In case you missed them, here are all previous entries in the series:

• Part 1: Email Automation Flows
• Part 2: Email Campaigns That Convert
• Part 3: Email Deliverability & Email List Hygiene
• Part 4: Email Segmentation
• Part 5: Email Design & Email Copywriting

Tariffs are temporary (hopefully). But loyalty isn’t.

Customer loyalty programs are one of the most effective and evergreen ways to turn an email subscriber list into an active community. And it’s that community that will insulate eCommerce brands from margin pressure and short-term economic shocks. Research suggests that eCommerce loyalty program members net between 12 and 18% more revenue than non-members every year.

When you have a base of returning customers who earn rewards, enjoy perks, and feel connected to your brand, you’re less dependent on expensive acquisition and more resistant to price sensitivity.

Let’s explore how loyalty programs can become your most strategic defense against tariff-driven uncertainty.

1: Points & Perks That Buffer Against Price Sensitivity

Points systems let you frame price increases in a positive light. Instead of saying “This now costs $10 more”, you can say:

“Earn 500 bonus points with every purchase this week”.

It shifts the conversation away from what customers lose to what they could gain.

With platforms like Shopify, you can use Yotpo Loyalty to:

• Assign point values to every dollar spent.
• Trigger bonus point events during tariff-driven price hikes.
• Offer double-points weekends to drive conversions without discounting.

Klaviyo Integration Tip:

Use Klaviyo’s custom properties to track loyalty tiers and point totals. This allows you to send segmented campaigns to VIPs (“Your perks just got better”) or trigger automations like “You’ve earned enough for a reward”). You can event rigger automations reminding readers how many points they have accumulated, and then show some ways they can redeem those points.

2: VIP Tiers That Encourage Retention

Tired programs help create emotional stickiness. when customers feel like they’ve earned status, they’re less likely to churn.

Whether you call your tiers Bronze/Silver/Gold or Insider/Premium/Elite, the mechanism si the same: acquiring a new status feels like a win, and motivates action.

You can use tariff-related price changes to amp up this effect. They can become a reason to promote VIP benefits:

• “As a Gold member, your pricing stays locked in for 20 more days.”
• “Elite members (like you!) still get free shipping, no matter the import fee.”

This approach reframes your customer loyalty program as a shield against volatility.

Shopify + Loyalty Expert Tip:

Combine Shopify Tags with loyalty tiers so fulfilment teams and customer service reps can offer perks manually (e.g., upgrade shipping or extend return windows during peak periods).

3: Make it Feel Like an Inside Deal, Not Just Another Customer Loyalty Program

The customers in your loyalty program are probably members of other loyalty programs, too. So they’re able to compare and judge how well yours stacks up.

That means they’re comparing deals and benefits, of course. But not every benefit needs to be monetary. Emotional benefits and exclusivity go a long way to crafting a customer loyalty program that stands out from the crowd.

For this period specifically, you can try:

• Early access to new (pre-tariff) products. Translation: “You’re part of our inner circle”.
• Loyalty-only limited editions. Translation: “You’re getting something other’s can’t.”
• First dibs on bundle pricing before a price hike hits. Translation: “We’re protecting your wallet.”

If you’re working with Klaviyo, use dynamic blocks in your emails to show exclusive content based on loyalty tiers. For example:

• Block A (shown to VIPs): “You have early access to our new drop.”
• Block B (shown to everyone else): “Upgrade your tier to unlock early access.”

This kind of dynamic personalization boosts perceived value without increasing costs.

4: Customer Loyalty Programs Strengthen Lifetime Value for Tariff Resilience

Here’s the simple math behind why customer loyalty programs work so well (especially when every cent counts):

• CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) on a new customers is around 5x higher than the cost of retaining an existing customer.
• CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) of loyalty program members can be up to 3x higher than that of non-members.

That means the more revenue you get from repeat customers, the less each new tariff cuts into your overall margin.

The moral of this story is simple: you don’t need to grow a huge list. You need to grow a sticky one.

5: Make It Visible & Make It Easy

Your customer loyalty program should be front and center, not buried in the footer.

Tactical tips to surface customer loyalty programs in the clearest and easiest ways:

• Use a persistent “Rewards” tab on your Shopify storefront.
• Add point balances in email headers (“You have 200 points to redeem!”).
• Include loyalty status on your post-purchase page.

Customers are more likely to take that extra step and join your program if you make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

Our suggestion: include your loyalty program in every basic blow. You can add a ribbon or a footer in all the emails of a specific email automation flow to maximize the chances of customers seeing it and taking action.

This is especially effective in Welcome and Post-Purchase email flows.

Your Customer Loyalty Program Is Your Homegrown Margin Insurance

Tariffs may raise your COGS, but loyalty raises your resilience. A thoughtful rewards program achieves two critical goals: rewarding customers, and cushioning your revenue against volatility.

So while others panic-discount to chase volume, you’ll be building something better: retention, advocacy, and consistent revenue, no matter the economic climate.

Let your competitors fight over one-time buyers. Your job? Turn uncertainty into loyalty with a customer loyalty program that integrates smoothly into your email marketing infrastructure. 

Let me walk you through the mechanics of creating and upselling a bestseller through one recent example. In this case, our client’s store had made a name for itself selling beautiful jewelry coupled with the spiritual energy of crystals.

We laid the foundation of our to-be bestseller by frequently emailing about the different properties of crystals. The available literature on the topic of crystal energy is varied and even contradictory. So we set out to set the record straight by composing a series of e-newsletters that categorized the different types of crystals by their main uses: healing, confidence, focus, etc.

Not only that, but we described how to best wear the jewelry to derive the greatest impact. We included many testimonials from our client’s customers. We also highlighted the beauty of the jewelry in both imagery and description. Unlike with many competing products, the art of this crystal jewelry’s design was not an afterthought.

Of course, one of the most popular uses of crystals is for spiritual healing, one of the best uses of turquoise as well as rose quartz. So our client sourced a special Turquoise Protection Wrap Bracelet (coded in inventory as TWP). We focused extensively on content pieces that described its benefits, including especially its beauty and healing properties. Once released, we promoted it with newsletters, promos, flows, discounts, and customer referrals.

It worked. Customer demand accelerated to off-the-charts, and our client ran out of stock. But that was no reason to stop. We set out to cultivate this demand even more while also letting our customers know to expect a shipping delay as our client went to great lengths to bolster the supply.

We created a Delivery Notification Flow with the trigger “someone placed an order, where product equals TWP.” We included in this flow one update plus one re-send for those who didn’t open the initial email. This helped ensure that customers were informed about the shipping delay.

Update Outline:

• Personal tone from our brand hero who appears prominently in most of our client’s emails
• Thank you for the purchase
• Announce shipping delay due to high demand
• Specify likely delivery date range
• Video of how the product is made

Plain Text vs HTML Template

We split-tested a plain-text version versus an HTML version to see which would generate more engagement. The winner was the plain-text version, which seemed less automated and promotional and, therefore, more authentic and heartfelt.

Update = Conversion

While our main goal was to inform customers of the delay, the results also positively impacted sales goals. The trust built through these strictly informational emails ironically led to more sales.

Quick Update Email 1:

($64.82 on average per occurrence)

Resend to Non-Openers:

($49.34 on average per occurrence)

How to Get More $$$

Such a healthy conversion rate led us to create a special Upsell Flow for this product. We introduced a new bracelet based on rose quartz, priced at double the original bracelet’s value, and crafted a compelling story highlighting the combined benefits of both bracelets.

Email 1:

($56.44 on average per occurrence)*

Resend with Discount:

($100.64 on average per occurrence; 0.4% of recipients placed an order)*

* Upsell flow data is for only 10 days

Lessons Learned

• Implement special Upsell and Cart Abandonment Flows as soon as a product achieves bestseller status
• Split-test the Upsell Flow with products at different price points to identify optimal performance
• Consider adding a third email to the Upsell Flow to increase conversions

What bestseller experiences have you had? When a product begins to sell out, do you hit the brakes or the gas? Comment below with your experiences.

Marko Kojadinovic and Thomas McClintock,
Hustler Marketing

So to increase the purchases of that product, you don’t want customers/prospects to go through the general Cart Abandon flow, which you use for all of your products. Of course, you would want that kind of flow for each product you offer. Unfortunately, this would take a lot of time and money, but you want to make sure to at least have this for your bestsellers.

I will give you an example of how we do this at Hustler Marketing in 3 simple steps and what are the results of it.

1. Copy ?

As in general Cart Abandon flow, the copy is talking about general benefits & use of your products. Here you want the copy talking specifically about the product that was left behind.

Use the product name already in the subject line, make the story aligned with your product, what are its benefits, why is it so popular, why they should buy it, etc.

2. Design ?

Might be obvious, but… Make sure to use the best-selling product on the banner.

3. Testimonials ?‍⚖️

If you didn’t know before, you will know now! For those who are more skeptical about purchasing the product, you should use satisfied customers’ testimonials. In this case, apply them to your best-selling products. Find the best and most convincing testimonials, and add user photos.

How do we know this stuff really works?? ?

General CA Placed Order rate from all 4 emails is 9.9%, and Specific product CA Placed Order rate is 12.8%.

I hope you find these tips useful!

Marko, Hustler Marketing