Welcome new members with store credit
Give eligible new members a fixed welcome reward for a later purchase. Set the amount and expiry, then test joining, credit delivery and checkout.
Memberply Growth: US$49/month, unlimited members and a 14-day app trial.
A welcome reward for joining your membership
Sign-up store credit gives eligible members a fixed reward after joining a membership tier. The amount is set by the merchant, rather than calculated from the membership fee. Use it to make the joining offer concrete while reserving value for a later purchase.
This benefit is for membership enrollment. Creating a Shopify customer account or subscribing to a newsletter alone is not the same event. For credit tied to successful membership payments, use fee-to-store-credit; for a separate recurring schedule, use loyalty drops.
Choose an amount customers can use on products they are likely to buy again. A welcome reward can give members a reason to return, but credit issuance alone does not establish extra orders or higher profit.
Example: join an annual membership, receive $20 credit
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| Step | Sample offer | Merchant consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Join | The customer buys a $100 annual membership with a $20 welcome-credit benefit. | Both amounts are illustrative customer-offer values, not Memberply app pricing. |
| Receive | After the eligible paid membership order is processed, native credit is issued to the customer account. | Confirm the credit exists before asking the member to redeem it. |
| Shop later | The member applies $20 credit to a $50 merchandise order and pays $30. | Assumes matching currency, no other discounts and no additional tax or shipping. |
Across those two purchases, cash received is $100 + $30 = $130. The $20 redeemed is not another cash receipt. Budget for merchandise, fulfilment, payment fees and the rest of the annual membership benefits. The hero uses a separate sample $25 reward.
Can the new credit pay for the joining purchase? Native sign-up credit is issued after the qualifying order is processed. It cannot retroactively reduce that order. Present it as credit for a later purchase, not an instant reduction of the membership checkout total.
Set the reward and check the welcome email
In Memberply, open Benefits, select the tier’s Edit Benefits, enable Sign Up Credits and click Edit. Enter the benefit name, description, fixed amount and expiry settings, then save.
For native credit from membership purchases, keep the tier’s welcome email enabled. The current purchase flow checks this setting before issuing sign-up credit. Turning that email off also skips native sign-up credit in this flow. Confirm both the welcome email setting and the credited balance during your trial.
The paid purchase flow also checks whether the customer has previously joined that tier. A renewal is not a new sign-up. Imports use a separate enrollment flow, so test imports separately rather than assuming purchase behavior applies.
See the sign-up credit setup guide and Member Emails.
Expiry depends on the customer account type
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| Account experience | Delivery | Expiry and changes |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify customer accounts | Native store credit issued to the eligible customer account. | Choose days, months, years or No Expiry for each new grant. Later setting changes do not rewrite native credit already issued. |
| Legacy customer accounts | A tier discount code displayed in the member portal, restricted to the membership customer segment and configured for one use per customer. | The shared code’s expiry is calculated when its configuration is saved. It is not a fresh personal expiry starting at each member’s join date. Editing the setting can update the existing code. |
A new legacy member can therefore receive less remaining time than a member who joined earlier. Inspect the actual code end date before promising “30 days from joining.” Native credit and legacy discount codes should not be advertised as identical wallets.
Cancellation, rejoining and changing tiers
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| Situation | What to expect and verify |
|---|---|
| Rejoining the same tier | The native paid-purchase flow checks for an existing member-to-tier record, even if it is inactive. With that record retained, rejoining does not qualify as a first-time sign-up for that tier. |
| Buying another tier | First-time status is checked per tier. A new paid enrollment in a different tier can have different eligibility; test the destination tier’s settings. |
| Merchant tier transfer | A merchant-led tier transfer is a separate flow and does not itself issue a native sign-up credit in the current implementation. Do not promise a fresh reward for every tier change. |
| Cancellation or refund | Cancelling membership does not automatically debit native credit already issued. Its existing expiry and balance rules continue. Review issued credit separately when processing a membership refund. |
These rules are not a universal “one reward per person forever” guarantee. Account records, enrollment routes and legacy code redemption matter. Test cancellation, rejoining and tier changes with controlled accounts before publishing your offer terms.
Make the reward usable at checkout
For native credit, enable Store credit in Shopify and test the customer’s balance after sign-in. Shopify requires customer-account sign-in or Shop Pay, and the credit currency must match checkout. Draft and edited orders do not accept native credit.
Legacy customers apply their discount code at checkout. Test its customer eligibility, remaining expiry and combination with other discounts. A code is not a stored monetary balance, and unused-value behavior should be verified rather than assumed.
For multiple currencies, verify the actual issued amount and redemption currency. Read Shopify’s store-credit requirements and Memberply’s store-credit overview.
Budget for the welcome reward and other benefits
Memberply Growth costs US$49/month, with unlimited members, a 14-day app trial and no Memberply transaction fee. Check the Shopify App Store listing. The app trial does not make customer membership purchases free.
For a sample cohort of 100 eligible new members, a $20 welcome reward creates $2,000 in credit at face value. If you also enable $100 first-payment fee credit on a $100 annual membership, each qualifying member could receive $120 total credit, or $12,000 across that cohort. Check all conditions before combining benefits; the totals are illustrative, not a forecast.
Shopify and payment-provider costs remain separate. Shopify lists fees on credit-paid amounts for stores created on or after May 12, 2025; review its current fee rules. Include goods, fulfilment and other perks using the loyalty cost guide and paid membership launch guide.
A welcome-credit trial checklist
On smaller screens, scroll to see every column.
| Check | Evidence to record |
|---|---|
| Tier configuration | Enable the benefit, set the amount and expiry, and check the welcome email setting for the native purchase flow. |
| New enrollment | Use a controlled first-time member and verify the paid order is processed before expecting native credit. |
| Amount and delivery | Inspect the balance or legacy code, actual currency, expiry and member notification. |
| Later checkout | Redeem on a separate appropriate test order. Check remaining balance or code behavior and other discounts. |
| Enrollment edge cases | Test rejoining, buying a different tier, merchant transfers and imports only if those routes are part of your program. |
| Offer budget | Add sign-up credit to first-payment fee credit and other benefits. Verify cancellation and refund terms against the actual credit behavior. |
Sign-up credit questions
Can I give Shopify members welcome store credit?
Yes. Memberply lets you configure a fixed sign-up credit benefit for eligible membership enrollment. Creating a customer account or joining a newsletter alone is not membership enrollment.
Can the new credit pay for the joining order?
Native sign-up credit is issued after the qualifying paid membership order is processed. It cannot retroactively reduce that order; present it as credit for a later purchase.
Does the welcome email setting affect native credit?
Yes. The current membership purchase flow requires the tier’s welcome email to be enabled before it issues native sign-up credit. Verify both the setting and the actual grant.
Do members get native credit again when rejoining the same tier?
With the existing member-to-tier record retained, the paid purchase flow does not treat rejoining as a first-time sign-up. Test your enrollment route before promising repeat rewards.
Can I set an expiry?
Yes. Native grants receive their own expiry or No Expiry. Legacy sign-up codes have a shared tier-level expiry set when their configuration is saved, so they do not give every member a fresh personal validity period.
Does cancelling remove issued native credit?
No automatic debit occurs just because membership is cancelled. Existing expiry and balance rules still apply, and refunds should be reviewed separately.
Is sign-up credit the same as fee-to-store-credit?
No. Sign-up credit is a configured joining reward. Fee-to-store-credit follows eligible successful membership payments. If both apply, budget the combined reward.
Merchant proof
Merchants use Memberply to launch practical membership programs
Real reviews point to the same conversion concerns: clear value, native store features, sensible pricing and responsive support.
"The app is great and does exactly what i need it to. It is well priced and Doug is so great."
Olverum Official Store
United Kingdom
"Works with Shopify's native store credit and checkout. Their pricing is fair, and their support is legendary."
Puzzery
Canada
"Our store is based in Argentina so we don't have access to Shopify Payments... Memberply solved it."
Elemental Outfit
Argentina
Give new members a reason to return
Test your welcome-credit offer with Memberply’s 14-day app trial.