Turn pet parents into members for life
A dog eats the same chew for a decade, and every restock re-decides where it comes from. A loyalty program settles the question: points on every reorder, a gift on gotcha day, and status that makes your store the default instead of the autoship discount.
Built for Shopify · 4.9 ★ (4,122)
Pet brands that run loyalty on Smile
THE NUMBERS
What loyalty is worth to a pet brand
Pet consumables reorder every few weeks for the life of the pet. These are the published numbers behind making sure those reorders happen with you.
31%
more spent per order
Customers who redeem a reward spend 31% more per order than customers who never engage with the program, often by adding one more treat to carry the freebie.
186%
higher annual spend from members
The natural chew brand's members spend 186% more per year and buy 158% more often than non-members, with a redemption rate double the category average.
742%
higher spend in the top VIP tier
Best Friend tier members spend 742% more than non-members and order 455% more often. The ladder itself is the retention engine.
Smile platform data across active loyalty programs. Bully Sticks Direct figures from their published customer story.
Dual Certified
Built for Shopify + Technology Partner
G2 Leader
1st in Loyalty Management Software
SOC 2 Type II
Enterprise-grade security
$3.3B Driven
4,400+ Shopify Plus Brands
WHY PET CARE
Three forces every pet brand is fighting at once
Pet parents are the most loyal customers in commerce once the dog approves. Everything before and around that approval is a fight for the default.
The autoship default belongs to someone else
Chewy built a discount machine that turns your category into a set-and-forget reorder in someone else's checkout, and Amazon's Subscribe & Save does the same. Competing on discount depth is a losing game; giving the direct reorder its own compounding value is not.
The third bag is the business
Treats and chews reorder every three to four weeks, and most of a pet brand's revenue comes from returning customers. The first bag wins the dog's verdict. The margin lives in every bag after it, which makes retention the whole P&L.
Premium is crowded, and the claims all blur
Pet parenting drove premiumization, and now every brand says single-ingredient, limited-ingredient, made in the USA. When the label stops differentiating, the relationship has to: community, status, and a program that knows the dog's name.
Own the reorder decade
A decade of restocks should not be re-decided monthly
Pet spending is uniquely long-lived: once the dog approves, the same chew reorders for years. Points on every restock, including subscription orders, mean the decade compounds with you. The customer three years in has status, a balance, and a gotcha day gift coming, and none of that transfers to the autoship discount.
- Points on every order, including subscription and autoship-style reorders
- Recharge, Skio, and Smartrr integrations out of the box
- Klaviyo flows that surface the balance right when the chew jar runs low
VIP tiers
Give your best pet parents a place in the pack
Tiers work harder in pet than almost anywhere, because the spending is steady and the emotional stake is real. Bully Sticks Direct runs Best Pup and Best Friend tiers, and Best Friend members spend 742% more than non-members. Name the ladder in your brand's voice and escalate perks that honor the pet, not just the wallet.
- Two or three tiers on annual spend, named for the dogs, not the dollars
- A gotcha day and pet birthday gift at every tier
- Top-tier perks built on access: first taste of new treats, free shipping
Referrals
What do you feed him? is the whole channel
Every dog park conversation, every group-chat photo, every vet waiting room is a referral moment, which is why pet's biggest DTC brands grew on give-a-box referral offers. A referral program puts a link and a reward on the question pet parents already answer weekly.
- Double-sided offers: $10 off their first order, points for the advocate
- Advocate rewards paid in points, so claiming one means another order
- Attribution by advocate, so you can find and gift your superfans
PROGRAM DESIGN
What to reward in pet care, and what to give back
The earning actions and reward types that consistently work for pet food, treat, and gear brands.
Points on subscription reorders
The recurring bag is the relationship, so it has to earn. Points on every subscription order make your program the compounding answer to the autoship discount.
Gotcha day and pet birthday gifts
Pet parents celebrate both, and a free treat on either lands as a gift for the dog. PetSmart sends gotcha day gifts for a reason: it is the most personal moment in the category.
Photo reviews with the dog in frame
A review with a happy dog is the ad you cannot buy. Bully Sticks Direct built a base of more than 2,300 reviews by rewarding them, and its flagship holds 4.9 stars.
Free treats as the reward
The picky-eater problem makes free product doubly valuable: it rewards the parent and auditions the next flavor with the only critic who matters.
Points for the pet's profile
Breed, size, age, allergies. Parents will trade it for points, and it turns your Klaviyo segments into puppy-to-senior lifecycle marketing.
Points on pet store receipts
Your customer also buys you at the local pet store. Receipt scanning lets them earn on those purchases too, so wholesale doors feed your owned list.
PROGRAM EXAMPLES
Pet loyalty programs worth studying
The programs that set the standard in pet care, and the single idea worth stealing from each.
PetSmart
Treats Rewards
Celebrates the pet, not just the purchase: birthday and gotcha day gifts, with Bestie and VIPP tiers that raise the earn rate as annual spend grows.
Petco
Vital Care
A free tier plus a paid membership with vet exams, grooming discounts, and monthly rewards. Proof that pet parents will pay to belong when the perks are real.
Chewy
Autoship & Chewy+
The default you are competing with: a first-order discount, 5% off recurring orders, and a paid membership. Study it to understand what your program must out-value.
Open Farm
The Barn
Sprout, Cultivator, and Harvester tiers that reward reviews and referrals alongside purchases, tying loyalty to the brand's transparency-first story.
Jinx
Pack Points
Points on purchases redeemable for discounts, layered on a subscription, so loyalty and replenishment reinforce each other instead of competing.
Bully Sticks Direct
On SmileRewards & VIP Program
Best Pup and Best Friend tiers turned a dormant program into a repeat-purchase machine: top-tier members spend 742% more and order 455% more often.
Why pet brands choose Smile
Pet loyalty runs on reorders and relationships that last the life of the pet. The platform underneath has to keep up with both.
Dual certified by Shopify. Smile is the only loyalty platform that holds both Built for Shopify and Shopify Technology Partner status, Shopify's marks for quality and enterprise readiness.
Built for subscriptions. Points on recurring orders out of the box with Recharge, Skio, and Smartrr, and Shopify Flow triggers on every subscription event, so your autoship answer compounds.
Earn beyond your own checkout. Receipt scanning lets members earn points on purchases at the pet store or anywhere else you are stocked, so retail growth builds your customer file instead of hiding it.
HOW TO LAUNCH
From decision to live program in four steps
Most pet brands are live within weeks, and migrations from another platform are handled for you.
Design the earning side
Reward orders and subscription reorders equally, then layer photo reviews, the pet's profile, gotcha days, and birthdays. Set point values against a reward worth roughly 5 to 10% of your AOV.
Build tiers worth climbing
Name them for the dogs and set thresholds on annual spend. Bully Sticks Direct's Best Pup and Best Friend ladder drives its biggest spend lifts at the top.
Migrate members and balances
Coming from Yotpo, LoyaltyLion, or Rivo, your members and their point balances move with you, and your subscription platform stays exactly where it is.
Launch loud, then tune
Announce with a double points event, put the program in your navigation and post-purchase flow, and wire balances into Klaviyo. Then use benchmarks to see how your repeat rate compares to other pet brands.
FAQ
Pet loyalty, answered
The questions pet care teams ask most when they scope a program.
The best programs combine points on every order including subscriptions, VIP tiers named in the brand's voice, and rewards that celebrate the pet: free treats, gotcha day gifts, and birthday surprises. The program should feel like it knows the dog, not just the credit card.
Not on discount depth. Chewy's autoship discount is a percentage; a loyalty program is a compounding relationship. Points on every reorder, status that grows with tenure, and gifts for the pet give the direct purchase a value the autoship checkout cannot copy.
Across Smile's platform, customers who redeem a reward spend 31% more per order. Bully Sticks Direct's members spend 186% more per year and buy 158% more often than non-members, with the top VIP tier spending 742% more.
Yes. Smile integrates with Recharge, Skio, and Smartrr out of the box, so recurring orders earn points automatically, and Shopify Flow can trigger bonuses on any subscription event.
A gotcha day is the anniversary of a pet's adoption, and pet parents celebrate it like a birthday. Collecting it at signup and sending a free treat or bonus points on the day is one of the highest-sentiment, lowest-cost moments a pet program can own.
Yes. Migrations from Yotpo, LoyaltyLion, and Rivo are routine, and your members and their point balances transfer with you.
There is a free plan to start. Most growing pet brands land on a plan that includes VIP tiers and performance benchmarks, and enterprise brands run on Smile Plus with a dedicated success team.
Pet care
Be the brand for the dog's whole life
Talk to a loyalty strategist about what a points, VIP, and referral program looks like for your brand.