How to set a VIP threshold on Shopify

A VIP threshold is one number, and it decides who gets perks. A figure that is too high leaves loyal customers out. One that is too low gives perks to half the store. This guide shows how to build the number from your own customers’ spend, and what Shopify provides along the way.

What Shopify gives you

The Shopify pages we read describe no single VIP setting. They describe pieces you can build one from.

• Customer segments. Shopify calls them “dynamic, rule-based customer lists”, and customers are “automatically added or removed to the segment list” as they meet the criteria (Customer segments). The segment query reference lists the amount_spent filter as “The total amount spent (all time).” (reference).
• RFM groups. Shopify scores customers from 1 to 5 on recency, frequency and spend, and says “RFM scores are based only on data from your store, and not on industry standards or third-party data.” Champions are “Customers with very recent purchases, many orders, and the most spend”, and Loyal are “Customers with recent purchases, many orders, and the most spend” (Customers reports).
• Predicted spend tier. Customers are sorted into High, Medium and Low tiers from how often they buy, their order value against the store average, their order count and how recently they ordered. Your store must have made more than a hundred sales, and Shopify doesn’t publish where the tiers start (Predicted spend tier).

The RFM groups and the High tier are measured against your own customers. None of them is a fixed dollar amount. A dollar threshold needs a segment of your own. Our reading: amount_spent is a field of the customer record, so it counts one profile.

Pick a window

The window is the period spend is added over. All-time spend rewards tenure. A recent window, such as the last 12 months, rewards current buying. Lifetime or 12-month spend sets out when each fits. Whichever you choose, write it down. A threshold with no window attached has no clear meaning.

Use a share of your own spend

Set the threshold from where your customers’ spend actually falls. This is our suggested method, a reasoning step rather than a published rule.

1. Add up spend per person over your window.
2. Sort from highest to lowest.
3. Choose the share you want as VIPs.
4. Read off the spend of the last person inside that share.

Here is an invented example of those steps.

Practitioners give similar advice. A loyalty-app vendor article suggests you “look for natural clusters — where does the top 20% of customers start?” (Tenten, a vendor’s opinion and not research). The share is your choice. A small share keeps the perks scarce, and a large one costs more to serve.

Check the count

Count the people at or above your threshold and compare the number with what you can give. A VIP group the size of a third of your customers is a big group to serve, and a group of a handful can feel like nothing. Adjust the share and read off a new figure until the count suits the perks you plan.

Count people, not profiles

Every Shopify spend field belongs to a profile. A customer whose orders sit on two profiles can fall under the threshold on both, though together they would clear it. In MergeGuard’s demo store: 18 VIPs on single profiles → 27 VIPs as people Demo store (Northsail Supply). Why split profiles hide your VIPs works through the arithmetic.

Review on a schedule

A threshold set once drifts as prices and order volume change. The same vendor article calls “a monthly or quarterly batch update” the standard practice for recalculating tier status, and says monthly suits stores with more frequent purchases and quarterly suits categories where customers buy a few times a year. That is a vendor’s view. Our suggestion: review whenever your prices or product range change, and at least once a year.

Spend can change for reasons other than loyalty, such as a price rise that lifts everyone’s spend. Re-run the steps with fresh data each time, so the threshold keeps its meaning.