With direct rewards, you can give shoppers store credit the moment they complete an action in your loyalty program, with no points required. Instead of accumulating points to redeem later, shoppers receive credit directly into their Shopify account, ready to spend at checkout.
This article covers how to set up store credit as a direct reward across the earn rules that support it.
⚠️ Store credit direct rewards are only available to merchants using Shopify customer accounts (not legacy customer accounts). Before configuring, ensure store credit is enabled in your Shopify admin. See Store credits in Loyalty for setup steps.
In this article, you will learn about;
How direct reward store credit works
Earn rules that support store credit
Setting up store credit for an earn rule
Restrictions and configuration options
How direct reward store credit works
When you configure store credit as a direct reward for an earn rule, shoppers receive a fixed amount of store credit automatically when they complete the qualifying action. The credit is added directly to their Shopify store credit balance, with no conversion or redemption step needed.
You can set an optional expiry on each allocation. If expiry is enabled, Shopify uses credits with the closest expiry date first, to minimize loss for the shopper.
Earn rules that support store credit
Store credit direct rewards are available on the following earn rules:
Earn rule | Credit type | Notes |
Join program | Fixed amount | Issued when a shopper enrolls into your loyalty program |
Place an order | Percentage cashback | % of order value credited as store credit. See Set up cash back in your loyalty program for configuration details. |
Share on Facebook | Fixed amount | Issued to the shopper on the social action |
Like on Facebook | Fixed amount | Issued to the shopper on the social action |
Follow on Instagram | Fixed amount | Issued to the shopper on the social action |
Follow on X | Fixed amount | Issued to the shopper on the social action |
Post on X | Fixed amount | Issued to the shopper on the social action |
Follow on TikTok | Fixed amount | Issued to the shopper on the social action |
Refer a friend | Fixed amount | Issued to the referrer on a successful referral |
Celebrate a birthday | Fixed amount | Issued on the shopper's birthday |
Celebrate an anniversary | Fixed amount | Issued on the shopper's loyalty program anniversary |
Custom event (fixed) | Fixed amount | Issued when the custom event fires |
Setting up store credit for an earn rule
The steps below apply to all earn rules that support store credit direct rewards.
Select the earn rule you want to configure.
Under Reward, change the reward type from Points to Store Credit.
Enter the Store Credit Awarded amount: the fixed dollar value of store credit to award when a shopper completes the action.
Under Description, optionally add a Title and Notification text to customize what the shopper sees when they earn the reward.
Under Restrictions, configure any applicable options (see below).
Select Save.
💡 If this is your first time configuring store credit, you may need to enable store credit on your store front. Follow enabling store credit for more information.
Restrictions and configuration options
Store credit expiry
All store credit earn rules support an optional expiry. If set, the credit allocation will expire after the specified number of days if unused.
Under Restrictions, select Store credit expires after and enter the number of days.
Leave this blank if you don't want the credit to expire.
Limiting how often the reward can be earned
For earn rules based on repeatable actions (social follows, custom events), you can limit how many times the reward can be earned across a time period:
Under Restrictions, enable Limit the number of times this reward can be earned and configure the frequency.
This restriction is available on: Share on Facebook, Like on Facebook, Follow on Instagram, Follow on X, Post on X, Follow on TikTok, Custom event (fixed).
It is not available on: Join program, Refer a friend, Celebrate a birthday, Celebrate an anniversary. These actions are inherently limited by their nature.
FAQs
Read through our Store Credit Frequently Asked Questions for more depth.
Can a shopper earn the same store credit reward multiple times?
It depends on the earn rule. For one-time actions like joining the program or celebrating a birthday, the reward can only be earned once (or once per year for birthdays). For repeatable actions like social follows, you can use the Limit the number of times this reward can be earned restriction to control frequency.
What happens to store credit if a shopper's account is a legacy customer account?
Store credit is only available for Shopify customer accounts (not legacy). If a shopper is on a legacy account, they will not be able to receive or use store credit rewards. They will need to migrate to Shopify customer accounts to unlock this feature.
Does issued store credit show up immediately in the shopper's account?
Yes. Store credit is issued directly to the shopper's Shopify store credit balance as soon as the qualifying action is completed and processed (pending any wait period set).
Can I offer both points and store credit on the same earn rule?
No. Each earn rule can only use one reward type at a time: either Points or Store Credit.