[Free] How to Implement a Membership Tier System on Shopify Using Segments and Flow

Looking to implement a membership tier system on Shopify? A membership tier system is an effective way to boost customer loyalty and encourage purchases. This article explains how to implement a membership tier system based on purchase amount, for free, using Shopify's built-in Segments and Flow features.

What Is a Membership Tier System

A membership tier system ranks customers into tiers, such as Bronze, Silver, or Gold, based on conditions like number of purchases or total amount spent. Depending on their tier, members can be given various perks, such as discount coupons, exclusive product access, early access to sales, or increased point-earning rates.

For recommended Shopify apps to help build a membership tier system, see the blog post below.

Prerequisites

This article explains how to implement the following membership tier system.

Customers who meet the requirements will automatically be assigned a customer tag representing their membership tier.

Membership Tiers and Requirements

Membership Tier	Requirement	Customer Tag
Normal	Total spend under ¥10,000	Normal
Bronze	Total spend from ¥10,000 to under ¥30,000	Bronze
Silver	Total spend from ¥30,000 to under ¥100,000	Silver
Gold	Total spend of ¥100,000 or more	Gold

How to Set Up a Membership Tier System

Step 1. Create Segments for Each Membership Tier's Requirements

First, create a segment for each membership tier.

Here, we'll create four segments, one for each of the "Normal," "Bronze," "Silver," and "Gold" tiers.

How to Create a Segment

Here we'll show how to create the segment for "Normal" tier members.

For the other segments, simply change the filter conditions for each membership tier.

(1) Go to Customers > Segments

(2) Click "Create segment"

(3) In the segment filter conditions, enter the condition for [each membership tier's filter condition]

[Filter condition for each membership tier]

• Normal: amount_spent < 10000
• Bronze: amount_spent >= 10000 and amount_spent < 30000
• Silver: amount_spent >= 30000 and amount_spent < 100000
• Gold: amount_spent >= 100000

(4) Click "Apply"

(5) Once the correct customers are extracted as intended, click "Save segment"

(6) Enter a name for the segment, then click "Save"

That completes the segment creation.

Repeat the same steps to create segments for "Bronze," "Silver," and "Gold."

Step 2. Bulk-Assign Customer Tags to Users

Next, bulk-assign customer tags to the customers in each segment created in Step 1.

For example, assign the customer tag "Bronze" in bulk to all customers in the Bronze-tier segment.

How to Assign Customer Tags

Here we'll show how to bulk-assign the customer tag "Normal" to Normal-tier members.

(1) Open the "Normal" segment created in Step 1

(2) Check all customers in the segment

(3) Click the "..." menu on the right of the screen

(4) Select "Add tags"

(5) In the popup that appears, choose (or add) a tag named "Normal"

(6) Click "Save"

That completes the bulk customer tag assignment.

Repeat the same steps to assign customer tags for "Bronze," "Silver," and "Gold."

Step 3. Create a Workflow to Automatically Assign and Remove Customer Tags

Finally, create a workflow that's triggered when a customer enters a given segment, automatically assigning the corresponding customer tag for that segment and automatically removing any other membership-tier customer tags.

For example, when a new customer enters the Bronze-tier segment, the workflow assigns the "Bronze" customer tag to that customer and removes the "Normal," "Silver," and "Gold" customer tags.

How to Create the Workflow

Here we'll show how to create a workflow that automatically assigns the "Normal" customer tag to customers entering the "Normal" segment, and automatically removes any customer tags representing other membership tiers.

(1) Open Flow and click "Create workflow"

(2) For the trigger, select "Customer joined segment"

(3) Select the "Customer joined segment" item, then choose the "Normal" segment created in Step 1

(4) Add the action "Add customer tags"

(5) In the "Add customer tags" action, add the "Normal" tag

(6) Add the action "Remove customer tags"

(7) In the "Remove customer tags" action, add the "Bronze," "Gold," and "Silver" tags

(8) Rename the workflow

(9) Click "Turn on workflow"

That completes the workflow creation.

Repeat the same steps to create workflows for "Bronze," "Silver," and "Gold."

Shopify Apps Worth Adding After Setting Up a Membership Tier System

After setting up a membership tier system, you may want to sell products only to your most engaged members (those with higher membership tiers). This can be easily achieved using "RuffRuff 予約販売" or "RuffRuff Order Limits." You can also use "RuffRuff Order Bonus" to set different discount rates for each membership tier.

RuffRuff 予約販売 - For Exclusive Sales and Limited Sales

"RuffRuff 予約販売" is a Shopify app that makes it easy to run pre-order sales on your store. By making good use of this app, you can also run "limited-time sales," "limited-time promotions," "coming-soon announcements," "recurring sales," "members-only sales," "VIP-only sales," "pay-later," and various other types of sales.
It also includes unique features not found in other pre-order apps, such as a "pay-later" feature that lets you collect payment before the product ships.

It has also earned Built for Shopify status, Shopify's official mark of quality recognizing apps that meet standards for speed, ease of use, and reliability.

The product below is a demo product actually running a VIP-member-only sale using RuffRuff 予約販売. Give it a try.

RuffRuff Order Limits - For Limited Sales

 "RuffRuff Order Limits" is a Shopify app that lets you set quantity limits in a single app, as well as amount limits, bundling restrictions, and membership restrictions.

The first of its kind in Japan, this app uses the Cart and Checkout Validation API to handle purchase-limit logic on the server side — something previously only possible on the front end. As a result, it can enforce more robust purchase limits that are harder to bypass than existing order-limit apps.

While RuffRuff 予約販売 (mentioned above) can only restrict sales to members using customer tags, it can't restrict sales using customer metafields.

RuffRuff Order Limits, on the other hand, can restrict members-only sales using both customer tags and customer metafields.

The product below is a demo product actually running a VIP-member-only sale using RuffRuff Order Limits. Give it a try.

RuffRuff Order Bonus - For Tiered Discounts by Membership Level

RuffRuff Order Bonus is a Shopify app that lets you run all kinds of discount promotions based on any condition.

You can use customer data such as customer tags and customer metafields to run all kinds of discount promotions. The blog post below explains how to use RuffRuff Order Bonus to set different discount rates by membership tier.

There's a lot more you can do with discount promotions, including options like:

• Free shipping exclusively for VIP members
• Discounts for Gold members and above
• Volume discounts
• Discounts when specific products are included
• Discounts for customers with 10 or more past purchases
• First-come, first-served discounts (20% off for the first 10 customers)

and more

For more details, check out the service page via the button below.

In Closing

By combining Shopify's Segments feature with Flow, you can easily build a membership tier system based on purchase amount or purchase count. This lets you automatically assign the right tier to each customer and provide tier-based perks, which can help boost customer satisfaction and encourage repeat purchases.

You can also streamline operations by setting up workflows that automatically add and remove customer tags. Use the steps introduced here as a reference to build a membership tier system that fits your business, and deepen your relationship with your customers even further.

Finally, the blog post below explains how to run an exclusive sale for Silver-tier members and above. Use it as a reference for promotions based on membership tier.