Headless Loyalty Done Right: How To Build A Program That Lives Everywhere Your Brand Does

Headless commerce is undoubtedly a huge opportunity for many ecommerce brands.

Simply, it separates the front and back-end functions to give you more flexibility. 

If you’re a Shopify brand reading this, you’ve probably:

• Built a loyalty program that’s driving real revenue, but you’re now you’re considering a move to headless
• Migrated to headless, but your existing loyalty program hasn’t kept up
• Planning a headless migration, but concerned that parts of your stack won’t survive the move

Whichever situation you’re in, the question is the same: how do you make sure your loyalty program differentiates your brand and powers revenue growth?

The answer is bringing the loyalty program into the headless store, to power repeat purchasing wherever and however your brand exists.

When you have a headless loyalty program, you use APIs to completely customize how it looks and behaves, while a powerful loyalty platform supports it all behind the scenes.

A loyalty program that looks and feels like the brand, wherever shoppers meet it

Shoppers want loyalty programs to meet them wherever they shop, according to LoyaltyLion’s new research: 85% say it’s important for brands to have programs in-store, and 77% within an app. 

So, if you want to drive serious growth, a great program buried on a rewards page or looking different from your custom theme won’t do as much for you as one woven into every channel your brand operates in.

For brands on or moving to headless, that means making a choice:

• Bring your loyalty program with you, so it keeps driving repeat purchases, higher AOV, and stronger advocacy
• Leave it behind, and accept that customers will stop seeing it

This is what our Headless API is built for. It gives developers the data and endpoints to surface the loyalty program in any UI you control:

• A Hydrogen storefront
• A custom checkout
• A Tapcart-built mobile app
• An in-house mobile app
• A custom POS till

On a headless storefront, a loyalty program can finally look like the brand

Headless storefronts give full design control over the customer experience. A headless API extends that control to the loyalty program. 

No theme constraints, no pre-built widgets that almost match the brand. Developers build the loyalty UI, and the API delivers the data.

That opens up a lot of options:

• A homepage banner explaining the VIP tiers
• A list of redeemable rewards on the cart page
• Points-earned nudges on a product page
• A fully branded account-page program summary

Each of these gives shoppers another reason to engage with the program, and another place for you to test what drives the most revenue.

This isn’t limited to Shopify Hydrogen. Any brand with a custom storefront or alternative platform can use the Headless API the same way.

We’re constantly innovating to make headless loyalty experiences even more seamless. Now, on a headless storefront, shoppers can redeem a Seamless Free Product reward in one click. The product drops straight into their cart in exchange for points, no code required.

How Amika brought their loyalty program through a headless migration

Agency Roswell NYC built Amika’s loyalty program for haircare lovers. When the brand migrated to Shopify headless, the loyalty program transitioned with them. 

The program moved with the business through significant platform changes (headless migration, an Attentive integration, and an omnichannel build-out). It didn’t slow the migration down, and Amika kept generating loyalty-attributed revenue throughout the change.

In a mobile app, your loyalty program travels with the shopper

A shopper might check their points in the app in the morning, and redeem a reward via desktop in the evening. For best chances of a conversion, they need to see the same program, same branding, and same experience.

There are two ways to get a loyalty program into a mobile app:

• Platform-built apps (Tapcart, Venn Apps, and others): you can easily integrate with LoyaltyLion via an app that pulls through our Headless API endpoints. Tapcart is a strong example. They recently rebuilt their LoyaltyLion integration on top of our Headless API, giving brands more control over how programs look and feel in-app.
• Custom in-house apps: you can use the Headless API directly to surface anything you want, including program information, customer balances, available rewards, redemption flows, and history.

How RSVLTS brought Camp Kunu into their Tapcart app

RSVLTS built their mobile app on Tapcart. Camp Kunu, their LoyaltyLion loyalty program, sits inside the app as well as on their website. 

In the app, members can:

• Earn points
• Redeem rewards
• See their current tier and progress towards the next
• View their history
• Read FAQs

Crucially, Camp Kunu doesn’t feel like a generic loyalty widget bolted into a Tapcart app. It feels like part of the RSVLTS brand world. That’s what shoppers open the app for, and what keeps the loyalty program contributing to repeat purchases.

For custom checkouts and POS, your loyalty program shows up at the point of purchase

• Custom checkouts: for brands who’ve built their own checkout flow, or run a separate brand on a fully custom stack, the Headless API lets reward redemptions, point earning, and balance visibility live natively in the flow. Customers don’t have to bounce out to a separate surface to use their points.
• Custom POS: the same idea moves into the physical store. A sales assistant can see a shopper’s balance at the till, give them points, redeem rewards, and view their history. The loyalty program shows up in-store the same way it shows up online.

How Evereve brought their loyalty program into TrendSend’s custom checkout

Evereve’s main store runs on Shopify and drives strong retention results using LoyaltyLion. However, it also has a personal styling service, TrendSend, which runs on a completely custom backend and frontend. 

TrendSend’s developers used the Headless API to integrate LoyaltyLion into their custom checkout, so customers shopping through TrendSend see the same loyalty program they’d see anywhere else.

Whichever way a customer shops with Evereve, the program is consistent, and so is the revenue it drives: Evereve currently attributes over 30% of revenue to their award-winning program.

A loyalty program built on your terms, in every channel you operate

The brands growing fastest are bringing their loyalty program into every channel they operate and making sure it looks and feels like their brand wherever shoppers meet it.

If you’re running on Shopify headless, or thinking about moving, our team can show you how a loyalty program integrates with your setup and drives more revenue than ever. Book a demo today.