Did you know that paid membership programs for ecommerce merchants boost repeat purchases by up to 60%?

Paying members are two times more likely to make a purchase – and end up spending 30% more – than customers who get free benefits like discounts or complimentary shipping. Members are also three times more likely to redeem store credit than other customers.

The bottom line: customers who invest in a membership are more likely to stay invested in your brand.

Essential Paid Membership Programs for Shopify Merchants

Rise.ai takes the native membership plans for Shopify merchants and enhances them for members and simplifies them for merchants by providing the following six benefits.

Cashback

Most membership programs for ecommerce merchants are structured around a confusing, convoluted point system that customers have trouble understanding and therefore don’t engage in. A successful membership program, on the other hand, offers easy-to-understand and easy-to-redeem cashback on purchases, rather than points.

Cashback rewards from Rise.ai Memberships help you convert loyal customers into paid members with powerful store credit incentives. You can provide sign-up credits, automate cashback on every purchase, set cashback thresholds based on order values, and even offer upsells with store credit.

For example, you can give members $5 cashback for every $50 they spend. The more they spend, the more they earn.

Tiered Memberships

Rather than establishing a one-size-fits-all membership, set up tiers to let members opt in for more rewards – and increase membership revenue for your business. Rise.ai empowers you to create fully customizable tiers and tiered rewards for members, and to create conditions based on spend levels or engagement levels.

Let’s see how tiered memberships work in the wild. The athletic apparel brand Barbell has two membership levels that appeal to their most loyal customers: Expert and Pro. Experts pay $49 per month for membership and receive $59 in monthly store credit, two gear kits per year, as well as other perks. Pros pay $99 per month and get $124 back in store credit and four gear kits per year, in addition to the benefits Experts receive.

With Rise.ai, merchants like Barbell set up these membership tiers and perks in just a few clicks. All that’s left to do is for customers to choose the most rewarding membership for their needs.

Brand Perks

Loyal customers become members for the perks, so it’s important to offer members goodies that make them feel like VIPs. Rise.ai makes it easy to automate birthday gifts and product promos, send invites to exclusive events, and release member-only collections thanks to intuitive workflows.

The golf and lifestyle apparel brand Greyson gives members of its Pack exclusive access to members-only products and first access to new collection drops. For example, Crimson Wolf members receive an exclusive Crimson Wolf hoodie and hat, while Black Wolf members receive a Black Wolf hoodie, tee, and hat. All membership tiers also come with exclusive event invites.

Referral Growth Opportunities

Your paid members are your brand’s strongest advocates, so why not incentivize them to spread the word? With Rise.ai, you can create a referral program for members in minutes.

Reward members with store credit or discounts for spreading the word, no matter how you structure your memberships. For example, you could issue both the referrer and the referee $10 in store credit with each new membership. Add an expiration date to incentivize both the new and existing members to make a purchase quickly.

You could even optimize referrals for increased member benefits. For example, you could increase a member’s cash back from 2% to 5% after they refer three friends to paid memberships.

Shipping & Returns Perks

Many ecommerce brands offer free shipping and returns to compete in a saturated market, but these freebies aren’t financially sustainable. According to financial consulting firm Getzler Henrich & Associates, online returns make up nearly a quarter of sales and cut into profits.

Rather than viewing free shipping and returns as a customer acquisition cost, make it a membership perk. With Rise.ai, you can let members enjoy free shipping by default, extended return periods, and increased refunds for opting in to Store Credit over cash (with flexible credit expiration options).

Circling back to Barbell, the team goes beyond free shipping to give members a lifetime guarantee and fit exchange promise. The lifetime guarantee gives customers free repairs or replacements of items for as long as they’re paid members. With fit exchange, members can swap products for new sizes as their bodies change. Those are some truly useful perks for a brand that’s all about putting the “fit” in “fitness.”

Member Wallet

Rise.ai’s branded digital wallet for memberships lets members gather all of their store credit in one digital wallet, uniting all their rewards and activities for a seamless experience. Instead of making members track numerous emails and codes to manage their store credit, refund credit, gift cards, and discount codes, they can combine this balance in one place and redeem it with one click. This one code, one balance system simplifies redemption.

Members receive their dues back as store credit each month, which collects in a digital wallet. When members receive a gift card, this amount is also added to their store credit wallets. When they’re ready to use their funds, all they need to do is select “use store credit” at checkout, rather than digging through their inboxes for separate store credit codes.

Wrapping Up: 6 Must-Have Membership Programs for eCommerce Merchants

Membership programs for eCommerce merchants result in higher AOV for paying members and increased repeat purchase rate (RPRs) for memberships, making them the best to monetize customer loyalty. With Rise.ai, Shopify merchants can implement paid memberships with features like cashback rewards, tiers, brand perks, referrals, shipping and return benefits, and a member’s wallet in just a few clicks. Request a demo today.