Loyalty benchmarks compare membership, order earning, redemption and reward usage rates with merchants of similar size and industry, from Growth.
- The comparisons customer value starts from. Members against non-members, redeemers against non-redeemers and spend by VIP tier, with every report and record exportable.
- Reporting finance can audit. Points accounting, financial reports from Smile Plus, and custom reports with data warehouse sync on Smile Enterprise. See Smile for enterprise.
- Loyalty data where you segment. Smile's Klaviyo integration syncs five profile properties and eight loyalty events to every profile.
Blue Banana, a Shopify Plus adventure streetwear brand, gained reporting with benchmarking when it moved its program from LoyaltyLion to Smile, and its member lifetime value was up 10% within the first 30 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
What KPIs should I track for an ecommerce loyalty program? Track 15 KPIs in three groups. Program health: membership, active member, order earning, redemption and reward usage rates. Customer value: repeat purchase rate, purchase frequency, average order value, customer lifetime value and member churn. Cost and return: loyalty-driven revenue, share of sales from members, reward cost, breakage and points liability, and ROI. Add referral and VIP tier metrics if you run those programs.
What is the most important loyalty program KPI? Incremental revenue, because it is the sales the program caused and the input to ROI. Day to day, the redemption rate is the clearest health signal: customers who redeem are using the program.
How do I measure the ROI of a loyalty program? Compare members with matched non-members to find incremental revenue, turn it into gross profit, subtract the full program cost (rewards redeemed, software and team time) and divide by that cost. Our guide to measuring loyalty program ROI walks through each step with a worked example.
What is a good redemption rate for a loyalty program? The reward redemption rate brands most often report is 41% to 60% (EY, 2025), as each brand defines it. Rates vary widely by category and definition: Applied Nutrition's 19% sits above the Smile benchmark for comparable merchants, while Burbank Sportscards runs 70%. Compare yours with stores of similar size and industry.
What is a good loyalty program enrollment rate? The share of customers enrolled that brands most often report is 41% to 60% (EY, 2025). On Smile, the membership rate counts customers who ordered in the last 30 days who are members; Burbank Sportscards, which enrolls customers automatically when they pay at the till, runs 62%.
How often should you review loyalty program KPIs? Review program health rates and loyalty-driven revenue monthly, member value and ROI quarterly, and breakage and points liability with finance once a year.
Which loyalty KPIs does Smile report? As of November 2026, Smile reports loyalty-driven revenue, member lifetime value and purchase frequency, members against non-members, redeemers against non-redeemers, points activity, referral performance, VIP insights and points accounting. Benchmarks for membership, order earning, redemption and reward usage rates start on Growth; Smile Plus adds financial reports, and Smile Enterprise custom reports and data warehouse sync.
