Moving your loyalty or membership program to Shopify

A loyalty program migration moves an existing program to a new platform while accounting for member identity, eligibility, earned rewards and any recurring payments. Treat these as separate workstreams with their own checks.

Memberply can import member records across multiple membership tiers from one CSV file. That does not automatically move a points ledger, store-credit balance, payment mandate or subscription contract. Agree how each will be handled before you invite members to the new experience.

This checklist applies both when moving a program from another platform to Shopify and when changing membership apps within an existing Shopify store. A same-store move may already have customer records and credit balances that should be preserved rather than recreated.

Use the current Memberply import template and instructions as the field reference. Do not add payment-card details to a member CSV.

Export a dated snapshot from the old system before making changes. Keep member records, reward transactions, outstanding balances and subscription schedules as separate datasets, linked by stable identifiers. A basic contact export is not a complete migration backup.

Map every old tier to its intended destination. Record what active, paused, cancelled and expired mean in the source system. Avoid treating every contact as an active member.

Memberply supports a previous-system member number as text, including leading zeros. Matching uses that number first, otherwise a unique email address within the store. Conflicting numbers or email matches require review. Reconcile your source before upload instead of relying on a name match.

For new records, a blank Active field defaults to active and a blank DateJoined defaults to today. On existing records, blank values preserve those fields. Set them deliberately when maintaining the source status or join date matters.

Use the WooCommerce memberships to Shopify guide for source-specific field mapping, overlapping plans and payment setup checks.

In Memberply, open Members > Import Members, choose the default membership tier and use the CSV template. Add MembershipTier with each row’s tier name, or MembershipTierId with the number shown in the import dialog. Blank tier cells use the selected default. Unknown or ambiguous tiers reject that row. Each file supports up to 500 member records, excluding the header. Split larger datasets into controlled batches.

Start with a small, representative sample. Include active and inactive members, existing Shopify customers, a legacy member number and a recurring membership that needs payment setup. Test with authorized records and check the result before expanding.

Active imports grant benefits immediately. Choose the timing accordingly. Welcome and payment setup invitations are optional and off by default, but leaving them off does not disable scheduled payment reminders for eligible imported recurring memberships.

Review each result as created, updated, unchanged, rejected or partial. Some valid rows can succeed even when others fail. A partial result needs investigation before retrying, since the member may already exist. Reconcile counts by tier and status, not just the number of rows submitted.

Moving or reactivating an existing member can change access and expiry behavior. Existing subscriptions may require review before a tier change. Follow the import guide for these cases.

Points, promotional store credit and gift cards are different types of value. Do not assume a points balance can be imported as the same number of currency units. Decide the conversion, eligibility and expiry rules before promising anything to members.

For each member, reconcile opening balance, earned or issued value, redemptions, adjustments and remaining value. Include pending rewards and the effect of refunds. Confirm how the destination will represent these records and whether custom work is required.

If Shopify already holds the member’s store credit in the same store, check that balance before creating additional credit. A new membership record is not a reason to reissue existing value.

Record the approved treatment of balances that cannot move directly, then explain it clearly to affected members. Keep the source records available until the reconciliation is complete.

Memberply member import does not transfer payment mandates or cancel direct debits in your old system. Importing active recurring members initially sets a payment due date one month later for monthly tiers or one year later for yearly tiers. This does not copy their old payment schedule. For combined monthly/yearly tiers, the initial deadline uses the monthly interval when monthly billing is available.

Eligible imported members receive reminders seven days and one day before their recorded payment date. Unpaid imported memberships become eligible for deactivation at that deadline, subject to any merchant-set access extension. Review these dates before a large import.

The optional payment setup invitation lets eligible members complete Shopify checkout. Checkout may charge immediately. Coordinate the old final charge and new first charge, and confirm the new payment and subscription before cancelling the previous arrangement.

Shopify supports some payment-method migration routes, depending on the gateway and setup. These require separate assessment with Shopify and the subscription app provider; they are not a feature of Memberply’s standard CSV import. Review Shopify’s payment migration guidance before assuming saved methods can be retained.

Assign one person to reconcile billing status across both systems. A member marked active, an application approval or an invitation sent is not proof that a new recurring payment is established.

Test the journey with the same email address used for the imported membership: sign in, view the correct tier, use an eligible benefit and check any payment setup steps. Repeat on mobile and include an inactive member to verify that access is restricted correctly.

Shopify customer accounts support email and a one-time passcode. Legacy account theme customizations need separate review when upgrading; they do not automatically become the new account experience. See Shopify’s customer account upgrade guide.

Check email segments, CRM fields and custom workflows against the destination membership state. Read the Shopify loyalty integrations guide to scope connections and ownership.

Explain what changes for each group. A free member may only need sign-in guidance; a paid member may need a clear payment date and action. Keep the benefits recognizable, and adapt communication to how often customers normally shop.

A sensible stop condition is an unexplained balance difference, incorrect access or an unexpected charge. Pause expansion and investigate. Do not assume that deleting an imported member reverses issued benefits or payments.

There is no reliable universal timeline. A clean member CSV using standard tiers is a different project from moving payment agreements, reward ledgers and custom account designs.

Estimate the work in stages: source export and cleanup, field mapping, configuration, pilot testing, reconciliation, member communications and follow-up. Provider approvals and members completing payment setup can extend the calendar even after the data import is finished.

Growth includes the standard features to launch and grow your program, including member import. Enterprise is for custom integrations, development and implementation needs. A larger member list alone does not mean you need custom work.

For an Enterprise migration discussion, share your current platform, member count, tier structure, balance types, payment provider, required integrations and intended launch date. Use a redacted sample of your field structure initially. We can review the standard options and scope any custom work. The loyalty program cost guide helps separate setup costs from ongoing operations.