This is a practical guide for Shopify Plus brands moving a loyalty program from Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals to Smile. It covers what moves, how to time the cutover around your sales calendar, how to keep every point honored, and what Smile's migration support includes. Facts about Yotpo come from Yotpo's own Help Center, blog, pricing page and Shopify App Store listing, read in October 2026.
The short version: your members never have to notice. Their Shopify customer account stays the same, their balance and tier come with them, and the Yotpo program keeps running until Smile is ready.
TL;DR: To switch from Yotpo to Smile, export your Yotpo customers, import members, point balances and VIP tiers into Smile, rebuild your ways to earn and rewards, and launch while Yotpo stays live until Smile is ready. On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, Smile's team runs a white-glove migration; on any plan, you can import points balances by CSV. Pick a launch window away from your peak sale periods and tell members their points are safe.
Why Brands Switch from Yotpo to Smile
Most switches start with one of four documented points:
- Product changes at Yotpo. Yotpo's Help Center said Yotpo Subscriptions would be discontinued on May 31, 2025, and its blog said on September 10, 2025 that Email and SMS would be fully deprecated on December 31, 2025. Loyalty & Referrals is still sold. Loyalty is Smile's entire focus.
- Shopify certification. On October 21, 2026, Smile's Shopify App Store listing carries the Built for Shopify badge and Yotpo Loyalty's does not. Both vendors are in Shopify's technology partner directory.
- Working inside Shopify. Smile's listing names Shopify Admin among the places it works; Yotpo Loyalty's does not.
- Cost at volume. Yotpo Pro is $199 a month plus $0.08 to $0.20 per order from 500 orders a month, per its listing. Smile Growth is $199 a month with 2,500 orders included.
For the full feature comparison, read Smile vs Yotpo, and for every option on the table, our guide to Yotpo Loyalty alternatives. This guide assumes you have decided and want the move to go well.
Yotpo and Smile at a Glance
| Yotpo Loyalty | Smile | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for Shopify badge on its listing | ||
| In Shopify's technology partner directory | ||
| 2026 Build Award winner badge on its listing | ||
| Shopify Admin named under Works with on its listing | ||
| Works with Checkout, Customer accounts, Shopify POS, Shopify Flow | ||
| Points import by CSV | ||
| Plans (October 21, 2026) | Pro $199 a month, then $0.08 to $0.20 per order from 500 orders | Growth $199 a month; Smile Plus $999 a month, billed annually |
What Moves from Yotpo to Smile
Smile's published migration scope covers members, point balances and VIP tiers, plus your program rebuilt to match. Plan everything else on purpose.
| What | In Smile's published migration scope | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Members | Smile syncs customers from Shopify, so each member is matched to their Shopify customer record | |
| Point balances | Exported from Yotpo 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. Each Smile member gets their own referral URL, so plan how advocates learn their new link | |
| Reward and redemption history | Not listed. Keep a Yotpo export for your records and your support team | |
| Yotpo Reviews | Stays in Yotpo | Connect it to Smile with Smile's Yotpo integration |
A few details matter:
- Your customers do nothing. Smile syncs your customers from Shopify, so their store account is their Smile account, and imported points land on the right profile.
- Tiers need a mapping. Smile tiers are earned by points earned or money spent, with unlimited tiers. Agree how each Yotpo tier's entry rule maps before status is imported. The VIP program starts on the Growth plan.
- Your Klaviyo flows need new fields. Smile syncs points balance, VIP tier and referral URL to Klaviyo profiles. Update any flow, segment or template that reads Yotpo's fields.
Rebuilding Your Program in Smile
Your program is rebuilt, not copied, so the switch is a chance to tidy it. Map each part of your Yotpo program to its place in Smile (plans as smile.io/pricing states them, October 21, 2026):
- Rewards page. A dedicated loyalty page on your storefront, and Loyalty Hub inside Shopify customer accounts from Growth, where members track points, claim rewards and see their tier.
- Checkout redemption. Members redeem points at checkout through Shopify checkout extensions, from Growth, with no checkout scripts to maintain.
- Stores. Shopify POS earning and redemption on every plan, so one balance follows each customer online and in store.
- Automations. Shopify Flow triggers from Essential, and bonus events such as 2x points weekends from Standard.
- Campaign emails. Send loyalty emails through Klaviyo, with points, tiers and referral links in every flow and 10+ pre-built flows to start from.
- Headless storefronts. Smile runs on headless storefronts, including Shopify Hydrogen, with the pre-built Smile UI panel or the JavaScript SDK. The SDK and API access start on Smile Plus.
If your Yotpo program had campaigns you never used, this is the moment to drop them. A program members understand at a glance is easier to launch and easier to explain in the switch email.
How to Plan the Cutover
The Yotpo program stays live until Smile is ready, so the launch date can follow your calendar instead of a deadline. Use that.
- Pick the window. Avoid launching during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a major product drop or a points bonus event. Leave time to test before your next peak, and check your Yotpo renewal date so you are not paying for an overlap you did not plan.
- Freeze program changes. Once the switch plan is set, stop changing earning rules, rewards and tiers in Yotpo. What you map is what you import.
- Count the last points. Members keep earning in Yotpo until launch. Agree with your launch team when the final balances are captured, so nothing earned between export and go-live is lost.
- Honor what members already have. Same balances, same tier status. Decide how you will honor reward codes members redeemed in Yotpo but have not used yet. If you plan to turn on points expiry in Smile, which resets balances after a set period of inactivity and warns members by email first, announce it separately from the switch.
- Tell members twice. Before launch: their points and status are moving with them, and when. At launch: where to find rewards now, such as Loyalty Hub in their Shopify customer account (from Growth) and the rewards panel on your store.
- Brief your support team. Give them the launch date, the message members received and the Yotpo export, so they can answer "where did my points go?" in one reply.
- Spot-check after launch. In the first days, compare a sample of members' balances and tiers in your Yotpo export with their Smile profiles, including a few of your top customers, and settle any mismatch before your next campaign email goes out.
- Retire Yotpo Loyalty last. Uninstall only after Smile is live and balances are reconciled. Keep Yotpo Reviews if you use it.
Step-by-Step Migration Plan
On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, Smile's launch team runs the steps marked Smile. On other plans, your team runs the import with Smile's Help Center and support.
| Step | What happens | Who leads |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kickoff and plan | A migration specialist audits your Yotpo program and builds a switch plan mapped to your rewards, tiers and timeline | Smile, with your loyalty owner |
| 2. Export from Yotpo | In Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals, open Customers and click Export all; the file goes to the Yotpo account owner's email | You |
| 3. Sync customers | Smile syncs customers from Shopify after installation, before any points are imported | Smile app |
| 4. Move your data | Members, point balances and VIP status are imported into Smile intact | Smile |
| 5. Rebuild and test | Ways to earn, rewards, branding and emails are rebuilt on-brand and tested end to end before anything reaches your storefront | Smile, with your approval |
| 6. Tell members | Pre-launch email: what stays the same and when it changes | You |
| 7. Go live | Launch on your schedule; customers keep the points and status they earned | Smile and you |
| 8. Retire Yotpo Loyalty | After launch and a balance check; Yotpo Reviews can stay | You |
| 9. After launch | Named launch support through your first 90 days, check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days, then quarterly program reviews | Smile |
What Smile's Migration Support Includes
Smile's support depends on the plan, as smile.io/pricing states it on October 21, 2026.
On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise:
- White-glove migration to Smile, with members, point balances and VIP tiers carried over intact by Smile's migration team
- A dedicated launch plan, built by a migration specialist and mapped to your rewards, tiers and timeline
- 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, with a 30-minute first response on critical issues
- A SOC 2 Type II report, penetration test summary and Data Processing Agreement for your security review
On every plan: import customer points balances with a CSV of email and points, after Smile syncs your customers, plus live chat with a loyalty expert.
What Smile does not publish is a standard timeline. A switch takes as long as your program and your stack need; your launch team maps the timeline up front, against your rewards, tiers and launch date. See Switch to Smile and Smile for enterprise for the full service.
Keeping Yotpo Reviews After You Switch
You can move loyalty without touching reviews. Smile builds and supports a Yotpo integration that rewards customers with points for writing product reviews. Points can be limited to verified buyers, which Smile's guide defines as reviews written through the form in Yotpo's post-purchase email, and only reviews of your store's products earn. Smile's Help Center says the integration needs a Yotpo Premium plan and runs on Smile's Essential plan and up.
If your Yotpo contract bundles Reviews and Loyalty, ask Yotpo how dropping Loyalty changes your Reviews price before you set the cutover date.
A Switch in Practice: ROKA
ROKA, a performance eyewear and apparel brand on a headless Shopify storefront, ran its loyalty program on Yotpo for more than five years before moving to Smile. ROKA reports roughly 50% lower loyalty spend than on Yotpo. Its loyalty members show a 75% redemption rate and 31% higher purchase frequency than non-members.
Anna Pappas, ROKA's Director of Marketing: "Our customer experience team is so thankful to have everything in Shopify, connected directly to our systems, without having to open up an alternate browser in Yotpo."
ROKA's headless build is still maturing, with referrals and the loyalty hub experience in progress, and the team's advice applies to any complex switch: "Plan end-to-end with a headless integration and make sure that you have help at every step along the way." For tier design after the move, see how to create a VIP tier program that drives revenue, and for the wider field, the best loyalty apps for Shopify Plus.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I switch from Yotpo to Smile? Export your customers from Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals, install Smile so it syncs your customers 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 Yotpo stays live until Smile is ready. On Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise, Smile's team runs this as a white-glove migration.
Will customers lose their Yotpo points when we switch to Smile? No. Point balances are imported into Smile, and Smile matches each member to their Shopify customer record, so imported points land on the right profile. Agree with your launch team when final balances are captured so points earned before launch are counted.
How long does a Yotpo to Smile migration take? It depends on your program and your stack. Smile does not publish a standard timeline: your launch team maps it up front, against your rewards, tiers and launch date.
Can we migrate VIP tiers from Yotpo to Smile? Yes. On a white-glove migration, VIP tiers and status are mapped across so top customers keep their standing. Smile's VIP program starts on the Growth plan, with tiers earned by points or money spent.
Do Yotpo referral links carry over to Smile? Referral links are not in Smile's published migration scope. Each Smile member gets their own referral URL, which also syncs to Klaviyo, so plan an email that gives your advocates their new link.
Is there downtime when moving from Yotpo to Smile? Not with a white-glove migration on Smile Plus and Smile Enterprise. The Yotpo program stays live until Smile is ready, so there is never a gap where customers cannot earn.
Can we keep Yotpo Reviews after switching loyalty to Smile? Yes. Smile's own Yotpo integration rewards verified product reviews with points. It needs a Yotpo Premium plan and runs on Smile's Essential plan and up.
