Although you can create and manage a loyalty program independently, good customer loyalty program software will help streamline your operations. The best software will also provide automation features and unique loyalty elements that you can utilize to encourage customer retention and drive sales.
We looked at over a dozen customer loyalty program software and narrowed them down to these six:
- TapMango: Best overall loyalty program software
- Yotpo: Best for user-generated content
- LoyaltyLion: Best for comprehensive loyalty rewards
- Smile.io: Best low-maintenance automated solution
- Zinrelo: Best for creating customer segments
- Fivestars: Best for integrated payment processing
All of these software options feature email outreach marketing, points-based reward structures, and at least four POS and ecommerce integrations.
Best Loyalty Program Software Compared
Our Score (out of 5) | Monthly Pricing | POS and Ecommerce Integrations | Free Trial | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.63 | Call for quote | 7 | 2 months |
 | 4.58 | $79–$169+ | 10 | Call for info |
 | 4.56 | From $399 | 4+ | 14 days |
 | 4.19 | $49–$999 | 25+ | 45 days (limited) |
 | 3.72 | Call for quote | 30+ | None |
 | 3.48 | Call for quote | 12 (ecommerce only) | 30 days |
TapMango: Best Overall Loyalty Program Software
Pros
- Social media integrations from the sign-in tablet
- Automatically send referral codes to all customers
- Automated outreach marketing campaigns
Cons
- Difficult-to-navigate merchant interface
- No monthly software prices listed on site
- Not many integrations
Overview
TapMango earned an impressive 4.63 out of 5 in our evaluation. The software offers the best reporting tools among our options, providing insights into customer behaviors and program performance. The TapMango reporting hub also gives you access to tons of information and analysis about your customers, allowing you to better understand and target their needs and wants.
TapMango also offers a slew of different types of rewards structures that you can choose from and allows you to customize the appearance of all your correspondences so you maintain a cohesive brand image.
Who should use it:
TapMango is perfect for any brick-and-mortar business trying to better understand its customers or those looking to start data-driven loyalty initiatives.
Who should use an alternative:
If you are looking for an option that will be better suited to an online business (with the appropriate integrations), try Yotpo, Smile.io, or Zinrelo.
TapMango does not directly list any monthly software pricing on its site. You will need to call to get a demo and quote. The site does say that you can get unlimited tablets with different configurations, as well as multi-location support.
- In-Store Tablet app: Run your loyalty program on a tablet with TapMango’s customer-facing tablet app. Not only that, you can customize the tablet interface to match your brand.
- In-store Sharing: Customers can take photos to share on their social media directly through the sign-in table. You can then use this user-generated content (UGC) in ads for your business.
- Keytags: These are branded keychain-style tags that customers can carry around and use to scan into your tablet to access their rewards and also function as gift cards.
- Branding Customizations: Customize the appearance of your sign-in tablet, loyalty app, emails, and texts so that they reflect your brand.
Yotpo: Best for User-generated Content
Pros
- Ability to integrate product reviews on product pages
- Good integration options with ecommerce sites
- Review accrual through custom on-site and outreach surveys
Cons
- Limited POS integrations
- Limited hours customer support
- Installation could be easier
Overview
Yotpo scored an impressive 4.58 out of 5 in our evaluation. It uses AI to help curate reviews and has social media integrations where you and customers can add social pictures directly to your website.
Yotpo also offers an extensive list of rewards options that can help you boost customer loyalty, including discounts, free shipping, customer segmentation, and tier-based programs. The majority of users agree that it is user-friendly, high-quality, and intuitive to set up. It did lose some points due to limited POS integrations and dissatisfaction surrounding its customer support.
Who should use it:
Yotpo is the best option for businesses looking to use reviews and other UGC to bolster their customer retention.
Who should use an alternative:
Businesses that want plenty of POS integration options and 24/7 customer support should consider a different loyalty program. For lots of integrations, Smile.io would be a better choice; for 24/7 support, go with TapMango, LoyaltyLion, or Fivestars.
- Growth (Up to 500 orders per month): $79 per month
- Prime (Up to 500 orders per month): $169 per month
- Powerhouse: Custom quote
- AI-Driven Reviews Generation: Use AI to collect more reviews, photos, and Q&A through an automated requests system that ensures you ask for feedback in the right way, at the right time.
- On-site Widgets: Incorporate customizable on-site widgets to your ecommerce site to display reviews, photos, and customer social images.
- Visual Marketing Suite: Upload photos to your website from your social media or product pages through social media integrations, and let customers upload their own images to your site.
- Consumer Insights: Access reporting on your reviews and customer feedback to help you understand how customers really feel about your business.
- Success Manager: Yotpo gives you a dedicated success manager who can provide best practices and industry insights.
LoyaltyLion: Best for Comprehensive Loyalty Rewards
Pros
- High flexibility in designing your loyalty program
- Completely branded to your business
- Comprehensive outreach marketing
Cons
- Counterintuitive design interface
- High price point
- Only moderate user popularity
Overview
LoyaltyLion is a great choice for customer loyalty software due to its breadth of features. It offers rewards, points, tiered membership options, and detailed interface customization.
This loyalty software scored 4.56 out of 5. A lack of POS integrations and mixed customer reviews, however, brought its score down. For better customer marks, check out Yotpo and Zinrelo.
Who should use it:
LoyaltyLion is best suited for ecommerce companies that want to design their own unique loyalty program and are ready to invest in their customer retention.
Who should use an alternative:
Businesses needing extensive integrations for POS and ecommerce would do better with alternative options. Smile.io is one option; it only integrates with BigCommerce and Shopify for ecommerce, but has a good set of integrations otherwise.
- Classic (Annual revenue up to $2m): $399+ per month
- Advanced (Annual revenue from $2m–$5m): Custom quote
- Plus (Annual revenue over $5m): Custom quote
- Points and Rewards System: Offer customer points for purchases, referrals, reviews, or any other on-site activity. The customers can exchange those points for gift cards, vouchers, or rewards like free shipping or an exclusive discount.
- Tiered Memberships: Reward customers for engaging with and spending money at your business. Offer various membership levels, and give better rewards as people climb the ladder.
- Referral Rewards: Reward customers for sharing on social media, via email, or over text through custom referral links or use the LoyaltyLion referrals widget.
- Outreach: Reach out to your customers via email or text to remind them of their points, offer discounts, promote sales, and keep customers interacting with your loyalty program. LoyaltyLion offers different email templates and designs for you to choose from, so your emails can be custom to your message.
Smile.io: Best Low-maintenance Automated Solution
Pros
- Highly automated
- Diverse reward offerings
- VIP and referral programs are available
Cons
- Difficult to implement for in-store applications
- Limited messaging customization
- Only integrates with Shopify and BigCommerce for ecommerce
Overview
Due to its automated functionality, Smile.io is extremely low maintenance and requires little oversight. Through a web-based application, you can create a place on your website where customers can sign up for your loyalty program as well as check and redeem their rewards over time. Then, as they perform loyalty actions, they will automatically receive rewards—you don’t have to do a thing.
With an overall score of 4.19 out of 5, Smile.io is a cost-effective option with good value for your dollar. It lost some points due to its limited ability to work for in-store applications and its customization restrictions.
Who should use it:
Smile.io is a great option for a solo operation or business running with a very small staff, as the software is low-maintenance and features a lot of automation.
Who should use an alternative:
Businesses that need a loyalty program for in-store applications and want a high degree of customization would be better off with a different software. Yotpo has an extensive set of loyalty rewards options, and LoyaltyLion has detailed interface customization.
- Starter (Up to 500 monthly orders): $49 per month
- Growth (Up to 2,500 monthly orders): $199 per month
- Plus (Up to 7,500 monthly orders): $999 per month
- Loyalty Action Options: You can choose what actions you want to reward based on what you think will incentivize and engage your unique customer base the most. Your loyalty actions can be anything from account creation to spending $100—there are no limitations.
- Reward Options: Offer dollar discounts, percentage discounts, free products, or free shipping as your loyalty rewards.
- Tiered Program: Create a VIP program where customers sign up for exclusive discounts or rewards, and move through your membership tiers to unlock better prizes.
- Referral Program: Within their rewards profile, customers will have access to a referral link that they can share to earn rewards.
- Emails and Nudges: Reach out to your customers and keep them engaging with your brand with custom-designed emails and remind them of their rewards with on-site nudges.
- International Use: Smile.io is available in a variety of languages so you can operate it around the world.
Zinrelo: Best for Creating Customer Segments
Pros
- Multilevel targeted marketing strategy
- Focus on data science to improve efficacy
- Intuitive merchant interface
Cons
- No live support
- Limited branding customization options
- Pricing not transparent; no free trial
Overview
Zinrelo earned a score of 3.72 out of 5. It offers a customer loyalty program that uses data insights to segment customers based on their journeys and sends shoppers targeted reward opportunities that make sense for their positions. Through its Data Science practice, Zinrelo offers custom program insights, deep data analytics, and machine learning.
It also offers a variety of loyalty program structures, an easy-to-use merchant interface, and omnichannel capabilities.
Who should use it:
Zinrelo is a great option for any business that wants to focus on data to improve the efficacy of its customer loyalty program.
Who should use an alternative:
Businesses that want immediately transparent pricing, extensive branding customization, and live support should look for a different option. Yotpo, LoyaltyLion, and Smile.io have transparent pricing; LoyaltyLion has branding customization; TapMango, Fivestars, and Smile.io have 24/7 support.
Zinrelo does not directly list any monthly software pricing on its site. You will need to fill up a form to get in touch with a team member and receive a quote.
- Discount Program: Let customers exchange their points for discounts, gift cards, or store credit that they can use in-store via your POS or online on your website.
- Status Program: Customers can move up in loyalty tiers as they interact with your business, giving them access to better rewards and benefits.
- Low-Margin Program: Customers earn points for every purchase they make that passes a set minimum amount. This program structure is designed to reward large-volume purchases.
- Data Sciences: Zinrelo provides extensive reports and insights on your customers, segmenting them into groups, analyzing their behaviors, and helping you figure out how best to target different customers at their unique shopping stages.
- Loyalty Promotions: Run exclusive promotions for your loyal customers so your sales are building retention.
- Tiered Program: You can make your program tiered with Zinrelo, rewarding more loyalty with a higher tier and better rewards.
Fivestars: Best for Integrated Payment Processing
Pros
- Customer acquisition network among Fivestar vendors and app
- Customer-facing Fivestars app
- Integrated payment processing with Fivestars Pay
Cons
- No reviews rewards program option
- Integration options could be more comprehensive
- No interface customization options
Overview
Fivestars is an in-store customer loyalty program with its own payment processing and POS terminal through SumUp. While you can integrate Fivestars with your existing POS system, Fivestar offers a credit card terminal with integrated payment processing through Fivestars Payments so you can process transactions and manage rewards all from one place.
Overall, Fivestars earned a 3.48 out of 5 in our review, earning points for its outreach marketing features and unique payments offering. The software lost points, however, because there are limited integrations, and the types of loyalty program you can create is limited as well.
Who should use it:
Fivestars is ideal for businesses that want to streamline their software, or don’t already have a POS or payment processing (Fivestars comes with these). SumUp, which has acquired Fivestars, is an affordable and low-commitment option as a payment processor. Learn more in our SumUp review.
Who should use an alternative:
Businesses that want more program options, customization, or integrations (such as for ecommerce) should choose a different program such as LoyaltyLion or Smile.io.
Fivestars does not directly list any monthly software pricing on its site. You will need to fill up a form or contact a Fivestars team member to receive a quote.
- Automated campaigns (AutoPilot): You can create automated marketing campaigns so that customers receive messages automatically based on your cues. Messages can be sent via text, email, or push notification.
- Customer acquisition: Connect with customers and get them to join your program as your business is promoted in the Fivestars app and on non-competitor customer touch screens (Network Matching). Plus, if you add 20+ new loyalty members in a week, Fivestars will start sending your offers to active local shoppers and diners in the Fivestars community who are well-matched with your business.
- Fivestars Pay: With the Fivestars credit card terminal, you will have built-in payment processing via Fivestars Pay, so that as customers checkout, they can sign up for your program or redeem points during the purchase.
- Fivestars app: Customers can manage their rewards and see the Fivestars marketplace via the Fivestars loyalty app.
How to Choose the Best Loyalty Program Software
When you are looking for a loyalty program to add to your business, there are a few things to consider.
Step 1: Choose a Loyalty Program Structure
You will need to decide what kind of loyalty program you want to have. You should consider things like the type of actions you want to reward, what your rewards will actually be, whether or not you want to have a tiered program, etc. Be sure whatever program you choose can support the loyalty program you want.
Read our guide to customer loyalty program ideas and tips to get inspired.
Step 2: Set Your Budget
Ask yourself how much you want to spend on your loyalty program each month. Consider the return on your investment, the size of your customer base, and your cash flow.
Step 3: Consider Available Integrations
Ideally, you will want your loyalty program software to integrate into your POS and ecommerce site without APIs or additional programming. You should also consider integration capabilities for your payment processor and any other apps or programs you use to operate your business.
Step 4: Consider Return on Investment (ROI)
Before you introduce a loyalty program, you should also weigh how much you think it will benefit your business and the scale you think it will have. This will be part of determining your budget and how you will approach your program’s implementation.
Setting Up & Implementing Your Loyalty Program
As far as setting up your loyalty program, you will have two steps:
Step 1: Customize Your Loyalty Program Structure
This stage can play out in two ways. Either when you sign up for your loyalty program software, you will work with a sales consultant to help get you the tools that you need, or you will configure your account yourself from your account dashboard.
Not all loyalty program software is customizable and there are differences between the levels of customization—from entirely bespoke to none at all.
Step 2: Integrate Your Customer Loyalty Program Into Your Existing Operations
Once your software is set up how you want it, you will want to integrate it into your POS system and ecommerce site.
Implementing your loyalty program is also a multifold process, including:
- Training your staff: You will want to teach your staff how the program works, how to introduce it to shoppers, and how to add new members, as well as issue and redeem rewards.
- Marketing to your customers: You will want to market to your customers and try to acquire members in-store via signage and word of mouth, online via sign-up links and pop-ups or banners, as well as by SMS and email.
- Analyzing results: As time goes on, you will want to look at how your loyalty program is performing so you can understand where it is working and where it is not so that you can make adjustments.
How We Evaluated Customer Loyalty Software
When evaluating the performance and quality of the software in this article, we looked for the capabilities that would most effectively keep customers coming back, as well as those that would make your life easiest in the process.
In this article, we compared loyalty program software based on:
35% of Overall Score
We looked for key loyalty features like customer outreach programs, referral points, reward elements, and much more. Then we scored each program based on its number of offerings.
15% of Overall Score
We looked at how different software charges—whether by scale, features catalog, or both—as well as their free offerings and overall transparency.
20% of Overall Score
We looked at what integration capabilities each program has to offer, including POS, email, website, and app integrations. Additionally, we took into account ease of installation, customer reviews, and customer support capacities.
30% of Overall Score
We looked at value for the money, popularity, overall quality, and an overall score for the program features.
Best Loyalty Program Software Frequently Asked Questions
Click through the questions below to get answers to some of your most asked loyalty program questions.
Loyalty software works best for businesses with a loyal customer base and industries that have a lot of competition. In general, retail and cafes are the most common types of businesses that use loyalty software.
You can always find different ways of rewarding customers and creating a brand community, including hosting events, doing collaborations, and hosting pop-ups. You can also forgo customer loyalty software and track your program by hand.
Loyalty program software automates your loyalty program, saving you time and money. Additionally, having a loyalty program can boost retention, increase sales, create a sense of community, and help build your brand.
Loyalty program software is a tool businesses can use to create and manage their loyalty program, including customers, rewards, and program structure.
Bottom Line
Customer loyalty software is a great way to keep customers engaged with your brand and spending at your business. The best customer loyalty programs will offer comprehensive features that make it easy for you to interact with your customers and your customers to interact with your brand.
