How do I migrate loyalty program points/tiers/history to Shopify during a full replatform?
Short answer
Loyalty point balances and current tiers migrate to the loyalty app on the new Shopify store by file import; earning and redemption history does not. Smile.io moves "only current points balances", and LoyaltyLion imports points and tiers "but not historical orders" (Smile Help Center, LoyaltyLion Help Center, October 2026). Keep the new program disabled until the store is live, so test orders can't earn points on top of the imported balances.
- What crosses to the new app
- Current balance and current tierSmile.io: only current points balances and the current tier move; past earning, redemption and tier history don't transfer (October 2026).Source: Smile Help Center (Move a Smile loyalty program to a new eCommerce platform)
- LoyaltyLion points import
- Adds to the balance; revert within 90 daysImporting 100 points for a member holding 400 leaves 500, so points earned before the import stack on top (October 2026).Source: LoyaltyLion Help Center (Imports)
- When to import
- Close to launch; allow up to 24 hoursLoyaltyLion: points earned with the old provider after the export miss the file, and a large import can take up to 24 hours (October 2026).Sources: LoyaltyLion Help Center (Migrating from a different loyalty program, Imports)
- Member notice of the import
- No Smile.io email; a history line on bothSmile.io sends no email for file imports except tier moves; LoyaltyLion shows each import in the member's history with up to 40 characters of reason (October 2026).Sources: Smile Help Center (Import points via CSV file); LoyaltyLion Help Center (Imports)
Deploi’s call
Carry balances and current tiers across by file at cutover, and announce the balance before a customer discovers it. The migration risk here is not technical (balances import cleanly); it is that a member logs in, sees five years of history gone and reads it as the brand devaluing their status.
BuyCarry balances and tiers into the new app at cutover when
- Customers are in Shopify and the loyalty app's customer sync has finished, because both apps skip rows that match no customer (Smile Help Center, LoyaltyLion Help Center, October 2026).
- The new program has stayed switched off, so no test order has earned points.
- Earning on the old program is frozen and members know the dates, as our Smile.io vs. LoyaltyLion record advises for any loyalty ledger move (October 2026).
- Finance has signed off the exported points total as the liability you're carrying over.
CustomizeKeep a read-only export of the old program when
- Members will ask about earning or redemptions from before the move, which neither app imports (Smile Help Center, LoyaltyLion Help Center, October 2026).
- Tier status rests on past spend: LoyaltyLion's dated progression import carries it, while Smile.io places the current tier only (LoyaltyLion Help Center, October 2026).
- Unused reward codes are outstanding, since Smile.io's codes stop working on a different platform (Smile Help Center, October 2026).
Basis: Smile.io vs. LoyaltyLion: Which Points Program Pays?, our Build vs. Buy decision record, scored BUY.
Does a loyalty program move to Shopify, or get rebuilt?
A loyalty program gets rebuilt on the new store, not moved: you open a new loyalty app account there and load members' balances into it. Smile.io is explicit: "You cannot move or transfer an existing Smile account" (Smile Help Center, October 2026). Its settings "don't transfer automatically", so branding, rewards and earning rules are recreated by hand. LoyaltyLion says the same of rules, rewards and tiers: moving the data "is only part of it", and "you also need to rebuild it" (LoyaltyLion Help Center, October 2026). Loyalty runs beside the subscription program that moves in the same replatform, on simpler terms. There are no contracts or payment mandates, so what moves is a ledger in a file.
What survives the move: balances, tiers or history?
Balances and current tiers survive the move; history doesn't. Both apps load each member's current points balance and current tier, but neither carries the earning and redemption events behind the balance (Smile Help Center, LoyaltyLion Help Center, October 2026).
| Member data | Smile.io | LoyaltyLion |
|---|---|---|
| Current points balance | Imported from a file of emails and points | Imported from a file of emails or store customer IDs and points |
| Current tier | Imported on Growth and higher plans, upgrades only | Placement import, run by LoyaltyLion support |
| Progress toward a tier | Current tier only; tier history doesn't transfer | Dated progression import of past spend or points |
| Earning and redemption history | Doesn't transfer | Not one of its five import types |
| Past orders | No automatic points for purchases made before the app | Not imported |
| Unused reward codes | Not imported, and they won't work on a different platform | Not covered in its migration guide |
What each app's import file accepts and what each app costs is its own answer. The bottom four rows are what members call "my history", so they decide what you tell members at launch. Two balances need their own route: referral rewards owed sit in a separate ledger, and a loyalty balance kept in dollars belongs in Shopify store credit.
In what order should the loyalty cutover run?
The loyalty cutover runs customers first and the program switch last, because both apps skip import rows that match no customer.
- Load customers into Shopify and let the loyalty app sync. Smile.io says "all customer profiles must exist in your new store before you can assign points to them" (Smile Help Center, October 2026). On Shopify, LoyaltyLion's points import stays disabled until its initial customer sync finishes (LoyaltyLion Help Center).
- Build the program and leave it disabled. Smile.io's tip: "Keep your loyalty program disabled until your new store is fully set up" (Smile Help Center).
- Freeze earning on the old program and export on cutover day. LoyaltyLion says to import "Close to launch", because points earned with the old provider after the export miss the file (LoyaltyLion Help Center).
- On Smile.io, import tiers before balances if tiers count points earned. A points import that lifts a member into a new tier pays that tier's entry reward (Smile Help Center). A tier import pays none (Smile.io's tier guide).
- Import the balances. A LoyaltyLion points import can be reverted for 90 days (LoyaltyLion Help Center), while Smile.io's file imports "are not reversible" (Smile Help Center). LoyaltyLion runs tier imports itself because they "cannot be undone". Large imports can take up to 24 hours, so book the tier import before cutover day.
- Switch the program on and announce the balance in the same hour.
Why do test orders create phantom points?
Test orders create phantom points when the new program is switched on before launch, because every live earning rule pays out on them. Smile.io warns that if the program is enabled too early, "customers may earn points from active earning rules" (Smile Help Center, October 2026). The imported balance then lands on top. LoyaltyLion's points import "adjusts the balance rather than replacing it, so importing 100 points for a customer who already has 400 leaves them with 500" (LoyaltyLion Help Center, October 2026). Smile.io's comma-separated values (CSV) import also offers a reset that "replaces the customer points balances to what you have set in the CSV file" (Smile Help Center). A reset clears the mistake, but it also wipes points members earned honestly since launch. So keeping the program off until launch is the cheap fix, and a reset afterward is the expensive one.
How do you tell members their history is gone?
Tell members before launch, in an email from the brand, because neither app announces an imported balance the way members expect. Smile.io says of its comma-separated values (CSV) imports: "Customers don't receive email notifications for CSV imports", except when an import moves a member up a tier (Smile Help Center, October 2026). LoyaltyLion shows each import in the member's loyalty history, with a reason of up to 40 characters, or "Adjustment" if the reason is blank (LoyaltyLion Help Center, October 2026). Smile.io shows its own customer-facing note in each member's points history, or a default one (Smile Help Center). Write both notes on purpose, such as "Balance from our previous program".
The email states the current balance, the current tier, the date earning restarts and where to ask. Keep the old program's export for support, because past earning and redemption history "won't appear" in a new Smile.io account (Smile Help Center). Neither app keeps a line like "you earned 200 points on 14 March 2024", because those events belong to the old program's ledger.
Deploi’s point of view
Our own position, from building on Shopify. Kept apart from the sourced facts above.
- What we’ve seen
- The recurring defect is sequencing, not data. Loyalty instances get switched on while the new store is still being populated, test and seed orders earn real points, and the imported balance then lands on top of points that should not exist. Disabled-until-live is the whole fix.
- Where we disagree
- Loyalty vendors market migration as a supported path. It is supported for balances, tiers and a few profile fields such as birthdays. Everything a member would call "my history" is out of scope, and that should be said in the sales conversation rather than discovered at cutover.
- What this page adds
- that loyalty does not follow the subscription pattern at all: there are no contracts and no payment mandates, so the constraint is ledger ownership rather than vault portability.
Decision records behind this answer
When this answer changes
- Smile.io or LoyaltyLion starts importing earning history, redemption history or past orders.
- LoyaltyLion changes its 90-day revert window, or makes points imports replace balances instead of adding to them.
- Smile.io makes file imports reversible, or starts emailing members about imported balances.
- Smile.io opens tier imports below its Growth plan.
- Shopify launches a native points program, which would change where balances land.
Related questions
This follows from How do I migrate an active subscription program (Recharge, Skio, or a legacy platform's native subscriptions) during a full platform replatform?
- How does a legacy platform's built-in loyalty/rewards module map to Smile.io or LoyaltyLion on Shopify, and what program rules commonly don't survive the switch?
Smile.io and LoyaltyLion move a legacy loyalty module's points balances and tier positions by file, not its program (Smile Help Center, LoyaltyLion Help Center, October 2026).
- How do customer referral-program records (who referred whom, referral rewards owed) migrate as customer metadata during a platform switch?
Referral records don't migrate into Shopify as customer metadata, because Shopify has no referral object: its customer import has no referral column (Shopify Help Center, October 2026).
- What's the migration path for Lightspeed's built-in customer loyalty program if Shopify has no native loyalty equivalent?
Lightspeed X-Series loyalty is a dollar balance, not points, so its closest Shopify home is native store credit (Lightspeed X-Series support, October 2026).
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. Official and vendor pages are checked on the date shown; Deploi records are our own published decisions.
- Smile Help Center, Move a Smile loyalty program to a new eCommerce platform
- Smile Help Center, Import points via CSV file
- Smile Help Center, Change customer VIP tier
- Smile Help Center, Award points on previous purchases
- LoyaltyLion Help Center, Migrating from a different loyalty program
- LoyaltyLion Help Center, Imports
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, Smile.io vs. LoyaltyLion: Which Points Program Pays?