VIP tiers program: Common questions

FAQs on creating VIP tiers & managing a VIP program to reward top customers with perks, track loyalty & boost repeat purchases.

March 23, 2026

🏷️ VIP tiers are unlocked on the Loyalty Accelerate plan.

Assigning Customers to Tiers

Q. For existing merchants setting up annual VIP tier expiry for the first time, is the initial tier entry based on total historical spend or spend in the current year?

A. It depends on your settings. If annual expiry is enabled, the system uses year-to-date (YTD) spend. If it isn't enabled, tier entry defaults to lifetime spend.

Q. What determines when a customer moves to a higher VIP tier?

A. Tier progression is typically based on annual spend rather than points earned. When a customer crosses a tier's spend threshold, they're automatically moved into that tier. Once assigned, VIP status lasts for the rest of the current calendar year plus the following year. To keep their status beyond that, the customer needs to meet the spend criteria again.

Q. If a customer drops to a lower tier, can they move back up by earning more points?

A. If the tier change was made manually, the customer stays in that tier ("sticky") until you change it again. If the change happened automatically due to expiry, the customer will move back up on their own once they earn enough points or spend to re-qualify.

Q. For manually assigned tiers, how is a customer's spend or points tracked to keep them in that tier?

A. When you manually assign a customer to a tier, their YTD spend or points (whichever metric your program uses) is automatically set to match that tier's entry threshold. This keeps the customer in the tier until their real activity would naturally carry them into the next one.

Example:

Priya spent $60 in 2026 and is currently in the Base tier.
You manually assign Priya to the Silver tier, which has a $100 entry threshold. Her 2026 YTD spend (for tier entry purposes only) is set to $100 to keep her in Silver. Without this adjustment, her real $60 would leave her below the threshold and she'd be automatically downgraded back to Base.
As a result, Priya only needs to spend the difference between tiers to move up. Gold's threshold ($200) minus Silver's threshold ($100) means she needs $100 more — not $140, which is what she'd need if the system used her real $60 instead.

Q. I want to add more VIP tiers. Will this affect existing VIP customers?

A. Yes. Adding tiers triggers a 7-day cooling-off period, during which the VIP program is paused. After that, the system reviews all customers and reassigns them to the correct tiers. If you also change the criteria for tier assignment (for example, switching from points-earned to amount-spent), tier assignments are automatically recalculated based on the new criteria.

Q. If I import a customer list with tier data, does the VIP program need to be enabled first?

A. Yes. Your VIP program must be enabled before you import customers with preset tiers, so tier levels sync correctly.

Q. Will customers be notified if I manually change their tier?

A. No, not by default. Manually changing a customer's tier does not trigger the standard VIP entry email. To notify the customer, either:

Check the Send Email box when making the manual change, or
Create a custom segment for the new tier and send a manual or custom-triggered email.

Q. Will the VIP program apply past purchases to determine tiers when it goes live?

A. No. The program only tracks purchases made from the moment it's enabled — it doesn't retroactively apply past purchases.

Q. Can I auto-assign customers to a VIP tier when they purchase from a specific segment?

A. No, this isn't currently available. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this feature — it goes straight to our product team.

Q. Is it possible to assign customers to a VIP tier based on their current loyalty points balance, rather than waiting until they cross the entry threshold?

A. No. Tier assignment only happens once a customer's points or spend crosses the defined entry threshold, not based on their balance at any given moment. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this change.

Q. Do point adjustments affect loyalty tier progression?

A. Yes. Any adjustment to a customer's points immediately affects their tier progression, since it changes their total points balance — which is what determines tier status. If you switch the VIP tier activation metric from points-earned to amount-spent, tier assignments are automatically recalculated based on the new criteria, which may affect current VIP members who don't meet the new spend criteria.

Tier Expiry

Q. I don't have tier expiry enabled and manually reset all customer point balances to 0. Will this reset their VIP tier status too?

A. Not automatically. If tier expiry is disabled, resetting points doesn't reset tier status on its own — but it can cause a mismatch, since the customer's new points balance may no longer match what their current tier requires. This usually shows up the next time tiers are reassessed or resynced.

Q. Do customers need to requalify each year to retain their VIP tier? How does this affect customers who join later in the year?

A. Yes, customers must meet a tier's entry criteria annually. Regardless of when they join — January or October — they keep their status for the rest of that year plus the entire following year. For example, a customer who joins Silver in October 2024 stays in Silver through 2025, with their tier reassessed on January 1, 2026. This gives every customer a consistent amount of time to use their VIP benefits before reassessment.

Q. If I disable my VIP program to restructure and delete a tier, what happens to customers in that tier when I re-enable the program?

A. Customer tier status refreshes based on your updated structure during the next tier sync after reactivation. If it hasn't refreshed within 24 hours, contact our support team.

Q. A customer spent $1,000 in 2024, meeting the VIP requirement, and was manually added to a tier in early 2025 but hasn't purchased yet this year. Will they be downgraded on January 1, 2026?

A. That depends on your settings. If you selected the option to lock customers into a tier when manually adding them, they'll remain in that tier. If not, they'll move between tiers based on their actual spend and your VIP rules.

Q. Is there a feature that expires a customer from their VIP tier if their loyalty balance drops below the points threshold due to a return?

A. Not currently. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this feature.

Tier Customization

Q. Can Marsello VIP tiers be created as tags in Shopify Plus?

A. Not currently. If you're interested in this, let our support team know.

Q. Can I edit the names of my VIP tiers?

A. Yes. Use the dropdown menu next to the Edit Rewards button to open additional customization options, including renaming the tier. Note: any changes trigger a 7-day cooling-off period during which no further edits can be made.

Q. How many VIP tiers can be created?

A. There's no limit to how many VIP tiers you can create.

Q. How do I add a new VIP tier to my program?

A. Go to Loyalty > VIP Tiers and select Add a new tier. This opens a form where you can name the tier, set a points entry requirement, and customize its earning rule.

Q. Can I edit the name of the base tier?

A. Yes. Use the dropdown arrow next to the Edit Member Rewards button to access the option to rename it.

Q. Is it possible to have a paid membership for VIP tiers?

A. Not currently. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this feature.

Q. Can I set up my base tier to reward like this: $50 = 1.5 points?

A. You can use decimal values on the dollar side of an earning rule, but not on the points side. For example:

Base Tier: 1 point per $1.10 spent
Middle Tier: 1 point per $1.00 spent
Top Tier: 1 point per $0.90 spent

Q. Can I display the VIP tier name in all caps on the loyalty widget?

A. Yes. The widget pulls the tier name directly from your VIP tier settings, so edit the tier name to all caps in your program settings.

Q. How do I change the number of points needed to enter a VIP tier?

A. To update entry requirements:

Go to Loyalty > VIP Program and select Manage Settings.
Pause the program to enable editing.
Scroll to the VIP Tier Settings section and adjust the required points.

A 7-day cooldown applies after changes. If you need to bypass this, contact support and we can override the cooldown.

Tier Rewards

Q. Do customers need to click into their VIP tier to access their tier rewards, or do those rewards show up on the general reward ladder?

A. Customers need to click into their VIP tier to view and claim its rewards — VIP rewards don't automatically appear on the general reward ladder.

Q. Is it possible to make tier rewards available on one sales channel and hidden on another — for example, live on POS but hidden on eCommerce, or online-only?

A. Not currently. The VIP program is designed to work consistently across all channels, so customers get the same experience whether they shop online or in-store. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see channel-specific tier rewards.

Q. Is there a way to create an automatic discount for customers in a specific VIP tier?

A. Not currently — there's no feature that auto-applies a discount to orders based on VIP tier. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this feature.

Q. Can I create a different birthday reward per VIP tier?

A. Not currently. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this feature.

Q. Can customers automatically receive a free gift when they enter a new VIP tier?

A. There's no automatic reward triggered purely by tier entry, but you can enable VIP Tier Entry Automation and include a discount block in the email. This lets you offer a 0-point-cost reward — like a free gift — when a customer levels up.

Tier Notifications

Q. Are VIP tier entry emails considered transactional or marketing?

A. If it's sent via the standard VIP entry email automation, it's transactional. If it's sent via a custom automation, it's marketing.

Q. I manually assigned customers to their VIP tiers, but the tier entry email didn't trigger. Is this expected?

A. Yes, this is expected. Manual tier assignment doesn't trigger the standard automation. To notify these customers, create a custom segment for the tier and send a manual or custom-triggered email — or check the Send Email box at the time of the manual assignment.

Q. If I manually adjust a customer's points to meet VIP entry requirements, will the VIP tier entry email be sent?

A. Only if you check the Send Email box during the manual points adjustment.

Q. Is there a notification that shows customers the benefits they'll unlock at the next tier?

A. Not currently. In the meantime, consider creating a loyalty explainer page where customers can see full details of your VIP program and what each tier unlocks.

Q. Outside of the standard VIP automation, can I send custom messages based on tier — for example, notifying a customer who's a few points away from leveling up?

A. Not currently. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this feature.

Q. If I set up a VIP-exclusive reward with 0 points required (for example, for Gold tier), will customers get the Loyalty Reward Unlocked email when they move into that tier?

A. No, not currently — customers who become eligible for a 0-point exclusive reward when entering a tier won't receive the Loyalty Reward Unlocked email. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this added.

VIP Customer Export Questions

Q. Is it possible to include a customer's VIP tier in the customer export?

A. Not currently — VIP tier isn't included in the standard customer export. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this feature.

Q. Can I export a list of customers by VIP tier?

A. Yes. Create a custom segment using the condition "VIP Tier is [tier name]," then export that segment as a CSV file.

Integration-Specific Tier Questions

Bopple

Q. If I create an exclusive VIP-only reward, can it be redeemed via Bopple?

A. Yes, tiered rewards appear in Bopple.

Lightspeed Retail (X-Series) POS

Q. Can my customers' tier status automatically sync to customer groups in Lightspeed Retail (X-Series)?

A. Not currently — there's no feature that automatically updates Lightspeed X-Series customer groups to match a customer's VIP tier in Marsello. Share your feedback here if you'd like to see this feature.

Shopify

Q. For a Shopify store using both POS and eCommerce, can I grant VIP tier access based on spend rather than points?

A. No. Even with "earning points for purchases" disabled, VIP tier entry is still determined by total spend (per year or all-time). Customers will continue to move up and down tiers based on spend, not points.