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 the entry method), 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 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 → reaches Silver
August 2025: Sarah spends another $1,500 → reaches Gold ($2,100 total)
January 1, 2026: Progress resets to $0 → Sarah returns to Bronze
February 2026: Sarah spends $700 → 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 |
Calendar year advanced settings:
Protect highest tier from downgrade
When enabled, customers at your highest tier keep their status when progress resets on January 1. All other tiers are recalculated normally. This rewards your most valuable customers with guaranteed status across year boundaries.
Extended tier status (Carry-over)
When enabled, tiers earned in one calendar year remain active through December 31 of the following year. Tiers are then re-evaluated based on the following year's activity. This gives customers a full extra year before their status is at risk.
If both are enabled, carry-over delays the reset, and when it does fire, the highest tier is still protected.
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, reaches Silver
October 2025: Sarah spends $700 → total $2,100, reaches Gold
February 2026: January 2025 spend ($800) drops off → total $1,300, drops to Silver (unless retention is enabled)
Rolling year advanced settings
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. After 12 months, the tier is re-evaluated normally.
Protect highest tier from downgrade
Customers at the highest tier are never downgraded during daily recalculation. They keep their top-tier status permanently (unless they refund an order).
Start rolling year from program start date
By default, each customer's rolling year window starts from when they first entered a tier (per-customer). When this is enabled, all customers share the same rolling 12-month window anchored to the program start date. Per-customer mode is fairer for customers who join at different times.
Pros | Cons |
Always reflects recent behaviour | More complex for customers to understand |
No hard reset — smooth transitions | 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.
Defaults to the date you installed the app
Can be set up to 1 year in the past to backdate the program
For Calendar Year, the start date can only be set within the current year (January 1 onward)
For Rolling Year with program start date mode, it anchors the shared 12-month window
What happens when you change it:
If you backdate the start date, 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
All program settings are saved together. When you make changes, a confirmation modal shows exactly what will change and a summary of the resulting configuration.
After you confirm:
Settings are saved immediately
A recalculation is scheduled with a 15-minute delay - giving you time to make additional changes or cancel
If you change your mind, a banner appears with a Cancel button that reverts all settings to their original state
After 15 minutes, the recalculation runs - all customers are re-evaluated and Shopify customer tags are updated
You can track progress in the Recent Activity section on the Program Settings 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.
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 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 making a large change like switching from points to orders (which requires adjusting tier thresholds), disable VIP tiers first, adjust your thresholds, then change your entry method and re-enable. This prevents any customers from being incorrectly promoted during the transition.
Triggering a recalculation will lock all VIP tier settings until the recalculation is complete. This means you cannot make any amendments to your VIP Program during this time. Once the job has executed after the 15 minute grace-period, it cannot be cancelled or reverted.