This guide is for Shopify Plus brands moving a loyalty program from Rivo to Smile: why brands switch, what moves, a numbered migration plan, a timeline and what Smile's migration support includes. Rivo facts come from its Shopify App Store listing, its pricing page and its help center, read on November 2, 2026.
The short version: members keep their points and status, Rivo stays live until Smile is ready, and there is no contract term to wait out. Rivo bills month to month, so you cancel it once balances reconcile, not before.
TL;DR: Smile is our pick to replace Rivo for Shopify Plus brands: it is Built for Shopify, a Shopify Certified Technology Partner and SOC 2 Type II audited, Smile Plus includes 7,500 monthly orders, and Smile's team runs the migration. To switch from Rivo to Smile, export your customers from Rivo with their referral links, let Smile sync them from Shopify, import point balances, rebuild your ways to earn, rewards and tiers, and launch while Rivo stays live. On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, a white-glove migration carries members, point balances and VIP tiers over intact; on any plan, you can import points balances by CSV. Cancel Rivo last, after balances reconcile. More Shopify Plus brands run loyalty on Smile than on any other platform (Store Leads, October 2026).
Why Brands Switch from Rivo to Smile
Rivo is a well-rated platform: on the Shopify App Store since January 2021, rated 4.7 on its listing, with 24/7 human support from its $15 Essential plan and a founder's note that it ships product updates every week. Three documented differences come up when Shopify Plus brands compare the two:
- Shopify's certifications. On November 2, 2026, Smile's Shopify App Store listing shows the Built for Shopify badge and a 2026 Build Award winner badge, and Smile is in Shopify's technology partner directory, whose partners must run an annual independent penetration test, answer critical support requests within 30 minutes and offer 24/7 support worldwide. Rivo's listing shows neither badge, though its blog said in July 2026 that it carried Built for Shopify, and Rivo is not in the directory.
- Order volume. Rivo Plus is $499 a month for up to 2,500 orders; above that, its listing asks for a custom quote. Smile Plus is $999 a month, billed annually, with 7,500 monthly orders, then $5 per 100. Price your own peak month in Smile's pricing calculator.
- Who runs the launch. Rivo's pricing page offers migration help from its Plus plan and keeps white-glove onboarding, where its team builds, designs and implements the program, for its Custom plan, priced by quote. Smile Plus includes a white-glove migration and launch plan run by Smile's team, named launch support through your first 90 days and quarterly program monitoring.
Where Rivo is strong: billing and breadth. Every Rivo plan bills month to month, its Scale plan is capped at $499 a month regardless of volume, and Rivo also sells cashback, customer accounts, paid memberships and wallet passes. Its Developer Toolkit suits developer-led teams; Smile Plus offers the same building blocks, a REST API with OAuth and webhooks plus a JavaScript SDK, beside no-code tools your marketing team runs. For the full head-to-head, read Smile vs Rivo; for every option on the table, see the best Rivo alternatives.
Rivo vs Smile: Feature Comparison
| Smile | Rivo | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for Shopify badge on its listing | ||
| In Shopify's technology partner directory | ||
| SOC 2 | Type II, audited May 2026 | Type II compliant, per its pricing page |
| Plans (November 2, 2026) | Growth $199 a month with 2,500 orders; Smile Plus $999 a month, billed annually, with 7,500 | Scale from $49 a month, capped at $499; Plus $499 for up to 2,500 orders; Custom by quote |
| Billing | Monthly on Growth; annual on Smile Plus | Month to month on every plan |
| VIP tiers | Growth, Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise | From Scale |
| Shopify POS | Every plan, one balance online and in store | Three locations on Scale, unlimited on Plus |
| Redeem points at checkout | Shopify Plus stores, from Growth | Checkout extensions on Plus |
| Klaviyo | Five profile properties, eight loyalty events and eight pre-built flows, every paid plan | Basic on Scale; advanced, with all events, on Plus |
| Developer tools | REST API with OAuth and webhooks and a JavaScript SDK, from Smile Plus | Rivo Developer Toolkit (Rivo JS, REST API, metafields, webhooks), on Plus |
| Migration and launch | White-glove migration, a launch plan and quarterly program monitoring, from Smile Plus | Migration help from Plus; white-glove onboarding on Custom |
Badges and plans from each Shopify App Store listing and pricing page; the directory is Shopify's technology partner directory; other Rivo rows from its pricing page. All read November 2, 2026.
What Moves from Rivo to Smile
Smile's published migration scope covers members, point balances and VIP tiers, plus your ways to earn and rewards rebuilt to match. On Rivo's side, its help center points to the Export Customer Data file for moving point balances, and keeps a separate Points Logs export of every transaction.
| 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 Rivo's customer 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 how you will honor codes members claimed in Rivo before the final export | |
| Points history | Not listed. Keep Rivo's Points Logs export for your records and your support team |
Three details decide whether the numbers match at launch:
- 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.
- Keep the old referral links on file. Rivo's referral links carry a code on your own domain. Tick Referral Link on the export so your support team can match an old link to its advocate, then send each advocate their Smile link at launch.
- Check where the export lands. Rivo emails the file to your store email by default; change the recipient first if someone else runs the import.
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. Per its help center, Rivo tiers can qualify on points earned, amount spent, orders placed or products purchased, over a calendar year, a lifetime or a rolling year. Smile tiers use money spent or points earned, over a calendar year or a lifetime. Order, product or rolling Rivo tiers need a Smile threshold and window that keep the right members in each tier; see our guide to tiered loyalty programs.
- Shopify tags and segments. On Shopify Plus stores, Rivo can tag each customer with their tier, in the form "Rivo VIP Tier: Gold", and its help center builds customer segments and automatic discounts, such as VIP free shipping, on those tags. Smile syncs tier status to Shopify customer metafields, so segments and Shopify Flow can use it. Rebuild every tag-based segment, discount and Flow workflow on Smile's tier before launch.
- Klaviyo. Rivo writes its own properties to Klaviyo profiles, such as Rivo Points Balance, Rivo VIP Tier Name and Rivo Referral URL, per its help center. 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 Rivo property needs its Smile equivalent before launch.
- Theme, checkout and other Rivo products. Rivo syncs values such as points_balance to Shopify customer metafields for themes to read. Replace every theme snippet, account page block and checkout block that shows Rivo data. Smile's migration covers the loyalty program, so plan Rivo Accounts, Memberships or Cashback separately.
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.
- Pick the launch window. Avoid Black Friday, Cyber Monday and major product drops, and note where Rivo's 30-day billing cycle falls.
- Kick off. On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, a migration specialist audits your Rivo 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. Rivo stays live.
- Map and freeze. Map ways to earn, rewards, tier rules, Shopify tags and Klaviyo properties, then stop changing the Rivo program.
- Rebuild and test. Your loyalty page, emails and launcher are styled to your brand and tested end to end before anything goes live.
- Tell members. Email them that their points and status are moving, and when.
- Settle unused rewards, then export. Decide on claimed but unused reward codes, run Export Customer Data with referral links, and download the Points Logs export for your records.
- 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, and send advocates their new referral links.
- Cancel Rivo last. Rivo's pricing FAQ says you can cancel at any time from its dashboard. Do it after balances reconcile, then uninstall Rivo and clear any Rivo tags you no longer use.
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, from LoyaltyLion, took one week. The order of events is fixed:
| When | What happens | Who leads |
|---|---|---|
| Before you set a date | Note Rivo's 30-day billing cycle; 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 Rivo still live | Customer sync, program rebuild, Klaviyo, segment and theme updates, end-to-end testing | Smile, with your approval |
| Just before launch | Member email, unused rewards settled, final Rivo 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 kept; Rivo canceled and uninstalled | You |
| 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 November 2, 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
- Security review support, with a SOC 2 Type II report, a penetration test summary and a Data Processing Agreement in Smile's Trust Center
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
Smile pairs tools your marketing 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 and published in one click, 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.
- Built to build on. Smile Plus adds the REST API and a JavaScript SDK, validated on Shopify Hydrogen, for headless storefronts. See Smile for enterprise.
Customer proof: Applied Nutrition, a Shopify Plus sports nutrition brand, upgraded to Smile Plus as order volume scaled, and its members are worth 215% more in lifetime value than non-members. Blue Banana, a Shopify Plus streetwear brand with 20+ retail stores across Spain, moved to Smile from LoyaltyLion in one week, and member LTV was up 10% within its first 30 days. 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 Rivo to Smile? Export your customers from Rivo with their referral links, 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, rewards and tiers, test, then launch while Rivo stays live. Cancel Rivo only after balances reconcile.
Will customers lose their Rivo points when we switch to Smile? No. Balances come from Rivo's customer export and are imported into Smile, which matches each member to their Shopify customer record. Settle claimed but unused rewards before the final export.
How long does a Rivo migration take? It depends on your program and your stack. Your launch team maps the timeline up front, against your rewards, tiers and launch date, and Rivo stays live throughout, so there is never a gap where customers cannot earn. Blue Banana's full move, from LoyaltyLion, took one week across its online store and 20+ retail locations.
Can we keep our Rivo 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 Rivo tiers based on orders, products or a rolling year need a mapping first. VIP tiers start on Smile's Growth plan.
Do Rivo 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.
Do we need to give notice to leave Rivo? Rivo's pricing FAQ says you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time from the Rivo dashboard, on month to month billing. That puts the cutover on your schedule: keep Rivo running until Smile is live and balances reconcile, then cancel and uninstall it.
Is Smile better than Rivo for Shopify Plus brands? Smile is our pick for Shopify Plus brands: as of November 2, 2026 it holds both of Shopify's certifications and Rivo holds neither, Smile Plus includes 7,500 monthly orders against 2,500 on Rivo Plus, and Smile's team runs the migration and launch. Rivo suits developer-led teams that want month to month billing and loyalty, cashback and memberships from one vendor.
