The Okendo Loyalty integration with Subtotal lets you recognize and reward customers for retail purchases they make outside your online store. By connecting the two platforms, you can issue loyalty points for purchases at major retailers, creating a truly omni-channel loyalty experience that meets your customers where they already shop.
In this article, you will learn about;
What you can do with the integration
Connecting Okendo Loyalty with Subtotal opens up new ways to engage customers and grow your program beyond DTC:
Reward retail purchases Issue loyalty points to customers when they purchase your products at supported retailers. Purchases are verified directly through Subtotal's Purchase Verification Engine, so you can be confident every reward is earned legitimately.
Reward account linking Give customers a one-time points bonus for connecting their retailer accounts (for example, their Amazon or Target account) to your brand. This is a great way to incentivize opt-in and grow your first-party retail data.
Create a truly omni-channel loyalty program Your customers don't only shop on your website, so your loyalty program shouldn't only reward them there either. With Subtotal, retail shoppers become known, engaged customers who are motivated to come back to your online store to redeem their points.
How the integration works
Subtotal acts as the bridge between your customers' retail accounts and your Okendo Loyalty program. Here's what happens end-to-end:
A customer connects their retailer account (e.g. Amazon, Target) to your brand via Subtotal's seamless opt-in flow.
When Subtotal detects a qualifying purchase or a linked account, it fires an event to Okendo Loyalty.
Okendo processes the event against a custom earn rule you've configured and issues the corresponding points to the customer.
The customer receives their points. If they are enrolled in your loyalty program, they can redeem them next time they visit your online store.
Prerequisites
The integration is configured from the Subtotal side. You'll need:
An active Okendo Loyalty account (Advanced plan or above, or API access purchased with Power plan), with a live loyalty program
A Subtotal account, with access to Subtotal Admin. If you have not signed up to Subtotal, go here
Admin access to your Shopify store
Your Okendo User ID and Merchant REST API Key (found under Okendo Admin > Settings > Integrations > Okendo > Credentials). For more on how to retrieve your User ID and API key, refer to this support article.
Installation and configuration of components
To support points issuance from Subtotal, complete the following steps
⚠️ Before completing these steps, please ensure you've connected Subtotal to each retailer and copied the respective Link URL per retailer. For more information, refer to the following support article.
Step 1 - Install Subtotal Connect for Shopify
The Subtotal Connect Shopify app handles authentication. It automatically attaches the member's email address to any retailer account link, so Okendo Loyalty can identify who to reward.
Go to the Subtotal Connect listing on the Shopify App Store and click Install.
Follow the on-screen prompts to add the app to your store.
Step 2 - Generate a Subtotal API key and configure the Shopify app
The Subtotal Connect app needs an API key to communicate with your Subtotal account.
Sign in to the Subtotal Dashboard and navigate to API Keys.
Click Add API key, give it a descriptive name and select Create.
3. Copy the generated key and select Done.
4. Now open your Shopify admin and go to Subtotal Connect > Configuration.
5. Paste the API key into the field provided and select Save.
Step 3 - Connect Okendo to Subtotal
Now you'll integrate Okendo Loyalty with Subtotal.
1. In Subtotal Admin, navigate to Integrations > Okendo > Manage. Select Connect Okendo
2. Enter your User ID and API key and select Save Integration
3. Your integration should now show as Active
Rewarding members for linking their retailer accounts
To issue rewards for linking retailer accounts, you will need to complete the following steps.
Step 4 - Create custom earning rules for linking retailer accounts and add to onsite displays
Each custom earn rule awards a fixed number of points to members who link a supported retailer account to your store.
1. Go to Okendo Admin > Loyalty > Loyalty Rules > Earn Points and select +.
2. Select Custom Event (Fixed Value)
3. Add the points you'd like to award for this action, against Points Awarded.
4. Add an appropriate Title Text and Notification Text. You may choose to add the name of the retailer, to make it more obvious. In the example below, points are being awarded to members who link their Amazon account to Okendo Loyalty.
5. Against Action Link, insert a link, that's a combination of your Shopify Domain URL and your Link URL.
💡 For example, if your Shopify Domain URL is glenns-store.myshopify.com and your Link URL for Amazon is https://link.subtotal.com/4AT1mbKL combine these into the following format:
<Shopify Domain URL>/apps/subtotal/link/<LinkURLIdentifier> or
glenns-store.myshopify.com/apps/subtotal/link/4AT1mbKL
6. Add restrictions to limit the number of times pints are rewarded and augment rewards value, by tier, where necessary.
💡 It should be noted that Subtotal includes measures to prevent unlinking/linking retail accounts multiple times to farm rewards. Members can only be rewarded once per email address.
7. Once you are satisfied with the custom earn rule setup, select Apply and then Save.
8. Reopen the custom earn rule and copy the Action ID.
9. Repeat steps 1 - 8 for each retailer you wish to enable
These custom earn rules will now appear wherever other earn rules are displayed and will contain a call to action, that will initiate the account-linking process.
⚠️ To allocate points for linking retailer accounts, the customer must be a member of your Loyalty program AND logged into their store account. Once enrolled, they can access the call to action.
Step 5 - Add the action in Subtotal
Back in the Subtotal Admin, you'll create an account-linking action that maps the event in Subtotal, to the Okendo earning rule you just set up.
1. In Subtotal Admin, navigate to Integrations > Okendo > Manage and then select Add action.
2. Select account.linked.
3. Complete the fields in the form, ensuring that you only select the relevant retailer against Retailers. Also add the Action ID against the Okendo earning rule ID field. Once you have done this, select Create.
Rewarding customers for purchases with retailers
This action awards a variable number of points based on the value of purchases a customer makes at a linked retailer. Set up is similar to rewarding members for linking their retailer account, with the following key differences:
At Step 4, when creating the new custom earn rule in Okendo Admin > Loyalty > Loyalty Rules > Earn Points, instead of selecting Custom Event (Fixed Value), select Custom Event (Points Per). In this instance, add the desired points per value, in the field provided. For every unit of currency spent on your products with the retailer, Okendo Loyalty will award this amount of points.
Complete the remaining fields, including an Action Name. This will be used as part of the rule description in onsite displays. Finally copy the Action ID.
At Step 5, when adding the new action in Subtotal Admin in Integrations > Okendo > Manage, select purchase.created instead. Complete the remaining fields, including adding the Action ID from the new custom earn rule against Okendo earning rule ID. Update the Start date if you would like to issue points on past purchases. Once you are happy with the setup, select Create.
FAQs
Which retailers are supported?
Subtotal supports a wide range of major US retailers including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Sephora, Ulta, CVS, Whole Foods, Walgreens, and more. Check Subtotal's website for the most up-to-date list of supported retailers.
Can I reward both account linking and purchases, or just one?
You can reward both. In Subtotal, each action maps to a separate custom earn rule in Okendo, one for when a customer links an account account.linked, and one for when a purchase is detected purchase.created. You can configure either or both.
Can I restrict which retailers trigger a reward?
Yes. When configuring actions in Subtotal, you can apply each action to all supported retailers or restrict it to specific ones.
What Subtotal plan do I need? The Okendo integration is available on Subtotal's Prototype plan and above. Merchants must also have Okendo Loyalty on an Advanced plan and above (or have purchased API access, as an add-on for Power plan).
Are points awarded for every item in a purchase, or only items from my brand?
Points are awarded only for items that belong to your brand, purchased from retailers that you have subscribed to, in Subtotal.
Can a member link and unlink the same retailer account repeatedly to collect account-linking points multiple times?
No. The Subtotal Connect Shopify app ensures one connection per customer per retailer account. A customer won't be able to rack up points by repeatedly linking and unlinking the same account.
Does Subtotal handle purchase refunds?
Subtotal does not currently process refunds. A customer who returns an item will keep the points they earned for that purchase, unless manually adjusted in Okendo Loyalty. Refund handling is on Subtotal's product roadmap.
What happens if my purchase volume exceeds my Subtotal plan limit?
Subtotal plans include a generous purchase allowance, starting at 100,000 purchases per year. If you go over your plan limit, a small usage fee applies to additional purchases. Contact Subtotal to discuss your options.
Do customers need to do anything in-store to earn points for retail purchases?
This depends on the retailer. For most retailers, a customer needs to make sure their loyalty or account details are associated with the transaction at checkout. Some retailers, like Target, tie the loyalty account to a payment card, so purchases are picked up automatically when the customer uses that card.
Can I reward purchases made before a member links their account?
Yes. When you configure a purchase.created action in Subtotal, you set a Start date. Any purchases made at the linked retailer on or after that date will be sent to Okendo when the customer first connects their account. Set the start date to the date you want to begin rewarding historical purchases.
Why are points not being awarded after a member links their account?
Check the following:
The customer used the Shopify app link URL (not the direct Subtotal link URL), so their email was not attached to the connection.
The Subtotal Connect app in Shopify has a valid, active API key configured.
The Okendo integration in the Subtotal Dashboard shows an Active status.
The correct Okendo earning rule Action ID has been added to the correct Subtotal action.
The customer is logged in to your Shopify store when initiating the link (so their email is available to the app).
If you have any specific questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out to our support team.