Excluding customers from loyalty program
This guide explains how to use Shopify customer segments to exclude specific groups of customers from participating in your Joy Loyalty program.
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This guide explains how to use Shopify customer segments to exclude specific groups of customers from participating in your Joy Loyalty program.
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The customer exclusion feature lets you select specific Shopify customer segments to exclude from your loyalty program. Customers in excluded segments cannot earn or redeem points, participate in VIP tiers or referrals, and won't see any loyalty interface elements. Joy Loyalty automatically synchronizes with your Shopify segments, maintaining real-time eligibility management without requiring manual selection of individual customers.
To use the customer exclusion feature, you need:
This feature helps merchants who serve different customer types (like B2B and D2C) create appropriate loyalty experiences for each group. By implementing segment-based exclusions, you can prevent reward abuse from wholesale customers, create cleaner experiences by hiding irrelevant features, control program costs by focusing rewards on target segments, and simplify management by leveraging your existing Shopify segmentation rather than creating separate customer lists.
Before you can exclude customers, you need to create segments in Shopify:
From your Shopify admin, go to Customers > Customer segments
Click Create segment
Define your segment criteria (e.g., customers with the tag "B2B" or "Wholesale")
Name your segment and save it
Joy Loyalty will automatically synchronize this segment
Once your segments are created and synced:
From your Shopify admin, navigate to Apps > Joy Loyalty
In the left sidebar, click on Settings
Find the Customer Eligibility section
Under Excluded segments, click in the dropdown field
Select the segments you want to exclude from your loyalty program
The selected segments will appear as tags below the dropdown
Click Save changes to apply your exclusions
When you exclude segments:
Customers in excluded segments will have their member status set to "Left program"
These customers will no longer earn points from any actions
The loyalty widget and loyalty page will not be visible to them
Their points balance will be preserved but cannot be redeemed
They will not be able to access VIP tier benefits
They cannot participate in referral programs
You can identify excluded customers in your Joy Loyalty admin:
Go to the Customers page in Joy Loyalty
Look for customers with the status "Left program"
When viewing an excluded customer's profile, you'll see a notice stating: "This customer belongs to an excluded segment and cannot be updated."
The integration maintains synchronization with your Shopify segments:
If you need to temporarily exclude customers:
Create a time-limited segment in Shopify (e.g., "Summer promotion exclusions")
Add this segment to your exclusion list in Joy Loyalty
When the promotion period ends, simply delete the segment in Shopify
Customers will automatically regain access to your loyalty program
To make the most of segment-based exclusions:
Be strategic with segments: Create clear, well-defined segments based on business rules rather than ad-hoc customer groupings
Communicate clearly: Let customers know if they're not eligible for your loyalty program and why
Review regularly: Periodically audit your excluded segments to ensure they still align with your business goals
Use with tags: Combine segment exclusions with Shopify customer tags for more granular control
Consider alternatives: For some B2B customers, consider creating a separate loyalty structure rather than complete exclusion
Q: What happens to a customer's existing points when they're excluded? A: Their points balance is preserved but cannot be redeemed while they remain in an excluded segment. If they're later removed from the excluded segment, they'll regain access to their points.
Q: Can I still see order history for excluded customers? A: Yes, Joy Loyalty will continue to sync order data for all customers, but excluded customers will not earn points for their purchases.
Q: Can excluded customers still see the loyalty page if they have the direct URL? A: No, excluded customers will not be able to view or interact with any loyalty program elements, even with direct URLs.
Q: What happens if a customer is in both an included and excluded segment? A: Exclusion rules take precedence. If a customer belongs to any excluded segment, they will be excluded from the loyalty program regardless of other segment memberships.
Q: Can I manually override exclusions for specific customers? A: No, segment-based exclusions apply to all customers in the segment. For individual exceptions, you would need to remove the customer from the excluded segment in Shopify.