How Loyalty Points Work

Overview

Loyalty points are rewards your customers earn when they interact with your store. Customers can later redeem those points for discounts, free products, or other rewards you choose to offer.

A clear points program helps customers understand how to earn rewards and gives them a reason to come back and shop again.

How loyalty points work

Your loyalty program follows a simple three-step flow:

Where to manage loyalty points

You can manage how loyalty points work from the Earn points section in Rivyo.

Most point-related settings are available in the panel on the right side of the screen. This is where you control whether the program is active, how points are displayed, when points expire, and how order-based points are calculated.

Main settings

Status

Use Status to turn your loyalty points program on or off.

• Enabled: customers can earn and redeem points based on your rules
• Disabled: the points program is not active on your storefront

Points name

Points Name controls the label customers see across your storefront and loyalty experience.

Choose a name that matches your brand, such as:

• Points
• Coins
• Rewards

Icon settings

The Show icon on storefront option controls whether the loyalty icon appears to customers while they browse your store.

• Turn it on if you want points and rewards to be more visible
• Turn it off if you prefer a cleaner storefront experience

Point expiry

You can decide how long earned points remain valid.

• Never expire: points stay available until the customer uses them
• Expire after X months: points are removed automatically after the selected time period

Expiring points can encourage customers to return sooner and redeem their rewards.

Exclude customers

You can prevent specific customers from earning or using points by excluding them with customer tags.

Use Add Customer Tags to select which tagged customers should be excluded from the loyalty program.

This is useful if you want to exclude:

• wholesale customers
• staff accounts
• test customers
• special account types that should not participate

Point calculation for orders

For purchase-based earning rules, you can control whether shipping and taxes count toward points.

• Exclude shipping: customers do not earn points on shipping charges
• Exclude taxes: customers do not earn points on taxes

This helps you reward product value only, instead of awarding points on extra charges.

How points are calculated for orders

When you use the Place an Order earning rule, you can choose how customers receive points from purchases.

Option 1: Earn fixed points

Customers receive the same number of points every time they place an eligible order.

Example: 100 points per order

This option works well if you want a simple rewards program that is easy for customers to understand.

Option 2: Earn points based on amount spent

Customers earn points based on the value of their order.

Example: ₹100 spent = 10 points

This option is helpful when you want rewards to scale with order value.

When points are awarded

You can choose when order-based points are added to a customer’s balance.

• When the order is fulfilled: points are awarded only after the order has been fulfilled
• At the time of order or another available timing option: points may be added sooner, depending on your setup

Awarding points after fulfillment is often the safest choice because it reduces the chance of giving points for orders that are later canceled, refunded, or never completed.

Best practices for setting up points

• Use a simple points name that customers recognize immediately
• Choose earning rules that match the actions you want to encourage, such as purchases, sign-ups, or reviews
• Decide early whether shipping and taxes should count toward points
• Use point expiry only if you plan to communicate it clearly
• Exclude staff, wholesale, or test accounts so your program stays accurate
• Set reward timing carefully to avoid awarding points too early

Example loyalty point flow

Here is a simple example of how a customer might move through your loyalty program:

1. A customer signs up and earns welcome points
2. They place an order and earn more points based on your order rule
3. The points are added to their balance once your selected reward timing is met
4. The customer returns later and redeems those points for a discount or reward

This creates a repeat-purchase cycle that encourages customers to come back.

Frequently asked questions

Summary

Loyalty points help you reward customer actions and encourage repeat purchases. In Rivyo, you can control:

• whether the loyalty program is active
• what customers call your points
• whether the loyalty icon appears on your storefront
• if and when points expire
• which customers are excluded
• how order-based points are calculated
• when points are awarded

Keeping these settings clear and consistent will make your loyalty program easier for customers to understand and more effective for your store.