Customers earn points, or store credit, when they buy on a subscription and when their subscription renews. That way, you reward the customers who sign up for a subscription and stay on it.
You set it up as a Points for purchases way to earn that counts subscription orders only. Some stores also have an older Points for subscription orders way to earn. It keeps working, and If you already have Points for subscription orders below explains how it differs.
Before you start
Sell your products on a subscription plan, for example with Appstle Subscriptions. Other subscription apps work too, as long as they use Shopify's built-in subscriptions and bill renewals through Shopify.
Turn on the Appstle Loyalty app embed in your theme. While it's off, subscription orders earn nothing, first orders and renewals alike. See Set up your loyalty program.
What counts as a subscription order
An item counts when it's bought on a subscription plan. A one-time purchase of a product that also offers a subscription doesn't count.
Plans for pre-orders and try before you buy don't count, even though Shopify handles them like subscription plans.
The order a customer places at checkout is the initial subscription order. Every later order billed from that subscription is a recurring order. A customer with several subscriptions earns on the first order of each one.
Set it up
In the Appstle Loyalty app, click Ways to earn, then click Add a way to earn.
Choose Points for purchases, then click Add way to earn. The Points program editor opens on the new way to earn.
In Reward, set Customers get to Points or Store credit (store credit needs a plan that includes it), then enter the amount. Leave How points are counted on Per $1 spent: the Orders choice in the next step shows only then.
Open Orders that count and set Orders to Subscriptions.
Choose which subscription orders earn. Give points on the initial subscription order and Give points on recurring subscription orders both start on: turn one off to reward only the other. With store credit, they say Give store credit instead.
In What customers see, change the Name and Description so customers can tell it's for subscriptions, for example "Subscribe and earn" and "Earn {{points}} points for every {{amount}} you spend on subscriptions". Customers see your numbers in place of {{points}} and {{amount}}.
Go through the other steps as described in Give points for purchases, then click Save at the top right of the editor.
These settings decide which subscription orders earn:
Setting | What it does |
Orders | With Subscriptions, only items bought on a subscription earn. Items bought one time in the same order earn nothing from this way to earn. |
Give points on the initial subscription order | The first order of each subscription. Turn it off to reward renewals only. |
Give points on recurring subscription orders | Every renewal after the first order. Turn it off to reward the first order only. At least one of the two must stay on. |
The two switches also show with All orders, where they apply to the subscription items in the order. The other settings in Orders that count work as they do for any purchase: the minimum order, tax and shipping, sale and discounted items, products you leave out, and product and order tags.
Give subscriptions their own rate
A Points for purchases way to earn with Orders on All orders, such as the Product Purchase that setup adds, counts subscription items too. When both count the same item, it earns only from the one with the higher Points. The exception: if one gives points and the other store credit, the item earns from both.
If your subscription rate is the higher one, you don't need to change anything. If it's lower, set Orders to One-time on the other way to earn, so subscription items earn only from the subscription one.
What customers see
Customers see this way to earn in the loyalty popup and on the loyalty page, with the Name and Description you set.
Each order that earns adds a line to the customer's points history with your Message when points arrive.
Customers don't have to do anything: the points arrive when the order counts.
Things to know
On a Points for purchases way to earn, the Orders choice shows only when How points are counted is Per $1 spent. Counted Per order, it can't be limited to subscriptions: it pays its fixed amount on one-time orders too. The initial and recurring switches still decide which subscription orders earn.
Points per item, Buy specific products and Buy from a collection also have the Orders choice. Set it to Subscriptions to give a bonus on subscription items only, for example a fixed amount per item. They have no initial and recurring switches, so renewals always earn.
The When points arrive step applies to renewals too. With a waiting period, the days count from the order date.
If you turn on Limit how often a customer earns this in How often, renewals count against the limit like any other order. Per month covers the last 31 days, so with 1 time per month, a monthly renewal billed 30 days or less after the customer last earned from it earns nothing. Leave the limit off, or allow 2 times per month. See Give points for purchases for how periods are counted.
Points for a refunded subscription order come off as they do for any purchase. See Give points for purchases.
The popup and the loyalty page show this way to earn only while Show loyalty on your store is on in Design → Customize → Visibility. Points still arrive when it's off.
While the way to earn is paused, nobody earns from it.
If you already have Points for subscription orders
Some stores have an older Points for subscription orders way to earn. It works as before: you can edit it, pause it and see who earned from it on the Ways to earn page. To check whether you have one, click Add a way to earn. The gallery lists Points for subscription orders only if your store already has one, and its Reward step says Counts subscription orders only.
It rewards only items bought on a subscription. Counted Per order, it gives one fixed amount for each order that includes a subscription item.
It has no Orders choice and no initial and recurring switches. Instead, Only the first subscription order in Orders that count stops renewal orders from earning.
It gives its points on top of any Points for purchases way to earn that counts the same items. To earn from only one of them, set Orders to One-time on the Points for purchases, or pause one of the two.
Troubleshooting
The first order earned nothing: check that the item was bought on a subscription plan, not as a one-time purchase, and that it isn't a pre-order or try before you buy. Check that Give points on the initial subscription order is on. Then check Minimum order, the tag settings, Where it works (subscription orders count as online store orders) and Guests earn too, as for any purchase.
Renewals earn nothing: check that Give points on recurring subscription orders is on (on the older way to earn, that Only the first subscription order is off), and that Limit how often a customer earns this isn't blocking them. Check that the app embed is on and that your subscription app bills renewals through Shopify.
You can't tell why: open More → Activity Logs and find the order. When no way to earn gave an item points, the log says why, for example that it was bought one time, or that the order was a first order or renewal your settings leave out.
Customers earn twice for subscription orders: a Points for purchases way to earn that counts subscriptions and an older Points for subscription orders one are both active. Set Orders to One-time on the first, or pause one of them.
The points are pending: look at When points arrive. If points wait until the order is paid or fulfilled, see Give points for purchases. If they need your approval, find them in Customers → Approve Pending Transactions.