--- title: "The Joy blog" url: "https://joy.so/blog/" kind: "page" description: "Loyalty, rewards, and retention strategy for ambitious Shopify brands — playbooks, product deep-dives, and merchant wins from the Joy team." page: 1 total_pages: 24 --- # The Joy blog - [11 Best Shopify Loyalty Apps to Boost Customer Retention in 2026](https://joy.so/blog/md/shopify-loyalty-apps/): We compared 11 Shopify loyalty apps on real pricing, ratings, and reviews, so you can pick with confidence instead of guessing. - [The Points Approval Period Is a Strategy Decision, Not a Fraud Setting](https://joy.so/blog/md/points-approval-period/): A 14-day hold makes BFCM points spendable in mid-December, after most calendars send the email telling customers to spend them. - [The 2026 Holiday Forecasts, With the Population Attached to Every Number](https://joy.so/blog/md/holiday-forecasts-2026/): Adobe says $275.1 billion and Deloitte says $316.1 billion. Both are right. What each 2026 holiday forecast measures. - [The Post-BFCM Loyalty Email Calendar, With Dates That Actually Work](https://joy.so/blog/md/post-bfcm-loyalty-email-calendar/): Points earned over the BFCM weekend are often unspendable until mid-December. Here is the loyalty email sequence that respects it. - [Tag the BFCM Cohort Before It Arrives: What a Date Filter Cannot Rebuild](https://joy.so/blog/md/tag-bfcm-cohort-shopify-flow/): Shopify can rebuild who bought during the sale at any time. It cannot rebuild who was already a member that day. A tag can. - [Gift Cards and Loyalty: The December Revenue That Is Not Revenue Yet](https://joy.so/blog/md/gift-card-loyalty-bfcm/): Shopify does not count a gift card sale as a sale. That one rule moves part of December's revenue into January. - [Where a Member Can Actually Spend Points at BFCM: Cart, Checkout, or Nowhere](https://joy.so/blog/md/where-members-redeem-points/): Five screens sit between a product page and a paid order. Shopify decides which of them can carry a redeem button. - [Store Credit or a Discount: The BFCM Reward That Returns in January](https://joy.so/blog/md/store-credit-vs-discount-loyalty/): Store credit is a payment method, not a discount. That one fact decides where it stacks, what it costs and when you pay. - [Shopify Scripts Deprecation: The First BFCM Without Them](https://joy.so/blog/md/shopify-scripts-deprecation-bfcm/): Shopify Scripts stopped running on 30 June 2026. The scripts written only for last year's sale are the ones not yet missed. - [What Does a Discounted Order Earn? Four Apps, Four Answers](https://joy.so/blog/md/points-earning-base-discounted-orders/): A $100 jacket at 40% off: does it earn 100 points or 60? Four loyalty apps, four answers, and one test that settles it. - [Double Points: The Three Settings That Decide What the Weekend Pays](https://joy.so/blog/md/double-points-event-settings/): Three settings decide which BFCM orders receive double points, and Joy, LoyaltyLion and Smile each handle them differently. - [Double Points at BFCM: What a 2x Weekend Costs in Margin](https://joy.so/blog/md/double-points-weekend-cost/): A 2x weekend on a discounted order can take 10% of its gross margin. The full arithmetic, with every assumption printed. - [Free Shipping Rewards: The One Loyalty Reward Every Shopify Store Can Stack](https://joy.so/blog/md/free-shipping-rewards/): Every Shopify store can stack a free shipping reward on a sale. Three published rules decide whether yours actually will. - [Your Thank-You Page Changed on 26 August. Check the Loyalty Sign-Up Still Shows.](https://joy.so/blog/md/thank-you-page-upgrade-loyalty-signup/): Shopify replaced every remaining Thank you page on 26 August 2026. Check that your loyalty sign-up block survived it. - [BFCM Readiness: Shopify Tests Checkout, Nobody Tests Your Widget](https://joy.so/blog/md/prepare-shopify-store-for-black-friday/): Shopify scale-tests checkout at 80,000 a minute. The risk you own is the storefront, measured on the signed-in path. - [Postscript Pricing: Free to Install Means $49 a Month](https://joy.so/blog/md/postscript-pricing/): Free to install carries a $49 monthly minimum, then $0.009 per SMS plus carrier fees the listing never puts a number on. - [Omnisend Pricing: $16 Buys 12 Emails per Contact](https://joy.so/blog/md/omnisend-pricing/): Standard is $16 a month with a 6,000-email cap, which is twelve sends per contact. Unlimited email starts at $59 on Pro. ## Pages - [Page 1](https://joy.so/blog/md/) (this page) - [Page 2](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/2/) - [Page 3](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/3/) - [Page 4](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/4/) - [Page 5](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/5/) - [Page 6](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/6/) - [Page 7](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/7/) - [Page 8](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/8/) - [Page 9](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/9/) - [Page 10](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/10/) - [Page 11](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/11/) - [Page 12](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/12/) - [Page 13](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/13/) - [Page 14](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/14/) - [Page 15](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/15/) - [Page 16](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/16/) - [Page 17](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/17/) - [Page 18](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/18/) - [Page 19](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/19/) - [Page 20](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/20/) - [Page 21](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/21/) - [Page 22](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/22/) - [Page 23](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/23/) - [Page 24](https://joy.so/blog/md/page/24/)