Your loyalty program is ready for customers when three things are in place: the Appstle Loyalty app embed is on in your theme, customers have a way to earn points, and they have a reward to spend them on. This article shows how to check each one on the Dashboard and finish what's missing. Then you make loyalty look like your store and test it before you launch.
After the first-time setup
The first time you open Appstle Loyalty, a four-step setup walks you through your launcher, the panel's colors and welcome text, how much customers earn on each order, and the app embed.
If you clicked Launch program or Save and launch later at the end, you already have your launcher style and a way to earn called Product Purchase. If you chose Points, you also have a reward called Discount Reward. If you set 0% back on every order, the setup didn't create either one. Check what's left on the Dashboard, below.
If you clicked Skip for now, the setup didn't create a way to earn or a reward. Follow every step below.
When you leave the setup, the app opens on Choose your plan if you don't have a plan yet, and shows nothing else until you pick one. Click Select beside the plan you want. For a paid plan, Shopify then asks you to approve the charge. Once you have a plan, the rest of the app opens.
Check your setup on the Dashboard
Open Appstle Loyalty from your Shopify admin. The Dashboard starts with a Program status card that shows how close you are to launching. What's on your Dashboard explains every card.
The card has three checks. Plan shows your current plan and always passes, because the Dashboard opens only once you have a plan. The badge at the top right of the card reads Needs attention until the other two checks below pass. Then it reads Ready.
Check | It passes when |
App embed | The Appstle Loyalty app embed is on in your live theme. |
Program | You have at least one active way to earn and one active reward. If customers earn store credit instead of points, an active way to earn is enough. |
Further down the Dashboard, the Finish setup card has a Setup guide with a Set up button for Ways to earn and Rewards, plus Referrals and VIP program if your plan includes them. Each button changes to Manage once that part is done. The same card has a Setup walkthrough with a 3-minute video guide.
Step 1: Turn on the app embed
The app embed is a switch in your Shopify theme that loads Appstle Loyalty on your store. While it's off:
Customers don't see the launcher or loyalty blocks on your store.
Orders don't earn points, except orders from Shopify POS.
New accounts and newsletter or SMS sign-ups don't earn points.
Loyalty emails aren't sent.
On the Dashboard, click Activate app embed in the banner at the top. If you don't see the banner, click Configure under App embed in the Program status card.
Your live theme opens in the theme editor in a new tab, on App embeds. Make sure Appstle Loyalty is turned on.
Click Save in the theme editor.
Go back to the Dashboard. App embed now shows a green dot and Theme surfaces are available. If it doesn't, reload the page.
Step 2: Add ways to earn
A way to earn tells customers how they can collect points, for example by placing an order, creating an account or following you on Instagram. Start with Points for purchases, which gives points for every order. You can add more ways to earn later.
If Your ways to earn already lists Product Purchase, the first-time setup added it and customers already earn on orders. Click it to check or change the rate instead of adding another. Two ways to earn with the same How points are counted and Customers get settings don't add up: customers earn from only the one with the higher amount. If either setting differs, customers earn from both.
In Appstle Loyalty, click Ways to earn.
In Your ways to earn, click Add a way to earn. The Points program editor opens on the Add a way to earn gallery.
Choose Points for purchases, then click Add way to earn.
The panel for the new way to earn opens on its first step, Reward. Set how many points customers get, for example 1 point for every $1 they spend.
Use the Next button at the bottom of the panel to check each of the other steps, such as Orders that count and What customers see.
If you see Guests earn too in Who can earn, turn it on so customers who check out without an account also earn points.
Click Save at the top right of the editor.
The way to earn now shows in Your ways to earn. Use its switch to pause it. Paused ways to earn stay hidden from customers. Drag a row to change the order customers see.
Step 3: Add a reward
A reward is what customers spend their points on, such as an amount off their order. Customers can't spend points until at least one reward is active. If Your rewards already lists Discount Reward, the first-time setup added it. Keep it, change it or add more.
In Appstle Loyalty, click Ways to redeem.
In Your rewards, click Add a reward. The Points program editor opens on the Add a reward gallery.
Choose a reward, such as Amount off order, then click Add reward.
The panel for the new reward opens on its first step, Reward. Set how many points it costs and what customers get.
Use the Next button at the bottom of the panel to check each of the other steps.
Click Save at the top right of the editor.
Step 4: Choose how loyalty looks
Customers reach loyalty through a launcher button on your store, a loyalty page, or both. The loyalty page depends on your plan. To change the colors, text and where loyalty shows, click Design in Appstle Loyalty, then Customize. For a full walkthrough, see Customize your loyalty launcher and loyalty page.
On the Design page, also check the Loyalty on your store card. Click Turn on if it says Hidden from your store.
Step 5: Test before you launch
Sign in to your store as a customer and place a test order. Then open the launcher or your loyalty page to check that you got the points and can spend them on a reward. If the points don't arrive, see Why didn't a customer get points for an order? below. Testing Your Loyalty Program Before Launch explains how to pay with Shopify's test payments.
What customers see
Customers open loyalty from the launcher on your store or from your loyalty page. Ways to earn and Ways to redeem list your active ways to earn and rewards that apply to each customer, in the order you set on the Ways to earn and Ways to redeem pages in Appstle Loyalty. Paused ones stay hidden.
Things to know
The Dashboard checks your live theme. If you publish a different theme later, turn the app embed on in that theme too.
Orders placed before you launched, or while the app embed was off, don't earn points on their own. To give points for them, use More → Bulk Operations → Import Past Orders. Orders skipped while the app embed was off show in More → Activity Logs with the status Failure.
The Program check counts only active ways to earn and rewards. A paused one doesn't count.
If customers earn store credit instead of points, they spend it at checkout, so you don't need a reward.
The Setup guide has a Restart onboarding link. If you go through the first-time setup again and finish it, it adds another Product Purchase way to earn and, for points, another Discount Reward, and replaces your launcher icon, brand color and texts. Delete the extra way to earn and reward if you don't want them. Until you do, customers see the duplicates, and the second Product Purchase can change how much they earn.
If you use Require Customers to Opt In to the Loyalty Program, restarting the first-time setup turns it off, even if you skip the setup, unless you tick it again on the Rewards Panel step. Check it in More → Advanced Settings afterwards.
Referrals and VIP program are optional. You don't need them to launch.
FAQs
The Dashboard says Needs attention. What's missing?
Look at the App embed and Program checks in the Program status card:
App embed has an amber dot and says Off on your live theme. Click Configure and follow Step 1.
Program says No active way to earn yet or No active reward yet. Click Add a way to earn or Add a reward below the message.
Why don't I see the launcher on my store?
Check these in order:
The Appstle Loyalty app embed is on, and you clicked Save in the theme editor.
The Loyalty on your store card on the Design page doesn't say Hidden from your store. If it does, click Turn on.
In Design → Customize → Visibility, How customers reach loyalty isn't set to Loyalty page only, and no other setting there hides the launcher from you, such as Show the launcher only to signed-in customers, Show the launcher on phones or Hide the launcher on these pages. See Choose who sees loyalty and where it shows.
Why didn't a customer get points for an order?
Open More → Activity Logs and find the order to see what happened. The most common reasons:
The app embed was off. Turn it on (Step 1), then give points for the missed orders in More → Bulk Operations → Import Past Orders.
The customer checked out without an account. Turn on Guests earn too in the way to earn's Who can earn step.
Require Customers to Opt In to the Loyalty Program is on in More → Advanced Settings, and the customer hasn't joined your program yet.
The points are pending. If When points arrive is set to a delay or to your approval, they show as pending until then.
The way to earn is paused, or its Schedule hasn't started or has ended.