Tier progress expiry determines how long a customer's activity counts toward their VIP tier. It controls whether progress accumulates forever, resets annually, or uses a rolling window.
Lifetime
Progress accumulates forever. Every purchase, order, or point a customer earns since the program start date counts toward their tier permanently.
Customers can move up as they continue to engage, and if a recalculation is triggered (e.g., you change a program setting and choose Recalculate now), their tier is re-evaluated based on all activity since the configured program start date.
Pros | Cons |
Simplest to understand | Less incentive to keep spending once top tier is reached |
No surprises for customers | Tiers lose meaning over time as everyone accumulates |
Easy to explain in marketing | Doesn't reward recent engagement specifically |
Best for: Stores that want to reward long-term loyalty simply, without customers worrying about losing status.
Calendar Year
Progress resets on January 1 each year. When the year resets, all progress counters go to zero and every customer's tier is recalculated, which typically means everyone returns to the base tier unless they have downgrade protection enabled (see below).
Customers then spend the new year working their way back up through the tiers.
Example timeline:
March 2025: Sarah spends $600, reaching Silver
August 2025: Sarah spends another $1,500, reaching Gold ($2,100 total)
January 1, 2026: Progress resets to $0, so Sarah returns to Bronze
February 2026: Sarah spends $700 and reaches Silver again
Pros | Cons |
Clean annual cycle customers understand | Hard reset can feel punishing |
Drives spending every year | Customers who join mid-year have less time to qualify |
Aligns with business reporting periods | Everyone resets at once |
Downgrade protection
Calendar Year and Rolling Year share the same two downgrade-protection options, so you'll see both of these whichever of the two modes you choose. They are optional and off by default.
Never downgrade the highest tier
Customers who reach your highest tier keep that status permanently, including through the January 1 reset. All other tiers are recalculated normally. This guarantees your most valuable customers never lose their top-tier status (unless an order is refunded).
Protect tier status
After a customer reaches a tier, they keep it through the end of the following calendar year, even if the January 1 reset would otherwise drop them. For example, a tier earned in June 2026 is protected until December 31, 2027. This guarantees every customer who earns a tier survives at least one annual reset. Only upgrades apply during this period. Once the protection ends, the tier is re-evaluated against their current progress. This is not a hard reset to the base tier. They simply land on whichever tier their activity now qualifies for.
Best for: Programs with a clear annual cycle, similar to airline frequent flyer tiers.
Rolling Year
Progress is based on a trailing 12-month window. Only activity from the last 12 months counts toward tier qualification. As older activity passes the 12-month mark, it gradually drops off.
This means customers need to maintain consistent spending to keep their tier. There's no hard reset, but status naturally adjusts over time.
By default, each customer's rolling year begins when they first enter the VIP program and are assigned their first tier. This means a customer who joins in June has a full 12 months from June to qualify, rather than sharing a window with customers who joined earlier. Merchants can optionally switch this to a shared window anchored to the program start date.
Example timeline:
January 2025: Sarah spends $800
May 2025: Sarah spends $600, total $1,400, reaching Silver
October 2025: Sarah spends $700, total $2,100, reaching Gold
February 2026: The January 2025 spend ($800) drops off, total falls to $1,300, so Sarah drops to Silver (unless tier status protection is enabled)
Downgrade protection
These are the same two protections available for Calendar Year, plus one option specific to the rolling window.
Never downgrade the highest tier
Customers at the highest tier are never downgraded during the daily recalculation. They keep their top-tier status permanently (unless they refund an order).
Protect tier status for 12 months
After earning a tier, the customer keeps it for at least 12 months, even if their rolling-window activity drops below the threshold. Only upgrades apply during the retention period. Once the 12 months are up, the tier is re-evaluated against their current activity. This is not a hard reset. They land on whichever tier they now qualify for.
Use a shared rolling year window
By default, each customer's rolling 12-month window starts when they first entered a tier (per-customer), which is fairer for customers who join at different times. When enabled, all customers instead share the same rolling 12-month window anchored to your program start date.
Pros | Cons |
Always reflects recent behaviour | More complex for customers to understand |
No hard reset, so transitions are smooth | Requires daily recalculation (handled automatically) |
Fair to customers who join at any time | Customers may not realise old activity is dropping off |
Best for: Most loyalty programs. It balances rewarding ongoing engagement with keeping tiers meaningful.
Program start date
The program start date determines when your VIP program begins tracking customer activity. Only orders placed on or after this date count toward tier progression.
If you don't set one yourself, it defaults to the date you first turn on VIP tiers (not the date you installed the app). Turning VIP tiers off and back on again later keeps the original date.
Can be set to a date in the past to backdate the program
For Rolling Year with the shared-window option turned on, it anchors that shared 12-month window and cannot be set more than 1 year in the past
What happens when you change it:
If you backdate the start date and choose Recalculate now when you save (see below), the system automatically imports historical orders from Shopify (an "orders backfill")
After the backfill completes, all customers are recalculated against the new window
Only spend and order count are tracked from historical orders. Points are not awarded retroactively
Entry rewards are issued to customers who qualify for new tiers as a result
What happens when you change settings
Entry Method, Tier Progress Expiry, Downgrade protection and Program start date are locked while VIP tiers are enabled. The cards show the notice "Disable VIP tiers to change this setting." To change any of them, turn off VIP Program Status on the Tiers tab, make your changes on the Program Settings tab, then turn VIP tiers back on. While VIP tiers are disabled, tier information is hidden from customers, tier progression is paused and tier benefits are suspended. Customer tier data is kept.
All program settings are saved together. When you save, the Apply VIP tier changes window opens. It shows your configuration after saving, with any changed settings marked, and asks how to apply the change to existing customers:
Only count activity going forward (selected by default): settings are saved immediately. Existing tier assignments stay as they are, and activity from now on counts under the new rules. No recalculation runs.
Recalculate now: every customer is re-evaluated against the new settings, so some customers may move between tiers.
If you change Tier Progress Expiry, Recalculate now is the only option, because customer progress has to be rebuilt for the new tracking window. Stores that are still setting up, with only a few customers, can choose either option.
If you choose Recalculate now and confirm:
Settings are saved immediately
A recalculation is scheduled with a 15-minute delay, giving you time to make more changes or to cancel
If you change your mind during those 15 minutes, a banner appears with a Cancel and revert all changes button that reverts all settings to their original state
After 15 minutes the recalculation runs. All customers are re-evaluated and their Shopify customer tags are updated
While it runs, the Program Settings page shows a Tier recalculation in progress banner. Finished recalculations are listed in the Activity Log card on the same page
Customers do not receive any emails or notifications about tier changes during a bulk recalculation. However, customers who qualify for new tiers will receive their entry rewards. (Entry rewards are only ever issued once, if a customer has already previously earned a Tier entry reward, it will not be re-issued)
Preparing your VIP program before launch or making mid-year adjustments
You don't need to enable VIP tiers to set up and recalculate your program. If you're launching a VIP program for the first time, you can configure everything while the program is still disabled:
Create your tiers and set thresholds
Choose your entry method and set your program start date (backdate it to include historical orders)
Save, choose Recalculate now and confirm. The recalculation runs in the background, placing all existing customers into the correct tiers
Enable VIP tiers when you're ready for customers to see their status
Tip: If you're switching entry method, for example from points to orders, give every tier a requirement for the new method before you save. The save is blocked until each tier above the base tier has one. The article "VIP tier entry methods" has the steps.
During the 15-minute grace period you can still edit your settings or cancel. Once that period ends and the recalculation actually starts running, all VIP tier settings are locked until it finishes, and at that point the job can no longer be cancelled or reverted.
Tier Upgrade Email
Mage can email customers when they move up a tier. The Tier Upgrade Email is off by default. To turn it on, go to Email Templates, open the VIP Tiers category and switch on Tier Upgrade Email. Select Edit to change its subject and content.
It is sent when a customer is upgraded to a higher tier as their progress grows, for example after a paid order. It is not sent when a customer moves down a tier, when you change a customer's tier by hand, or during a bulk recalculation.