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Loyaltylion App Review 2024: Is This Customer Loyalty & Engagement Platform Worth It?

Published on
November 23, 2024
|
Updated on
November 22, 2024

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Loyaltylion - Turn one-time buyers into returning customers with your own loyalty program

What is LoyaltyLion?

Core Value Proposition

LoyaltyLion may feel like it’s yet another customer rewards app. It’s not. It's a full-fledged customer loyalty and engagement platform designed to make your customers feel like VIPs. The app goes beyond just awarding points for purchases. It allows you to create a highly customized loyalty program that can mesh perfectly with your brand's look and feel. Its core proposition revolves around helping you to conjure up return customers out of one-time buyers.

What Primary Purpose It Serves

The main gig of LoyaltyLion is to get customers coming back for more. It does this by rewarding them not just for spending money, but for a wide range of activities. Writing reviews? Points. Referring friends? Points. Just browsing around? Yup, points for that too. The app also offers a ton of premium features—like Loyalty Tiers and In-cart Rewards—that can make your loyalty program as simple or as intricate as you'd like. The goal here is to make each customer feel like they're part of an exclusive club, motivating them to not just buy, but to engage with your brand in multiple ways.

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Also, LoyaltyLion offers some serious analytics. You can track customer behavior, average order values, and even the effectiveness of your loyalty program with their Customer Value Snapshot. If numbers make you happy, LoyaltyLion will make you ecstatic.

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Who's it for?

Target Audience

If you're a Shopify store owner aiming to keep your customers hooked and engaged, LoyaltyLion could be your go-to app. This app is particularly useful for stores that have already seen some success and are looking to ramp up their customer retention game. It's an especially good fit for businesses that have a variety of products and expect customers to make multiple purchases over time. The app's advanced analytics features make it ideal for those who want to dig deep into customer behavior and spending patterns. If you're all about data-driven decisions, you'll find the Customer Value Snapshot invaluable.

Who is it NOT for?

On the flip side, LoyaltyLion might not be the best option for absolute beginners or stores that are just getting off the ground. The pricing tiers can get expensive, and if you're not making enough sales to justify the cost, you might want to look elsewhere. Similarly, if you're running a one-product store or a store with very niche products that don't encourage repeat purchases, the app's loyalty features may not offer much value to you. Also, heads up—if you're eyeing that LoyaltyLion API, know that it's only available on the pricier plans, so budget accordingly.

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And let's not forget, if you're not on Shopify, then LoyaltyLion is off the table; it doesn't integrate with other ecommerce brands like BigCommerce. So, if you're part of the BigCommerce tribe or using some other platform, you'll need to find another loyalty platform that plays nice with your ecommerce software.

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Features

  • Fully Customizable: Build a fully customized loyalty program and choose how you want your program to appear on your website. Use our CSS theme editor to personalize your loyalty program, and ensure it appears at every stage of the customer journey.
  • Flagship Features: Use premium features like Loyalty Tiers, In-cart Rewards, Full-page Loyalty Programs, loyalty Points Sliders and more to create a truly unique and effective incentives

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  • Analytics: Unlock invaluable insights about your customers’ buying behavior using our Customer Value Snapshot. Analyze the spends, average order values, and repeat purchase ratess of both your loyalty program members and guest shoppers.

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  • Powerful Integrations: Use loyalty data to optimize all your marketing communications with seamless integration into all mainstream platforms and tools. Connect with ESPs, Reviews apps, Subscriptions apps, Helpdesk tools, and more and streamline your workflow (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Hubspot, Recharge, Loox, and more)

Pricing

Loyaltylion offers a 4-tiered pricing. 

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  1. FREE plan
  • 800 monthly orders included
  • Unlimited members
  • Loyalty widget
  • Basic loyalty setup
  • Add more features from $5/month

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  1. CLASSIC ($159/month)

Everything you need to start boosting repeat purchase rates

Everything in FREE plus:

  • Loyalty Program page design & build
  • Customer referral program
  • A dedicated Onboarding Manager
  • Points for custom activities
  • Email marketing integrations, incl. Klaviyo
  • SMS integrations, incl. Attentive
  • Helpdesk integrations, incl. Gorgias

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  1. ADVANCED ($329/month)

Perfect for brands looking for more ways to increase customer lifetime value

Everything in CLASSIC plan plus:

  • Access to a Customer Success Manager
  • Access to a bi-annual program review
  • Loyalty Tiers
  • Seamless Free Product
  • Standalone Referral Widget
  • Connect multiple Shopify POS locations
  • Subscription platform integrations

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  1. PLUS ($729/month)

Best for growing businesses integrating retention across wider marketing tools and tactics

Everything in ADVANCED plan plus:

  • A Dedicated Senior Onboarding Manager
  • Access to a program review every 3 months
  • Enhanced Klaviyo email marketing flows
  • Enhanced Notifications
  • In-Cart Rewards
  • Instant Points
  • Enhanced Attentive SMS journeys
  • Post-launch optimization
  • Priority support

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Rating

4.6 / 5 (Overall rating)

What do real users have to say about it?

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Pros & Cons

PRO

Drive program engagement & positive behaviors with loyalty emails/push notifications

Earn points for any on-site activity like reviews, referrals, and social media engagement

High value-for-money with a robust one-click rewards program setup

Incentivize network effects by awarding customers with referral points that can be redeemed for rewards. Share unique referral links across email, mobile, and social

CONS

Support is basic. No option to contact support directly. Slow response time on live chat

Cancelling a subscription can be a tedious process

Integrates only with Shopify, not other ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce

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Our Review of LoyaltyLion

We've spent a good amount of time putting LoyaltyLion through its paces, and we're here to give you the lowdown. Let's dive into the specific aspects of Loyaltylion.

Navigation and Dashboard

When we first logged into LoyaltyLion, the dashboard greeted us with a clean layout, giving us quick access to essential features. Although we're no strangers to ecommerce apps, a tutorial would have made the setup process even smoother. It was very well-organized - everything is where you'd expect, but a guide to point out where the things are wouldn't hurt.

Customization Options

This is where LoyaltyLion shines for us. The customization level is above par, and it's evident they've designed it with the user in mind. It's not just about changing a few colors and adding your logo. This platform lets you dive into the details—right down to the CSS for those who are so inclined. We spent a good chunk of time exploring this, and let's just say, it’s possible to make your loyalty program look and feel like an integral part of your online store, rather than an add-on.

Feature sets and capabilities

LoyaltyLion isn't short on features, and they're not just there for the sake of a bullet-pointed list on a sales page. We found the 'In-cart Rewards' and 'Points Sliders' particularly engaging. It's not just about accumulating points; it's about interacting with the customer during their shopping journey, building customer relationships and making the entire process more engaging. The Loyalty Tiers are another aspect we can't overlook. It allows you to create a VIP-like experience, differentiating between a first-time buyer and a recurring customer without making the latter feel left out.

Third-Party Integrations

LoyaltyLion offers robust integrations, and we had no trouble linking it up with our preferred email marketing and customer service tools, such as Klaviyo and Gorgias. However, we must point out that the platform is rather Shopify-centric. If you're thinking of branching out to other ecommerce platforms, you'll need to look elsewhere, as LoyaltyLion doesn't play well with non-Shopify environments.

Analytics

The analytics part was like opening a treasure chest of data. The Customer Value Snapshot is a tool that can genuinely guide decision-making about your marketing effort. We ran several campaigns based on these insights and saw a noticeable uptick in customer engagement. Be ready to invest some time here, though. These aren't your run-of-the-mill metrics; they offer an in-depth look into customer behaviors, and it takes a bit to navigate through and make actual use of all that data.

Pricing and Plans

We found the pricing to be a mixed bag. The FREE plan is fine for dipping your toes in, but it's not where you'll find the most value. You'll need to jump to the CLASSIC or ADVANCED plans to get features that will genuinely boost your customer retention. These plans aren't cheap, but if customer loyalty programs are a cornerstone of your business strategy, it's a worthy investment. However, if you're running a smaller operation, budget accordingly; these features come at a premium.

Customer Support

While we did have some hitches and glitches during our test run, getting them resolved was a bit of a hassle. The live chat feature is there, but don't expect instant responses. We found ourselves wishing for a hotline or a more direct way to resolve issues, especially when time was of the essence.

Final Thoughts

After diving deep into the functionalities and features of our LoyaltyLion account, we've gathered some pretty conclusive thoughts. If you're running a small business that has a Shopify store and you've moved past the initial stages, LoyaltyLion could be a solid choice for ramping up your customer loyalty strategies. It offers a high level of customization and its analytics are far from superficial—they provide actionable insights.

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That said, LoyaltyLion isn't without its drawbacks. For one, the customer support could use some fine-tuning, especially when you're in a jam and need immediate assistance. Secondly, the pricing, particularly for the more feature-rich plans, could be a stumbling block for smaller stores or those who are budget-conscious. And let's not forget, it's pretty much tied to Shopify, so if you're on a different platform or considering a move, this app won't be joining you there.

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So, where does that leave us with LoyaltyLion? We'd say it's a robust platform, especially if you're at a stage where customer experience and retention is a key focus of your business strategy. If the limitations we discussed aren't deal-breakers for you, or if they simply don't pertain to your particular situation, then LoyaltyLion might just be the app you've been searching for. We trust you now have the information you need to make an educated decision.

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Julien Mamalian
CEO, Bloggle

After an exciting 5 years of designing and optimizing Shopify sites for well-known French startups, I launched Bloggle. Our mission? To assist merchants worldwide in crafting compelling articles that rank high in SEO and truly engage their audience. In just 3 years, over 2,000 clients have trusted us, publishing more than 55,000 articles through Bloggle. Thanks to them, I’ve learned the keys to success and the pitfalls to avoid.

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