Building a loyalty program is one of the smartest investments for Shopify brands who feel as if they’re churning too much and struggling to grow through acquisition alone.
You can narrow your focus to nurturing existing customer relationships and increase purchase frequency, AOV, and overall customer lifetime value. This is becoming more and more necessary as the average customer acquisition cost cuts deep into profit margins.
Marsello has earned a place in this space by combining loyalty programs with email and SMS marketing. It’s a strong candidate for Shopify brands seeking out an integrated solution to engage customers and drive repeat sales.
That said, Marsello isn’t the right fit for a lot of merchants. You may want a Marsello alternative that offers more flexible reward logic, faster Shopify-native deployment, or deeper customization without inflated costs. Whatever the case, we’re here to help.
Read our list of alternatives to Marsello and weigh all the top options worth exploring in 2025. Or, save yourself the time and stress and just stick with the #1 Shopify loyalty program: Rivo.
Our solution has earned a 4.9/5 star rating across thousands of verified reviews from real brands like yours on the Shopify app store. More than 9,000 eCommerce companies run on Rivo and it’s easy to see why they stick around once they make the switch.
Real-time Shopify sync, drag-and-drop campaign builder, advanced segmentation, fully white-labeled experience, built-in fraud prevention, and unmatched support for merchants of every size. What more could you ask for?
The loyalty program ROI brands are earning on Rivo speaks for itself - 52x. Brands are also seeing a 3.1x repeat purchase rate. See for yourself what’s possible by requesting a demo today, or connect your online storefront and get your loyalty program live in minutes.
What is Marsello?
Marsello is an all-in-one loyalty and marketing platform built for Shopify and Shopify Plus brands that want to increase customer retention and drive more repeat purchases. It combines loyalty programs with powerful email and SMS automation for a singular hub where you can nurture customers across channels.
Merchants can easily build a points-based loyalty program with customizable earning and redemption rules. Customers can earn points for purchases, referrals, birthdays, and more, then redeem them for discounts or rewards, giving them a reason to come back to place more orders and rack up higher cart values. Brands can also set up VIP tiers to incentivize longer-term loyalty with perks that get stronger over time.
Marsello integrates customer purchase data into its email and SMS campaigns. This means you can trigger personalized messaging based on shopping behavior, loyalty status, and engagement history.
You’ll also gain access to powerful tools like pre-built automation flows, abandoned cart reminders, and review requests to recover sales and build stronger relationships.
The intuitive dashboard, seamless Shopify POS integration for in-store rewards, and analytics to measure program performance make Marsello a great candidate for a lot of brands. Not every brand, though. There are a few reasons merchants come to us when they need a Marsello alternative.
Where Marsello Falls Short for Shopify Brands
Marsello takes the position as an all-in-one marketing tool. Sounds great in theory, but it may leave you wishing for a bit more on the functionality front in reality. It may not be a fit for Shopify brands that demand speed, flexibility, and native integrations to keep up with their customers.
Here at Rivo we’ve had quite a few conversations with brands that were looking to make the switch from Marsello, and asked them - what exactly was it that prompted your decision? Here are the most common issues that led them to us.
Limited Loyalty Customization and Reward Logic
Marsello’s loyalty offering covers the basics as far as points, tiers, and referrals go. But you won’t get the flexibility that more advanced Shopify-first solutions provide.
You may not be able to fully customize the on-site experience, and that gap in cohesiveness can hold you back from delivering the on-brand experience you want for your loyalty program. It’ll be hard to match your brand’s design seamlessly across widgets, emails, and checkout.
You’ll run into similar roadblocks as far as customizing reward logic goes. When most brands first start looking into loyalty they want to reward purchases - that’s great, but the real value comes from rewarding all forms of engagement. Alternatives to Marsello let you reward specific SKUs, time-based milestones, or customer segments.
The Need For More Integrations
Marsello integrates with popular platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Klaviyo to name a few. But its ecosystem is relatively narrow compared to competitors, especially when you want to connect with more niche apps or automate across a larger tech stack.
For example, Shopify Plus brands often expect more robust integrations with fulfillment systems, subscription platforms, or advanced analytics tools. Marsello’s list may not meet your needs depending on what you use. In contrast, Rivo supports more integrations out of the box!
Lack of Transparency in Pricing
While Marsello offers multiple pricing tiers, brands find themselves confused about what’s actually included in each level. This lack of clarity can make it harder to forecast ROI or plan your loyalty program’s scale.
Worse, they end up surprised in how much setting up and running their loyalty program actually costs them in the end. Part of this goes back to how many different “prodcuts” exist in the Marsello ecosystem. You could end up paying for features you don’t care about.
Slower Customer Support and Onboarding Experience
Speed is everything to Shopify merchants looking to launch a loyalty program. The quicker you start gathering data and nurturing customer relationships, the better.
Unfortunately, some brands find both the customer support and overall onboarding experience to be a bit slow for their needs. Getting a program live quickly can be tricky without a dedicated in-house technical team.
What Real Marsello Users Had to Say
Beyond our own conversations with Marsello users or those who considered the solution but ultimately chose not to move forward, there are plenty of reviews on the Shopify app store you can explore to get a sense of what steers them away. Here are a few that stood out:
“Priced out of the app. I was a loyal user of this app, but they increased their rates while decreasing the benefits. As a struggling business, I could not afford the rate increase and lost all access to my customer data, including their loyalty points.”
“Customer service is absolutely terrible. The experience has been disheartening and only foreshadows what is to come if we stay with them.”
“In some ways, Marsello is great, but I am regularly surprised by the absence of features that I would consider to be standard, especially given the hefty price tag that Marsello comes with.”
Marsello only has a 3.8/5 star rating on the Shopify App Store, which isn’t awful. But for comparison, Rivo has a 4.9/5 star rating on the Shopify App Store. This is just one of many reasons it’s the #1 Marsello alternative. Learn more about Rivo and your other options below!
What’s the Best Marsello Alternative for Shopify Brands in 2025?
We’re seeing a trend where more and more brands are upgrading from one-size-fits-all tools like Marsello to more purpose-built solutions, especially for something as significant as loyalty rewards management.
Discover the top alternatives to Marsello below, starting with the #1 choice: Rivo.
Rivo
Where Marsello covers the basics, Rivo delivers a Shopify referral program and loyalty program that’s designed exclusively for Shopify merchants looking to maximize retention and organic acquisition.
The Shopify-native integrations are one of Rivo’s strongest advantages over other solutions. You can embed dynamic reward prompts directly into Shopify checkout, validate rewards against live order data, and create custom earning rules based on Shopify-specific attributes like tags, purchase history, or customer segment.
The tiered VIP program builder makes it easy to reward your most valuable customers while motivating others to climb higher, and you can set up advanced earning and redemption rules without writing a single line of code.
This is the ultimate balance between simplicity and customization. You can effortlessly launch fully branded loyalty and referral pages that match your storefront perfectly (without a developer, mind you) using the drag-and-drop campaign designer.
Marsello offers a limited set of integrations, but you gain access to over 150 integrations out of the box to connect your loyalty experience with other tech and create a cohesive experience across every channel.
You also get real-time loyalty program analytics so you can track program performance down to revenue impact, LTV lift, and engagement rates without waiting for a manual report. Rivo has played a part in countless success stories, but there are a few in particular we’re really proud of:
- Rareform saw a 26.9% increase in 30-day repurchase rate
- Ultra Football grew loyalty revenue by $800k in 6 months
- Fresh Chile Co’s new loyalty program added $40k ARR and grew AOV 156%
- Teaspressa migrated to Rivo from an alternative in only 24 hours
- 10% of Emi Jay’s sales now come from Rivo
Learn more about what’s possible with Rivo as your Marsello alternative. You can request a demo today or navigate the setup process on your own given how straightforward it is. It’s time to start boosting retention and see its impact on your bottom line with Rivo.
“So glad I decided to go with Rivo. I was having a few issues setting it all up so I emailed them. Arianne responded back promptly and fixed both of the issues fast. One of the best customer service experiences I have had. Arianne went above and beyond. I also like all the options that Rivo offers.”
“We have been using Rivo for just about a year now across both of our websites. We have been so happy with the Loyalty program, its setup, and its response from our customers!”
“The reward system setup is much simpler and more convenient compared to other apps. Even if there are aspects you’re not familiar with, the support team responds quickly and works hard to resolve any issues. Thanks to this, I was able to build the reward system without fear.”
Loyalty Lion
LoyaltyLion has long been seen as one of the top platforms to build your loyalty program on, and it’s a solid Marsello alternative for Shopify and Shopify Plus brands that want more data than typical solutions offer.
The level of loyalty segmentation you can leverage is one of its biggest strengths. You can create rewards and messaging tailored to specific behaviors, purchase patterns, or even predictive scores like churn likelihood.
Their tiered VIP system and ability to award points for actions outside of purchases (like writing reviews or social follows) add to its versatility. A lot of Shopify brands reference the Shopify POS integration as a selling point. Customers can earn and redeem in-store and online seamlessly.
Where LoyaltyLion can fall short, however, is its complexity for small and mid-sized brands. The platform’s full potential often requires a dedicated team to implement and maintain. Many brands come to Rivo saying the learning curve at Loyalty Lion was just to steep to justify.
That complexity in segmentation and data collection comes at a cost, too. Pricing can scale quicker than you may be able to keep up with, making Rivo the smarter Marsello alternative and Loyalty Lion alternative.
Smile.io
Smile.io is as simple as it gets for brands just starting with loyalty and looking for a clean Shopify integration. It’s easy to set up a points-based program with options to add VIP tiers and referrals.
You get the basic integrations you need with Smile as well, such as Klaviyo and Mailchimp, so you can connect a few of the other tools in your tech stack that matter most and bake loyalty into some of the most important touchpoints. Smile’s on-site nudges and post-purchase prompts help keep loyalty top of mind as well.
What really appeals to a lot of smaller brands who go with Smile, though, is the free plan and budget-friendly paid tiers. You can get a sense of how much you’ll earn from loyalty without having to make a massive investment.
At the end of the day, though, you get what you pay for. Smile.io is built for eCommerce in general rather than exclusively Shopify, and it shows in terms of customization and functionality. You won’t get the same ability to tailor rewards and branding as you will with other alternatives.
Another reason brands end up seeking out a smile.io alternative is the lack of advanced analytics or deep Shopify-native automation restrictive. We know it’s tempting to dip your toes in the water with loyalty programs, but we encourage you to start with a more sophisticated solution from the start so you don’t have to do it all over again a few months down the road.
Yotpo
Yotpo is widely known for its suite of customer engagement tools. Reviews, SMS, and loyalty all live under one roof - sounds great! You can consolidate your tech stack with a single subscription to Yotpo, right? Not quite.
It does make sense as a Marasello alternative if your brand is already using Yotpo for reviews or UGC. Adding loyalty and referrals feels natural. The platform’s unified dashboard lets you cross-leverage customer data to inform campaigns across all touchpoints.
Another major selling point for Yotpo is its VIP and referral modules come with flexible configurations so you can foster even stronger relationships for your best brand advocates. The Shopify integration is well-documented and scales well for high-volume stores, too.
But the challenge with Yotpo - and the reason we believe Rivo is also the #1 Yotpo alternative - is its ecosystem approach to marketing. You’re often encouraged into their broader (and pricey) suite to fully unlock loyalty functionality. Otherwise, the loyalty experience can feel disconnected.
We see a lot of Shopify merchants say the Yotpo loyalty product feels secondary compared to their flagship reviews platform, and support responsiveness has been commonly called inconsistent as well.
Stamped
Stamped made its name in customer reviews and has extended into loyalty with a straightforward, affordable option. Similar to Yotpo, it’s a natural fit for brands already invested in Stamped reviews and looking for a loyalty add-on.
The Stamped loyalty module includes points earning, VIP tiers, and referrals. Setup is relatively straightforward for most small to mid-sized Shopify teams, and the dashboard is familiar to existing users so you won’t have a long learning curve if you already use a Stamped product.
The same reason Marsello, Yotpo, and many other solutions may not be right for you, though is the same reason you’ll end up drawn towards an alternative to Stamped loyalty. The loyalty product isn’t as mature as competitors, and that becomes apparent fast.
Reward customization, analytics depth, and advanced integrations are limited compared to Rivo or even other alternatives. Brands that want more sophisticated programs with dynamic logic or who expect dedicated support for loyalty are underwhelmed with what they can do on Stamped.
The good news? Rivo offers an incredible balance between simplicity and customization. You can hit the ground running fast while still developing a completely on-brand experience with tailored rewards. So, why settle for anything less than the best Marsello alternative?
Bringing Our Marsello Alternative Guide to a Close
Marsello makes sense for some brands building out a loyalty program, but the overwhelming majority of Shopify merchants will be better suited with one of the alternatives on this list.
The right platform needs to be flexible, deeply integrated, and easy for your team to own. It should scale with your brand without cutting into profits and making it difficult to justify.
Rivo is a purpose-built, Shopify-native alternative to Marsello that delivers more control, faster setup, and a truly seamless customer experience. Start growing retention without compromising on any of the factors that matter to you. Request a demo today. Marsello Alternative
