Use the Membership Status tool to manage customer participation in your loyalty program and accommodate opt-out requests. Customers are categorized as either Active or Blocked.
1. The "Active" Status (Default Enrollment)
By default, customers are automatically opted into your loyalty program.
How Enrollment Works: A customer becomes Active the moment a Shopify profile is created (e.g., placing an order, subscribing to a newsletter, or via data import).
Earning Without Registration: Active customers immediately begin earning points and tier progress—even if they haven't formally registered for a store account.
The Role of Registration: Full account registration is not required to earn points. It is only required for the customer to log in, redeem their accumulated rewards, and trigger specific "Welcome" bonus rules.
2. The "Blocked" Status
Changing a customer’s status to Blocked restricts their access to the loyalty program, though they continue to passively earn value in the background.
Restricted Actions (What is Blocked):
Storefront Access: The loyalty interface will not load. Customers see a generic "inactive" message, and peripheral features (like cart point widgets) are completely hidden.
Redemptions & Perks: Customers cannot redeem rewards. Automatic tier and birthday discounts will not apply at checkout.
Admin/POS Actions: Staff cannot manually adjust points, change tiers, or redeem rewards for blocked customers.
Bulk Imports: Blocked customers are automatically excluded if you attempt a bulk point import.
Events & Integrations: All standard outbound loyalty events (e.g., Shopify Flow triggers, Klaviyo events) and inbound API requests are paused. Exception: The system will still send specific
member_blockedandmember_unblockedevents to ensure the customer's status is accurately updated on external platforms.
Active Background Actions (What Continues):
Passive Earning: Customers continue to earn standard points and tier progress on purchases.
Campaigns: Customers still receive the benefits of point multipliers (e.g., 2x points) and one-time giveaways if they belong to an eligible segment.
3. Syncing with Marketing Platforms
When the member_blocked or member_unblocked events fire, they update your integrated marketing platforms (like Klaviyo, WATI, & Omnichat) to respect the customer's status.
When Blocked: The customer's loyalty properties (point balance, tier, birth month, etc.) are temporarily cleared on these platforms to prevent them from accidentally receiving loyalty-based dynamic content.
When Unblocked: All loyalty properties are immediately re-synced to the platform.
Note: To entirely exclude Blocked customers from your general newsletters or non-loyalty email marketing, manually update your email segments using the Shopify
membership_statusmetafield.
4. Managing & Unblocking Customers
How to Toggle: Change a customer’s status by navigating to their profile in your loyalty admin dashboard.
Shopify Metafields: Toggling the status automatically updates the
membership_statuscustomer metafield in Shopify, allowing you to natively build Active vs. Blocked customer segments in your Shopify admin.Unblocking Rules: The Blocked status is completely reversible. However, any events, campaigns, or actions missed while the account was Blocked are permanently lost and will not be retroactively granted upon unblocking.