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Memberships are a relatively new phenomena as far as eCommerce offerings go. They’re an incredible tool to connect your most loyal customers to benefits that keep them around longer than
Options are few at this time, but thankfully, quality in this space appears to prevail over quantity.
Why memberships? You can explore our dedicated post about why memberships are great for your brand, but we’ll give you a few bullet points:
Memberships are a great way to offer exclusive benefits to dedicated followers and advocates of your brand
Memberships can distinguish your brand from competitors and make your lineup a preferred choice based on what benefits may be a part of your program
Memberships
A general caveat with launching a membership program, though, is that educating customers on the benefits of a digital subscription can, at times, be an uphill battle. However, if your team is able to work the upsell into automations across your email, SMS, etc. stack, you’ll find that with a well-enough defined program growth can be accomplished quickly.
Our Pick: Rivo
Rivo offers a comprehensive membership building platform with highly communicative onboarding and support.
From our testing, Rivo strongly outshines the competition with a platform build from the ground up to emulate (as closely as possible for a plug-and-play Shopify app) the top branded program offerings across eCommerce. Optional program features include: free shipping, store credit, price discounts, renewal offers, signup gifts, and so much more. This allows for the creation of program that resonates most with your customers, and the modularity allows for long-term development.
We’ve found that the tools work exactly as described, with little-to-no required team intervention - and if you find yourself in a position of needing assistance, their customer support is among the best. The only complication is that the pricing can be slightly
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Powerful tools that offer the ability to craft a bespoke membership program for your brand | Barrier to entry (i.e. price) can be high for lower-volume brands |
Fast, easy setup | |
High-quality customer service and white glove onboarding | |
Membership plan offers access to the full suite of Rivo offerings (including referrals, accounts, and traditional loyalty) |
Pricing: Pricing can vary depending on needs, but seems to start at the low thousands (per month) with negotiating possible.
So, who’s it for? We feel Rivo is the best option for brands with an annual eCommerce revenue of $1.5M+ looking to offer their customers a high-quality membership product.
Budget Choice: Appstle Memberships
Appstle is our pick for brands looking to try out memberships without the commitment of high monthly subscription fees.
If you’re looking to just get started with memberships, but aren’t interested in a potentially high-cost platform fee, Appstle is a great alternative to consider. It provides a suite of membership tooling that is surprisingly customizable.
Top features include automated renewal billing, tiered perks, localization, and built-in email.
Appstle offers a lightweight membership solution that’s easy for customers to manage themselves.
In our experience, though, there will be times that you feel slightly hamstrung by some of the more rudimentary elements of the platform, like limited membership portal design options or the back and forth with their CS team that may be required to fix any issues. However, we don’t feel that’s reason enough to completely throw the platform out of the running.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Lightweight, easy to get started | Slower, less responsive customer support |
Plenty of membership perk options available to offer customers | Limited design options |
Very affordable for those looking to just get started | Slightly confusing UI in both the admin and customer side |
Pricing: As a more standard plug-and-play, set it up yourself Shopify app, pricing is very affordable for brands of all sizes.
Starter: $19/mo | Business: $39/mo | Enterprise: $79/mp
So, who’s it for? We wouldn’t recommend this platform for brands who can afford the more premium Rivo experience, but it is a great option if you’re looking to kick off membership offerings for the first time.
Other Considerations
While we highly recommend choosing one of the previously mentioned platforms, we did review and speak to brands using the below options.
Inveterate
Inveterate was an early provider of memberships for eCommerce brands, however, a lack of iteration combined with a high monthly premium has caused a depression in the competitiveness of their product. Rivo offers similar pricing, with a far more fledged out product, along with additional included features like accounts, referrals, and traditional loyalty.
BOLD Memberships
As with most BOLD platforms, BOLD Memberships is a heavyweight, clunky, and lacking in innovation. If you’re considering BOLD, it’s better to go with Appstle and enjoy a fuller suite of tools for a lower price.
