Selecting the right retention tools for your Shopify Plus store can influence repeat purchases, customer lifetime value, and the operational effort required to manage your retention program. LoyaltyLion primarily provides loyalty and engagement capabilities, while ReferralCandy specializes in referral and affiliate marketing. Rivo offers a broader Shopify-focused retention platform that can combine loyalty, referrals, VIP tiers, paid memberships, and customer accounts.
Understanding the differences between these platforms can help merchants choose between a specialized tool and a more connected retention stack.
Key Takeaways
- Rivo offers loyalty, referrals, VIP tiers, memberships, and customer-account products for Shopify merchants. Pricing varies by plan, order volume, and product requirements.
- LoyaltyLion focuses on loyalty and engagement, with support for Shopify, Shopify Plus, and Magento, along with segmentation and analytics capabilities.
- ReferralCandy focuses on referral and affiliate programs, making it more suitable for merchants whose main objective is customer-led acquisition.
- Rivo is SOC 2 Type II certified, with controls audited annually by an independent third party.
- Customer results cited in this article come from vendor-published case studies and should not be interpreted as guaranteed outcomes.
Understanding Loyalty and Referral Software for Shopify Plus
LoyaltyLion and ReferralCandy address different parts of the customer lifecycle.
LoyaltyLion helps merchants operate points programs, rewards, loyalty tiers, referrals, and customer-engagement campaigns. Its official integrations information confirms support for Shopify, Shopify Plus, and Magento.
ReferralCandy concentrates on referral and affiliate marketing. It helps merchants issue referral links, attribute purchases, manage rewards or commissions, and monitor program performance.
Rivo takes a broader approach. Its platform is designed for Shopify and can connect loyalty, referrals, paid memberships, customer accounts, cashback, and related retention experiences.
The most appropriate platform depends on whether a merchant needs a focused referral tool, a conventional loyalty platform, or several retention capabilities working together.
Why Shopify Architecture Matters
Shopify has replaced older checkout customization methods with Checkout Extensibility. checkout.liquid is no longer supported for the core Information, Shipping, and Payment steps, and Shopify has moved merchants toward extensions and Shopify Functions.
This makes current Shopify compatibility an important evaluation criterion. Merchants should consider whether a platform supports checkout extensions, Shopify Functions, theme app extensions, Shopify Flow, new customer accounts, and discount combinations where relevant.
Rivo is built specifically for Shopify and uses modern Shopify capabilities across its loyalty, referral, membership, and account products. Depending on the plan and configuration, available capabilities can include:
- Checkout extensions for loyalty and referral engagement
- Shopify Flow integrations
- Theme-based loyalty experiences
- Combinable discount support
- Compatibility with Shopify’s new customer accounts
- Developer APIs, webhooks, JavaScript tools, and metafields
These capabilities can reduce the need to connect separate retention tools, although merchants should verify the exact features available on their selected plan.
Loyalty Features and Customer Engagement
Effective loyalty programs can include points, rewards, tiers, redemption options, personalized messaging, and customer-facing program pages.
LoyaltyLion’s Loyalty Capabilities
LoyaltyLion offers capabilities such as:
- Points and rewards programs
- Loyalty tiers on eligible plans
- Referral functionality
- Customer segmentation
- Loyalty analytics
- Integrations with Shopify and marketing platforms
LoyaltyLion also documents compatibility with Shopify’s new customer accounts. Merchants should confirm current plan availability, pricing, and platform support directly with LoyaltyLion.
ReferralCandy’s Approach
ReferralCandy is primarily designed for:
- Customer referral programs
- Affiliate programs
- Referral links and attribution
- Advocate and affiliate rewards
- Automated payouts and program communications
- Fraud monitoring
It is not positioned as a complete points-based loyalty and paid-membership platform, so merchants needing those functions may require additional applications.
Rivo’s Loyalty Capabilities
Rivo’s loyalty program can include:
- Points and reward programs
- Cashback and store-credit experiences
- VIP tiers
- Custom earning and redemption rules
- Loyalty landing pages and embedded experiences
- Checkout and post-purchase touchpoints
- Shopify Flow integrations
- Analytics for loyalty participation and attributed activity
Rivo’s published pricing materials describe more than 150 platform features and eight checkout extensions, but access can vary by plan and product configuration. Merchants should confirm the precise feature set during evaluation.
Creating Branded Loyalty Experiences
A loyalty program should reflect the brand’s customer journey rather than rely solely on generic point multipliers.
Rivo provides visual customization options and developer tools for merchants that need more control over their loyalty experience. Its Developer Toolkit includes REST API functionality, JavaScript tools, webhooks, and metafields for custom implementations.
Rivo also publishes customer case studies describing the outcomes of individual programs. These results are useful examples, but they are vendor-reported and depend on the brand, offer, customer base, implementation, and measurement method.
Referral Marketing Capabilities
Referral programs encourage existing customers to introduce new buyers to a brand. Their effectiveness depends on the offer, customer satisfaction, fraud controls, sharing experience, and post-referral journey.
ReferralCandy’s Referral Specialization
ReferralCandy provides referral and affiliate capabilities that can include:
- Referral links
- Referral landing experiences
- Advocate and affiliate rewards
- Cash or discount incentives
- Purchase attribution
- Automated program communication
- Fraud monitoring
- Affiliate dashboards and payouts
ReferralCandy promotes a relatively fast launch process, but implementation time depends on the merchant’s program design, storefront, integrations, and approval requirements.
Its pricing should be evaluated against expected referral volume and revenue. Merchants should review current plan terms directly rather than assuming that one pricing model is always less expensive.
LoyaltyLion’s Referral Features
LoyaltyLion includes referral capabilities within its broader loyalty platform. These can allow merchants to reward customers for successful referrals and connect referral activity to their points program.
Merchants that need advanced affiliate management or cash commissions should compare those requirements against LoyaltyLion’s current functionality.
Rivo’s Referral Capabilities
Rivo’s Shopify referral program can include:
- Customer referral pages
- Unique referral links or codes
- Advocate and friend rewards
- Referral activity connected to loyalty programs
- Post-purchase referral touchpoints
- Fraud-prevention settings
- Shopify and marketing-platform integrations
In a Rivo-published case study, HexClad reported more than $450,000 in referral revenue, a 92x ROI, and a 17% increase in AOV among referred customers during the first 90 days of its program. This is a single customer result and should not be treated as a standard forecast for other merchants.
LoyaltyLion vs ReferralCandy
The central choice between LoyaltyLion and ReferralCandy is whether a merchant needs a loyalty platform or a specialized referral and affiliate tool.
LoyaltyLion: Loyalty and Engagement
LoyaltyLion may suit merchants that prioritize:
- Points and rewards
- Loyalty tiers
- Customer segmentation
- Loyalty analytics
- Connections with marketing, service, and review tools
- Support for Shopify, Shopify Plus, or Magento
Its current product and contract terms should be verified directly, particularly for tier availability, advanced features, implementation services, and billing commitments.
ReferralCandy: Referral and Affiliate Marketing
ReferralCandy may suit merchants that primarily need:
- Customer referrals
- Affiliate campaigns
- Referral tracking and attribution
- Cash, discount, or commission-based rewards
- Automated affiliate management
- A dedicated referral acquisition tool
Merchants should model total cost based on current plan fees, any performance-based charges, referral revenue, and required integrations.
Rivo: Connected Shopify Retention
For merchants that need loyalty and referrals alongside memberships or customer accounts, Rivo provides a connected Shopify-focused alternative.
Its architecture supports current Shopify capabilities such as checkout extensions, Shopify Flow, new customer accounts, theme app extensions, and combinable discounts.
Rivo is also SOC 2 Type II certified. Its security page states that its controls are audited annually by an independent third party and continuously monitored.
Pricing and Commercial Considerations
Rivo’s pricing is structured around plan level, order volume, and product requirements. Its current materials indicate that plans may include different combinations of Loyalty, Referrals, Memberships, Accounts, or custom products.
The Rivo pricing page should be treated as the current source for plan availability. Merchants should confirm:
- Included monthly order volume
- Included products
- Checkout-extension access
- Integration limits
- Developer access
- Support level
- Customer success services
- Any additional usage charges
ReferralCandy’s total cost should be assessed using its current pricing terms and expected referred revenue.
LoyaltyLion merchants should request current pricing and contract information directly. The available official sources reviewed do not establish that every customer must sign an annual agreement.
A valid comparison should consider total operating cost, not only the advertised monthly fee. This includes additional applications, integration effort, implementation support, developer work, and performance-based fees.
Building a Connected Retention Strategy
A retention strategy often spans more than one program. Loyalty, referrals, memberships, customer accounts, email, SMS, and customer service can all influence whether a customer returns.
Loyalty, Referrals, and Memberships
Rivo Memberships is designed for Shopify Plus merchants. It uses checkout extensions, modern discount capabilities, and Shopify Plus infrastructure rather than checkout.liquid.
Membership programs can offer benefits such as:
- Member pricing or discounts
- Early product access
- Exclusive benefits
- Member-specific storefront or account experiences
The exact billing, eligibility, feature, and implementation requirements should be confirmed with Rivo. Membership availability should not be assumed to be included in every standard loyalty plan.
Measuring Retention Performance
Rivo’s analytics can help merchants evaluate metrics such as:
- Program participation
- Reward redemption
- Loyalty-attributed activity
- Member and non-member performance
- Referral conversions
- Points and reward liabilities
Attribution metrics should be interpreted carefully. Loyalty-attributed revenue does not always mean that every attributed purchase was caused solely by the loyalty program.
In a Rivo case study, Portland Leather Goods reported that loyalty was tied to 17.4% of total revenue after its migration. This figure reflects that brand’s program and Rivo’s attribution methodology.
Customer Accounts and Activation
Rivo also offers customer-account products that can connect account activity with loyalty and referral experiences.
Rivo Accounts
Rivo Accounts is compatible with Shopify’s new customer accounts. Depending on configuration, customers can access order information, loyalty activity, referrals, and personalized account content.
Merchants should verify the availability of specific functions such as wishlists, authentication methods, returns, subscription management, or wallet passes before publishing them as included features.
Rivo Activate
Rivo Activate is designed to reduce friction when customers enter a storefront from a Klaviyo email. Rivo demonstrates a 26-character authentication string used to support the login process.
Rivo reports that one flagship brand experienced a 500% increase in new daily activated accounts within 30 days of enabling the product. This is a single reported customer result rather than a guaranteed or platform-wide range.
Integrations and Developer Capabilities
Rivo maintains an integration directory covering tools in categories such as email, SMS, subscriptions, reviews, customer service, mobile commerce, and Shopify automation.
Published integrations include:
- Email and SMS: Klaviyo, Attentive, Postscript, and Omnisend
- Subscriptions: Skio, Recharge, Smartrr, and Loop
- Reviews: Okendo, Stamped, Junip, and Judge.me
- Customer service: Gorgias and Zendesk
- Shopify tools: Shopify Flow, Shopify POS, and Shop
Merchants should confirm the depth and direction of each data sync. The existence of an integration page does not necessarily mean every event, property, or workflow is available on every plan.
Rivo Customer Results
Rivo publishes several customer case studies showing how individual brands use its products.
HexClad
HexClad reported more than $450,000 in referral revenue, a 92x ROI, and a 17% increase in AOV among referred customers during the first 90 days of its referral program.
Portland Leather Goods
Portland Leather Goods reported that loyalty was tied to 17.4% of total revenue following its migration to Rivo.
Neuro
Rivo describes Neuro’s rebuilt rewards program as a 5x repeat-purchase engine.
These case studies demonstrate possible program outcomes, but they should not be interpreted as typical or guaranteed performance.
Across its broader published analysis, Rivo reports:
- A 52x median ROI based on its case-study methodology
- A 3.1x improvement in repeat purchase rate
- Approximately 4% of revenue attributed to loyalty activities
These are Rivo-reported aggregate figures. Merchants should review the underlying methodology, included customers, attribution windows, and definitions before using them in financial projections.
Final Verdict: Making the Right Choice for Your Shopify Plus Brand
LoyaltyLion, ReferralCandy, and Rivo are not exact substitutes.
LoyaltyLion may be appropriate for merchants seeking a dedicated loyalty and engagement platform with segmentation, tiers, and analytics.
ReferralCandy may be appropriate for merchants whose primary objective is operating referral and affiliate campaigns.
Rivo may be appropriate for Shopify merchants seeking to connect loyalty, referrals, memberships, customer accounts, and related retention experiences through one provider.
The decision should account for:
- Required retention products
- Current ecommerce platform
- Checkout and account requirements
- Integrations
- Developer resources
- Fraud controls
- Analytics and attribution
- Implementation support
- Contract terms
- Total operating cost
Merchants should verify all pricing, plan inclusions, service levels, and implementation timelines directly with each vendor before signing an agreement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between Rivo and traditional loyalty platforms?
Rivo is a Shopify-focused retention platform that can connect loyalty, referrals, VIP tiers, memberships, and customer-account products. Traditional loyalty platforms may concentrate primarily on points, rewards, tiers, and customer engagement. Exact product access depends on the selected Rivo plan and commercial agreement.
How does Rivo support compatibility with Shopify updates?
Rivo uses current Shopify capabilities including checkout extensions, Shopify Flow, theme app extensions, Shopify’s new customer accounts, and modern discount infrastructure. No vendor can guarantee compatibility with every future Shopify change, so merchants should review current documentation and support commitments as part of procurement.
What ROI can merchants expect from Rivo?
Rivo reports a 52x median ROI and a 3.1x repeat-purchase-rate improvement based on its published case-study analysis. These figures are not guaranteed. Actual results vary according to the brand, customer base, program design, incentives, promotion, margins, measurement window, and attribution method.
Does Rivo offer loyalty and referral marketing?
Yes. Rivo offers loyalty and referral products that can work together, allowing merchants to connect referral activity with points, rewards, tiers, and customer accounts. Membership and account products may have separate eligibility, pricing, or implementation requirements.
Can Rivo integrate with existing ecommerce tools?
Rivo publishes integrations with platforms including Klaviyo, Gorgias, Skio, Recharge, Okendo, Stamped, Shopify Flow, and Shopify POS. Merchants should confirm the specific events, fields, actions, and plan requirements supported by each integration.
.jpg)
