This guide is for Shopify Plus brands moving a loyalty program from LoyaltyLion to Smile: why brands switch, what moves, a numbered migration plan, a timeline and what Smile's migration support includes. LoyaltyLion facts come from its Shopify App Store listing, pricing page, security page and help center, read on October 28, 2026.
The short version: members keep their points and status, LoyaltyLion stays live until Smile is ready, and the one hard deadline is yours: export everything you need from LoyaltyLion before you uninstall it.
TL;DR: Smile is our pick to replace LoyaltyLion for Shopify Plus brands: it is Built for Shopify, a Shopify Certified Technology Partner and SOC 2 Type II audited, and Smile Plus includes a migration run by Smile's team. To switch from LoyaltyLion to Smile, export your customers from LoyaltyLion, let Smile sync them from Shopify, import point balances, rebuild your ways to earn, rewards and tiers, and launch while LoyaltyLion stays live until Smile is ready. On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, Smile's team runs a white-glove migration that carries members, point balances and VIP tiers over intact; on any plan, you can import points balances by CSV. Retire LoyaltyLion last, after balances reconcile, because its exports need an active subscription. More Shopify Plus brands run loyalty on Smile than on any other platform (Store Leads, October 2026).
Why Brands Switch from LoyaltyLion to Smile
LoyaltyLion is an established platform: on the Shopify App Store since July 2014, rated 4.7 on its listing, and in Shopify's technology partner directory. Four documented differences come up when brands compare the two:
- Shopify's quality badge. On October 28, 2026, Smile's Shopify App Store listing shows the Built for Shopify badge and a 2026 Build Award winner badge. LoyaltyLion's listing shows neither. Both companies are in Shopify's technology partner directory.
- Where VIP tiers sit. LoyaltyLion's pricing page and help center include tiers on its Advanced and Plus plans, priced by quote, and offer them as a paid add-on on Classic; its listing names VIP loyalty tiers in Classic. Smile includes VIP tiers from Growth, $199 a month with 2,500 monthly orders.
- Cost as order volume grows. LoyaltyLion's pricing page prices Classic from $199 a month for 500 orders to $549 for 4,000, with a custom quote above that; its listing asks for a quote above 500 orders. Smile Plus is $999 a month, billed annually, with 7,500 monthly orders. Price your own peak month in Smile's pricing calculator.
- Who can change the program. LoyaltyLion's help center says its Theme Editor sets the loyalty page's layout, colors and buttons without code, and "anything beyond that your developers can build with CSS or our SDK components." Smile's loyalty landing page is built in a no-code editor and published to your storefront in one click.
Where LoyaltyLion is strong: service on its entry paid plan. Classic includes a loyalty page its team designs (valued at $1,500 on its listing), Klaviyo loyalty flows built for you and onboarding support. Advanced and Plus translate a program into 130+ languages, and Loyalty Pass, a wallet pass, is an add-on on Classic, Advanced and Plus. For the full head-to-head, read Smile vs LoyaltyLion; for every option on the table, see the best LoyaltyLion alternatives.
LoyaltyLion vs Smile: Feature Comparison
| Smile | LoyaltyLion | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for Shopify badge on its listing | ||
| In Shopify's technology partner directory | ||
| SOC 2 | Type II, audited May 2026 | Type I attestation, per its security page |
| Plans (October 28, 2026) | Growth $199 a month with 2,500 orders; Smile Plus $999 a month, billed annually, with 7,500 | Classic $199 a month for 500 orders to $549 for 4,000; Advanced and Plus by quote |
| VIP tiers | Growth, Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise | Advanced and Plus; a paid add-on on Classic, per its pricing page |
| Shopify POS | Every plan, one balance online and in store | One location on Classic, multiple from Advanced |
| Redeem points at checkout | Shopify Plus stores, from Growth | Shopify Plus stores, every plan |
| Loyalty page | Built in a no-code editor and published in one click, every paid plan | Built for you by its team from a standard template |
| Klaviyo | Five profile properties, eight loyalty events and eight pre-built flows, every paid plan | Flows built for you on Classic; Advanced Klaviyo Events on Plus |
| Program reviews after launch | Check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days, then every quarter (Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise) | Every six months on request (Classic, Advanced); quarterly on request (Plus) |
Badges and plans from each Shopify App Store listing and pricing page; other LoyaltyLion rows from its pricing page, help center and security page. All read October 28, 2026.
What Moves from LoyaltyLion to Smile
Smile's published migration scope covers members, point balances and VIP tiers, plus your ways to earn and rewards rebuilt to match. Per its help center, LoyaltyLion's Customers export holds each member's approved, pending and spent points, tier, referral URL, enrollment date and birthday.
| What | In Smile's published migration scope | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Members | Smile syncs customers from Shopify and matches each member to their Shopify customer record | |
| Point balances | Taken from LoyaltyLion's Customers export and imported into Smile, down to the last point | |
| VIP tiers and status | Mapped across on a white-glove migration, so top customers keep their standing | |
| Ways to earn, rewards and redemption options | Rebuilt in Smile to match your program | |
| Referral links | Not listed. Smile generates a new unique link for each member, so plan how advocates get theirs | |
| Claimed but unused rewards | Not listed. Decide whether to honor the codes or refund them to points before the final export | |
| Reward, referral and points history | Not listed. Keep LoyaltyLion's Rewards, Referrals and Points accounting exports for your records |
Three details decide whether the numbers match at launch:
- Approved or pending. LoyaltyLion separates approved points, which a member can spend now, from pending points, earned on purchases it has not yet approved. Agree with your launch team which count moves and when the final export runs.
- Your customers do nothing. Smile syncs customers from Shopify, so their store account is their Smile account. Smile's CSV import takes an email and a points value per customer, after the sync.
- Export while you can. LoyaltyLion's help center says exports need an active subscription, and downloads need multi-factor authentication on your own sign-in.
What to Plan For Before You Switch
A switch is a rebuild, not a copy, so a few settings need a decision before anything is imported:
- Tier rules. LoyaltyLion moves members up on amount spent, points earned or, with order-based tiers, orders placed, over a rolling window (12 months by default), a calendar year or a lifetime. Smile tiers use money spent or points earned, over a calendar year or a lifetime. Order-based or rolling tiers need a Smile threshold and window that keep the right members in each tier; see our guide to tiered loyalty programs.
- Klaviyo. LoyaltyLion writes its own properties to Klaviyo profiles, such as points_approved, loyalty_tier and referral_url, per its Klaviyo manual. Smile's Klaviyo integration writes five: Smile Points Balance, Smile Referral URL, Smile VIP Tier Name, Smile VIP Tier ID and Smile State, and sends eight loyalty events. Every flow, segment and template that reads a LoyaltyLion property needs its Smile equivalent before launch.
- What members use most. Blue Banana valued its old launcher and panel, which showed the program from anywhere on the site; its story says Smile delivered that with no custom code. Rebuild the surfaces your members rely on first.
- Your contract. LoyaltyLion's pricing FAQ refers to contractually agreed order thresholds, so check your order form's term and notice. Its help center says Shopify billing stops when you uninstall, but a card subscription must be canceled with LoyaltyLion.
Step-by-Step Migration Plan
On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, Smile's launch team runs the Smile side of these steps. On other plans, your team runs the import with Smile's Help Center.
- Check the contract and the calendar. Note your LoyaltyLion term and pick a launch window away from Black Friday, Cyber Monday and major product drops.
- Kick off. On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, a migration specialist audits your LoyaltyLion program and builds a switch plan mapped to your rewards, tiers and timeline.
- Install Smile. It syncs your customers from Shopify before any points are imported. LoyaltyLion stays live.
- Map and freeze. Map ways to earn, rewards, tier rules and Klaviyo properties, then stop changing the LoyaltyLion program: what you map is what you import.
- Rebuild and test. Your loyalty page, emails and launcher are styled to your brand and tested end to end before anything goes live, and Klaviyo flows move to Smile's properties.
- Tell members. Email them that their points and status are moving, and when.
- Settle unused rewards, then export. Decide on claimed but unused vouchers (LoyaltyLion's help center says refunding them turns them back into points), then run the Customers export.
- Import and go live. Members, point balances and VIP status are imported intact, and Smile launches on your schedule.
- Reconcile. Check a sample of members, including your top tier, against the export before your next campaign email.
- Retire LoyaltyLion last. Download every export you want to keep, then uninstall it from each store. Older installs may leave a LoyaltyLion line in theme.liquid; its help center shows how to remove it.
For the launch itself, see how to launch a loyalty program on Shopify Plus.
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 full migration took one week. The order of events is fixed:
| When | What happens | Who leads |
|---|---|---|
| Before you set a date | Read the LoyaltyLion order form; choose a launch window away from peak sales | You |
| Kickoff | Program audit and a switch plan mapped to your rewards, tiers and timeline | Smile, with your loyalty owner |
| Build, with LoyaltyLion still live | Customer sync, program rebuild, Klaviyo updates, end-to-end testing | Smile, with your approval |
| Just before launch | Member email, unused rewards settled, final Customers export | You |
| Launch day | Balances and VIP status imported; Smile goes live with no gap in earning | Smile and you |
| First 90 days | Named launch support, with check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days | Smile |
| After balances reconcile | Exports downloaded; LoyaltyLion uninstalled from every store | You |
| 14 days after Shopify's erasure request | LoyaltyLion erases customer data, per its help center | LoyaltyLion |
| Every quarter | Program reviews grounded in your data | Smile |
What Smile's Migration Support Includes
Support depends on the plan, as smile.io/pricing states it on October 28, 2026.
On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise:
- A white-glove migration and launch plan, with members, point balances and VIP tiers carried over intact by Smile's team
- The old program stays live until Smile is ready, so there is never a gap where customers cannot earn
- Named launch support through your first 90 days, with check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days
- Quarterly program monitoring and priority support
On every plan: a CSV import of points balances, plus live chat with a loyalty expert. See Switch to Smile for how the service runs.
Where Smile Stands Out for Shopify Plus Brands
LoyaltyLion answers the build question with setup by its team. Smile pairs tools your team owns after launch with a team for the launch itself:
- A loyalty page you publish yourself. The branded loyalty landing page is built in Smile's no-code editor on every paid plan, so a copy or design change waits on no one.
- Loyalty Hub in Shopify customer accounts. From Growth, Loyalty Hub shows members their points, rewards and VIP status inside the account they already use, in 20+ languages.
- Tiers and benchmarks from Growth, POS on every plan. VIP tiers, loyalty benchmarks against stores of similar size and industry, and Shopify POS with one balance online and in store.
- Ready for enterprise review. Smile Plus adds a REST API, a JavaScript SDK and security review support, with a SOC 2 Type II report audited May 2026. See Smile for enterprise.
Customer proof: Blue Banana, a Shopify Plus adventure streetwear brand with 20+ retail stores across Spain, moved from LoyaltyLion to Smile with zero developer dependency. Within its first 30 days on Smile, member LTV was up 10%, and redeemers show 40% higher average annual purchase frequency than non-redeemers. Javier Millan, Loyalty Lead: "We went from a platform that needed developers for every small change to one where our marketing team has full control. The migration took a week, and we were live everywhere, online and in all our stores."
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I switch from LoyaltyLion to Smile? Export your customers from LoyaltyLion, install Smile so it syncs them from Shopify, import point balances (and, on Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, VIP tiers and status), rebuild your ways to earn and rewards, test, then launch while LoyaltyLion stays live. Uninstall LoyaltyLion only after balances reconcile.
Will customers lose their LoyaltyLion points when we switch to Smile? No. Balances come from LoyaltyLion's Customers export and are imported into Smile, which matches each member to their Shopify customer record. Decide up front whether pending points move, and settle claimed but unused rewards before the final export.
Is there downtime when moving from LoyaltyLion to Smile? Not with a white-glove migration on Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise: LoyaltyLion stays live until Smile is ready, so there is never a gap where customers cannot earn. Timelines vary by program; Blue Banana's full migration took one week across its online store and 20+ retail locations.
Can we keep our LoyaltyLion VIP tiers on Smile? Yes. On a white-glove migration, VIP tiers and status are mapped across so top customers keep their standing. Smile tiers use money spent or points earned over a calendar year or a lifetime, so order-based or rolling LoyaltyLion tiers need a mapping first. VIP tiers start on Smile's Growth plan.
Do LoyaltyLion referral links carry over to Smile? Plan on new links. Referral links are not in Smile's published migration scope. Smile generates a unique referral link for each member and syncs it to Klaviyo as Smile Referral URL, so send advocates their new link at launch.
What happens to our Klaviyo flows when we leave LoyaltyLion? They were built on LoyaltyLion's Klaviyo properties, such as points_approved and loyalty_tier. Before launch, point every flow, segment and template at Smile's properties (Smile Points Balance, Smile VIP Tier Name, Smile Referral URL) or start from Smile's eight pre-built Klaviyo flows.
How should we tell customers we are switching loyalty programs? Tell members twice: before launch, that their points and status are moving and when; at launch, where to find rewards now, such as Loyalty Hub in their Shopify customer account (from Growth). LoyaltyLion's own guide to closing a program suggests on-site banners and email; with balances carried over, the message is simply same points, new home.
