Cash back gives your loyalty members something they can spend straight away. Instead of earning points and converting them into a reward, members get a percentage of every qualifying order back as Shopify store credit. They see their balance in the floating widget and apply it at checkout on their next order. Cash back suits programs where you want the reward to feel like real money, with no points math for your shoppers.
✅ Before you begin
Cash back is in Early Access and available on all Okendo Loyalty plans. To turn it on for your account, contact your Okendo Account Manager.
Make sure Shopify new customer accounts are active. Store credit isn't available on legacy customer accounts.
Turn on store credit in Shopify and give Okendo Loyalty permission to access it. See Enable store credit for your loyalty program.
In this article, you will learn about;
Set up cash back on the Place an Order earn rule
You set up cash back on the Place an Order earn rule. When you switch the rule's reward type from points to store credit, members earn a percentage of their order value as store credit instead of points.
Open the Place an Order earn rule.
Under Reward, change the reward type from Points to Store Credit.
Enter your Cash Back Rate as a percentage of order value. For example, 5% cash back on a $100 order gives the member $5 in store credit.
(Optional) Set a Wait Time before store credit is awarded.
(Optional) Set a different rate for each VIP tier under Tier Variations. See Configure tier variations for cash back.
Select Save.
💡 Match your wait time to your return or refund window. Credit is only issued once an order is unlikely to be refunded, which also deters fraud.
Configure tier variations for cash back
If your program uses VIP tiers, you can set a different cash back rate for each tier. Higher-tier members earn proportionally more, which rewards tier progression without adding points complexity.
For example: Bronze 3%, Silver 5%, Gold 8%.
To set tier rates, open the Place an Order earn rule and enter a rate for each tier under Tier Variations.
Set up cash back promotions
You can temporarily boost the store credit members earn during a promotional period, such as Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) or a loyalty anniversary event.
Select + New Promotion.
Under Apply to Earning Rules, select the Place an Order rule.
Choose a promotion type: Fixed or Multiplier. See the examples below.
Set your promotion schedule.
Select Save.
Fixed: members receive their standard cash back plus a flat bonus amount of store credit on every qualifying order. For example, a $10 fixed bonus on top of a 5% rate means a member placing a $100 order earns $5 + $10 = $15 in store credit.
Multiplier: the store credit earned is multiplied by a set factor. For example, a 2x multiplier on a 5% rate means a member placing a $100 order earns $10 instead of $5. Members see the active promotion in the floating widget.
💡 If you use tier variations, the multiplier applies to each tier's own rate. For example, a Gold member earning 8% earns 16% during a 2x promotion.
💡 Cash back is calculated from the promotion active when the order is placed, not when the credit is issued. A wait time doesn't change the amount.
⚠️ Two promotions can't run at the same time if they target the same earn rule and the same VIP tier.
How cash back works for shoppers who enroll after placing an order
If a shopper places qualifying orders before joining your loyalty program, Okendo tracks the cash back they would have earned as a pending member. When they enroll, Okendo automatically issues store credit for any orders still within the look-back window.
The look-back window is measured from the order date, not from when the credit reaches the shopper's balance. The default look-back period is 7 days. You can change it in Okendo Admin > Loyalty > Configure > Settings. If your earn rule also has a store credit expiry set, Okendo uses whichever period is shorter.
For example, with a 7-day look-back, a shopper who places an order on March 1 has until March 8 to enroll and receive credit for that order. If they enroll on March 9, that order is no longer eligible.
💡 If your earn rule's store credit expiry is shorter than your look-back period, the expiry becomes the cut-off for pending credit. Set both on purpose so shoppers who enroll near the boundary aren't caught out.
How cash back displays to members
When cash back is active, Okendo updates your onsite displays automatically.
Points preview: the points preview shows the store credit a shopper would earn on their current order, rather than a points value. It updates with the order value and appears on product pages and at the cart and checkout.
Earn rule tiles: the Place an Order tile shows the store credit reward everywhere it appears: the floating widget, customer account extensions, the loyalty landing page and post-review loyalty modules.
Store credit balance: members see their current Shopify store credit balance in the floating widget, loyalty landing page, checkout and customer account extensions. The balance is the live Shopify balance, including store credit earned, spent or expired from any source.
View and manage cash back transactions
Use the Activity view and member profiles to track cash back, answer member questions and reverse credit when needed.
View cash back activity across all members
Go to Okendo Admin > Loyalty > Activity. Cash back transactions appear as earning events with the rule type Place an Order. Each transaction shows:
Status: Pending (within the wait time), Completed (store credit issued) or Declined (reversed after a refund, or declined manually)
Store Credit Amount: the value issued
Date: the date of the original order
You can filter by Event: Earning, Status and Date range, and search by member email.
View cash back activity for a specific member
To see one member's full cash back history, go to Okendo Admin > Profiles > Customers > Profiles and open their profile. You'll see every transaction with the same Pending, Completed and Declined statuses.
Use a member's profile to answer questions such as why they didn't receive cash back on an order, or why an amount was removed after a refund.
Manually decline a cash back transaction
If you need to reverse a cash back transaction, you can decline it from the Activity view.
Filter by Event: Earning, and search by member email if needed.
Select the actions icon next to the transaction.
Select Decline Store Credit Earned.
Enter a member-facing reason. Members see this in their activity history.
Enter an internal reason. Only your team sees this in Okendo Admin.
Select confirm to decline.
The transaction is marked as Declined, and the store credit is removed from the member's Shopify balance.
⚠️ Declining a transaction removes real monetary value from a member's balance. Always give a clear, accurate member-facing reason.
How refunds affect cash back
When an order is refunded, Okendo tries to take back the store credit issued for that order. If the member has already spent some or all of it, Okendo takes back whatever is left, up to the original amount. A member's balance never goes below zero.
Each reversal is recorded in the Activity view as a Declined transaction.
❗ Because store credit has real monetary value, you may not recover all cash back on a refunded order. Factor this into your program before you launch cash back.
Notify members when cash back is issued
You can let members know they've received store credit in two ways: the native Okendo email, or a flow in your email service provider (ESP) triggered by an Okendo event.
Option 1: Send the native Okendo email
Okendo includes an email template that tells members when store credit has been issued after a qualifying order.
Open the Loyalty Direct Reward Earned template.
Customize the copy and branding.
Make sure the template is enabled.
The email sends when the store credit is issued, not when the order is placed. Until then, the transaction shows as Pending in the Activity view.
⚠️ If the Place an Order earn rule has a Wait Time, for example one month, the email sends only after that wait time ends.
Option 2: Build the email in your ESP
When store credit is awarded, Okendo sends an Okendo Loyalty Store Credit Awarded event to your connected ESP. Use it as a flow trigger to send your own branded email with your own opt-in rules.
The event includes these properties:
ActionDescriptionStore Credit AmountStore Credit Expiry DateStore Credit Balance
To set up the flow in Klaviyo:
Create a new flow and select Metric as the trigger.
Search for Okendo Loyalty Store Credit Awarded, listed under the Okendo app.
Add your email action.
Apply any profile or opt-in filters you want.
Add the event properties to your email template using the variables below.
Klaviyo template variables
Store Credit Balance =
{{ event|lookup:'Store Credit Balance'|default:'' }}Store Credit Amount =
{{ event|lookup:'Store Credit Amount'|default:'' }}Store Credit Expiry Date =
{{ event|lookup:'Store Credit Expiry Date'|default:'' }}Description =
{{ event.Description|default:'' }}Action =
{{ event.Action|default:'' }}
💡 Store Credit Amount and Store Credit Balance arrive as formatted currency values, for example $5.00. Klaviyo doesn't format currency natively, so handle display formatting in your template.
💡 Like the native email, the event fires when credit is issued, so it respects any wait time. Pending transactions don't fire the event.
For Klaviyo setup, see Integrating Loyalty with Klaviyo.
FAQs
For more questions about cash back and store credit, see Cash Back & Store Credit Frequently Asked Questions.
Q: Can I send members an email when they earn cash back?
A: Yes. Turn on the native Loyalty Direct Reward Earned email in Okendo Admin > Mail > Reward Earned, or build a flow in your ESP triggered by the Okendo Loyalty Store Credit Awarded event. See Notify members when cash back is issued.
Q: Why hasn't my member received their cash back email yet?
A: Check the Wait Time on your Place an Order earn rule. Neither the native email nor the ESP event fires while a transaction is Pending. Both fire when the credit reaches the member's Shopify balance.
Q: Can I offer points and cash back on the Place an Order earn rule at the same time?
A: No. Cash back replaces points on the Place an Order earn rule, because you switch its reward type from Points to Store Credit. Other earn rules, such as Leave a Review or Refer a Friend, keep issuing points if you set them up with points as the reward.
Q: Can members use cash back store credit alongside discount codes?
A: Yes, in most cases. Shopify applies store credit at checkout as a payment method, not a discount code, so it generally works alongside other discounts, subject to your Shopify checkout settings.
Q: How is cash back calculated if an order is partly paid with store credit?
A: Cash back is calculated on the amount paid, excluding store credit. For example, with 10% cash back, a shopper with a $100 order who uses $40 of store credit and pays $60 by card earns $6 in cash back.
Q: Does cash back work with Shopify POS?
A: Yes. Members can spend their store credit in Shopify POS, and POS orders earn cash back using the same earn rule as online orders. For setup, see Integrating Loyalty with Shopify POS.
Q: Can I see how much store credit my program has outstanding?
A: Not in Okendo. Use Shopify's native store credit reports, which show store credit issued, used and expired.