Growave VIP Tiers program overview

VIP programs are powerful customer retention tools, emphasizing exclusivity to encourage shoppers to spend more with your brand. They help achieve a higher customer lifetime value, particularly from your most loyal audience. This makes VIP programs an ideal strategy for boosting engagement and loyalty.


How do VIP Tiers work?

When customers reach the milestone you've set for your program, they are automatically assigned a Tier. You can configure settings to send them email notifications upon tier achievement and even provide rewards.

Customers can view their tiers in the Rewards widget on the storefront. Here, they learn about the benefits they receive from each tier and what actions they need to take to reach the next tier.

Growave VIP Tiers widget storefront



Configuring VIP Tiers enrollment

Before you start setting up the VIP Tiers, in the Growave admin panel, go to Rewards → Settings → VIP Tier Status → VIP Tiers Enrollment. Here, you can configure how customers are enrolled in the VIP Tiers program:

Configuring Growave VIP Tiers Enrollment

There are four options:

  1. Look up activity from the first order: Activity will start tracking from the user's first order. All orders made in the shop will be considered in the user's status calculation.
  2. Current year: This option tracks the user's order history from January 1st of the current year. For example, if it is July 2024, it will consider orders from January 1, 2024.
  3. Specific date: Allows you to specify a date, which will serve as the starting point for calculating the user's status.
  4. Update tier progress after the last customer activity: This option sets up user tiers based on the customer's most recent activity. Activity means placing a certain number of orders (Purchases made), earning the specified amount of points (Earn points), or spending a certain amount on your shop (Spent amount), depending on the milestone you selected. See details about selecting milestones below.

EXAMPLE: if a customer's last activity was 5 days ago and the threshold is set to 10 days, the system will check their activity 10 days from now. Since the last activity was 5 days ago, their VIP status will be reviewed again 10 days after that last activity.

Additionally, you can customize the frequency of rewards for reaching a specific VIP tier:

  • Reward only once: The reward for a tier is issued only once. If a user achieves the same tier again, they will not receive the reward.
  • Reward on every tier update: The reward for a tier is issued each time the user achieves the tier, regardless of how many times they reach it.

Setting up VIP Tiers

To set up and start running your VIP Tiers, go to the Growave admin panelRewardsVIP Tiers:

Setting up Growave VIP Tiers

You can create as many VIP tiers as you want. Common examples include Gold, Silver, and Bronze, but you can use any names that come to mind.

Additionally, you can add a short description to give customers a better understanding of each tier. There is also an option to upload images, allowing for creative customization of your tiers.

Growave VIP Tiers names and descriptions


Selecting milestone

Before adjusting the settings, select how your customers will be sorted into tiers. There are five milestones for creating VIP Tiers:

  • Earn points
  • Spent amount
  • Purchases made
  • Customer tag
  • Referrals completed

Choosing milestone for Growave VIP Tiers

  1. Earn Points: Customers earn tiers based on the total points accumulated through shop activity. For example, a member gets the Bronze tier for earning 6000 points.

Points are excluded from tier calculation when:

  • The customer's Points balance is manually changed
  • Points are imported
  • Points are spent on a discount
  • The discount is refunded

NOTE: If points are awarded for an order and then refunded, the points will be deducted, affecting the VIP Tier status.

  1. Spent Amount: This milestone rewards customers based on the total amount they spend on your site. For example, a member who spends $150 will achieve the Bronze tier.
  2. Purchases Made: This milestone rewards customers based on the number of purchases they make. For example, a member who makes 10 purchases will achieve the Bronze tier.

Purchases made milestone Growave VIP Tiers

  1. Customer Tag: This milestone determines VIP tiers based on the tags a customer has. If a customer qualifies for multiple VIP tiers due to having several relevant tags, they will receive the tier that was created first.

EXAMPLE: Suppose you have three VIP tiers: Bronze, Silver, and Gold, which were created in that order. You assign tags to each tier: order-tag, customer-tag, and product-tag.

A customer named Alex has the following tags: order-tag, customer-tag, and product-tag.

According to the Customer Tag rule, Alex qualifies for all three tiers. However, because the Bronze tier was created first, Alex will receive the Bronze tier.

Customer tag milestone Growave VIP Tiers

NOTE: If a tag is used in eligibility settings to either allow or forbid participation in the Rewards program, it will not be available for use in the Customer Tag milestone to assign VIP tiers.

  1. Referrals Completed: This milestone determines a customer's VIP tier based on the number of successful referrals they have made. The program evaluates referral metrics, and a validated referral can help a customer advance to a higher tier, provided they meet the enrollment criteria for that tier.

Referrals completed milestone Growave VIP Tiers


Setting up default tier

You can configure a default tier to automatically assign to users who have not yet made sufficient progress to achieve higher tiers. Users in the default tier will continue participating in the loyalty program and will advance to higher tiers as they meet the required progress criteria:

Default tier Growave VIP Tiers


Adding points multiplier

The points multiplier function of VIP tiers increases the number of points users receive after reaching a tier. For example, without a VIP tier, a user may receive 100 points for leaving a review. If you set a multiplier of 2 for a certain tier, a customer in that tier will receive 200 points for leaving a review.

NOTE: You can set up the points multiplier in every tier.

IMPORTANT: The milestone for earning a tier can be chosen only once when you create the first tier. You will not be able to select another milestone for subsequent tiers you create. If you need to change the milestone, you must delete all existing tiers and create new ones, which will result in the loss of customers' earned and multiplied points.


Selecting entry reward

You also can choose points, discounts (fixed amount, percentage discount, free shipping), gift cards, or free products to reward your customer for achieving the tier. Or choose to assign no rewards at all.

Entry rewards option Growave VIP Tiers

NOTE: You can assign only one reward per tier. If you update the reward option, previously assigned but unused rewards will be removed (except for points).

Learn more about rewarding customers for reaching VIP tiers.


Tracking VIP Tiers activity

You can monitor VIP Tier activity to see which customers have achieved specific tiers. To view this information, go to Analytics → Rewards → VIP Tiers.

Tracking VIP Tiers activity


Changing VIP Tiers settings

If you make changes to the VIP Tier settings, please be aware of the following:

  • Tiers will be recalculated. Customers who no longer meet the criteria for their current tier will have their tiers removed.
  • A "Tier Unlocked" email will be resent to all customers subscribed to marketing emails, informing them of the change.
  • If you modify the rewards associated with a tier, you will receive a notification to assist you in updating rewards for your customers.

Changing VIP Tiers settings

For any questions or requests regarding the VIP Tiers program, please contact us at support@growave.io or use the chat icon in the bottom-right corner. We’ll be glad to assist you.