Introduction
For brands, having control over loyalty program eligibility is essential. Depending on your Shopify customer account experience, this setting lets you decide whether all customers, or only members, can earn points.
Overview
Your loyalty program can be configured to include either:
Option | Who can earn points | Who can redeem points | Referrals & VIP incentives |
All customers (default) | All customers (members + guests) | Members only | Open to all eligible customers |
Members only | Members only | Members only | Open to all eligible customers |
💡 Switching from "All customers" to "Members only"?
Non-members keep their existing points balance — but they'll need to become members to earn any new points.
Members, Guests, and Excluded Customers
Every shopper in TrustWILL Loyalty falls into one of three statuses. Here's how we tell them apart.
🟢 Member
A member is a customer we've successfully connected to your loyalty program.
In plain terms: they signed up, and they've interacted with your store in a way that lets us load their loyalty profile. That could be as simple as browsing your homepage after signing up — see how customers become members below for the exact triggers.
Once someone is a member, they get the full experience: earning points, redeeming rewards, and viewing their loyalty info.
🟡 Guest
A guest is someone we know about, but haven't fully connected to your loyalty program yet.
We usually have their email or phone number — maybe they signed up for your newsletter, entered their details at checkout, or just created an account without browsing further. They're not strangers, but they're not full members yet either.
Guests can earn points (when "All customers" is selected), but they can't redeem rewards or see their loyalty info until they become members.
🔴 Excluded
An excluded customer is one you've intentionally removed from the loyalty program — either manually, or by applying a specific tag.
Excluded customers can't earn or redeem points, and they don't appear in your active program.
Quick Comparison
| Member | Guest | Excluded |
Who they are | Signed up + loyalty profile loaded | Has contact info (email/phone) but profile not yet loaded | Manually excluded, or excluded by tag |
Typical examples | Logged-in shopper who's browsed the store | Newsletter subscriber, checkout sign-up, brand-new account holder who hasn't browsed yet | Staff accounts, wholesale customers, problem accounts |
Earn points | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes — only when "All customers" is selected | ❌ No |
Redeem points | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
View loyalty info | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
Refer friends | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Participate in VIP incentives | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
How Customers Become Members
This depends on your Shopify customer account system.
⚠️ On February 26, 2026, Shopify Legacy customer accounts are deprecated. A final sunset date for legacy customer accounts will be announced later in 2026.
New customer account experience
Signing up isn't enough on its own. A customer becomes a member once TrustWILL Loyalty successfully loads their profile — which happens automatically when they visit any storefront page (as long as you've embedded one of our modules).
In Shopify's new account system, we can't access the customer API from inside the customer account area itself. We can only load a customer's profile from:
The storefront (Path A)
Loyalty modules inside the customer account (Path B)
POS (Path C)
Scenario | How it works |
Scenario A: From the storefront | Embed the TrustWILL Loyalty widget, Loyalty Page, or Points Label anywhere in your store. Just one is enough — and it doesn't even need to be visible.
What happens: After sign-up, the customer visits any storefront page — home, product, collection, cart, etc. (anything outside the customer account and checkout). That's it. They're now a member.
Why it's easy: Once any of these modules is embedded, our script runs on every storefront page. The customer just needs to land on one. The script doesn't need to render anything — being loaded is enough. |
Scenario B: From inside the customer account | Customers see Loyalty Hub or Loyalty Status inside the customer account.
What happens: The customer reaches a page where Loyalty Hub or Loyalty Status loads. They're now a member.
Important difference from Path A: Embedding alone isn't enough here. The customer has to actually land on a page where the module loads. (We can't reach the |
Scenario C: From POS | What you need: A connected POS.
What happens: The customer places a POS order in-store. They're now a member. |
⚠️ One edge case to know about
A customer won't be identified as a member if all of these are true:
You have no widget, Loyalty Page, or Points Label embedded on the storefront
You only have Loyalty Hub or Loyalty Status embedded inside the customer account
The customer signs up and never leaves the customer account area
They never land on a page where Loyalty Hub or Loyalty Status loads (e.g. they stay on the Orders page)
This is rare in practice, but it's worth being aware of when you're planning where to embed our modules.
✅ Easy fix: Embed at least one storefront module (widget, Loyalty Page, or Points Label) — any storefront visit will then promote the customer to member. Or, embed Loyalty Status on the Orders page so customers who stay inside the customer account still become members.
Legacy customer account experience
Signing up = becoming a member. No additional steps needed.
Customers become members when they:
Create a store account, or
Place a POS order in-store
Updating Program Participants
Customize your loyalty program to best fit the needs of your store and customer base.
1. Go to Preferences > General
2. In Program participants, please choose between two options:
All customers
Members only
3. Click Save.
💡 Pro Tip:
If you're on the new customer account experience: pick "All customers".
Under Shopify's new accounts, the "member" label matters less than it used to. As soon as a customer verifies their email, they're already a valid user — regardless of how TrustWILL Loyalty labels them internally.
Choosing All customers means every verified shopper can participate from the start. TrustWILL Loyalty handles the membership and rewards logic for you in the background
Common Questions
1. Can I change who participates in the loyalty program after launch?
Yes! You can update the participation settings at any time.
2. What’s the best participant setting for stores using the new customer account experience?
We recommend selecting “All customers” so that both guests and logged-in users can start earning points seamlessly.
3. Do guests get notified when they earn points?
Yes, as long as you've set up email notifications under:
Program > Email > Points/Referrals, and enabled:
Points earned
Referrer points reward
