How to Create a Loyalty Program Like Sephora's Beauty Insider on Shopify

Sephora's Beauty Insider is the most copied loyalty program in retail, and most of the copies get one thing badly wrong.

They add three tiers, make the top tier earn points faster, and wonder why nobody chases it. Sephora does the opposite, and that single difference is why the program works.

This guide walks through setting up a loyalty program like Sephora's Beauty Insider on your own Shopify store, using Mage Loyalty. Every setting is included, so you can follow it start to finish. It takes about twenty minutes, and if you would rather not do it yourself, our team will set the whole thing up for you free of charge.

What is the Sephora Beauty Insider program?

Beauty Insider is Sephora's free rewards program. Customers earn one point per dollar on merchandise, and spend those points on a catalogue of samples, full size products and discounts.

There are three tiers, decided by how much a customer spends in a calendar year:

The headline reward is Beauty Insider Cash: 500 points for $10 off. The prize at the top is the Rouge Reward, $100 off for 2,500 points, which only Rouge members can redeem.

There is also the Rewards Bazaar, Sephora's rewards catalogue, and it is the part of the program people underrate. It runs from deluxe samples in the low hundreds of points, through full size products, up to limited editions and experiences at the very top. Cheap rewards are added to an order you are already placing. Expensive ones can be claimed on their own.

That catalogue is doing the work a discount cannot. Giving away product costs you wholesale rather than revenue, it puts your own range in the customer's hands instead of training them to wait for money off, and it gives a balance a reason to be checked. Any version of this program you build needs one.

That is the whole program. Three tiers, one points currency, a catalogue of rewards, and a birthday gift.

Two things to get right before you start

Every tier earns at the same rate. Insider, VIB and Rouge all earn one point per dollar. Sephora's tiers do not multiply points, they unlock better rewards. This is the mistake most stores make when copying the program, because raising the top tier's earn rate feels obviously right. It is not. It costs you margin on your best customers and it removes the reason to climb, because if the reward for reaching the top is just earning slightly faster, nobody is motivated.

The top reward is worth double per point. Beauty Insider Cash is 500 points for $10, which is 2 cents a point. The Rouge Reward is 2,500 points for $100, which is 4 cents a point. Saving up literally doubles what your points are worth.

That deliberate jump is the engine of the whole program. It is why Rouge customers hoard points instead of spending them $10 at a time, and it is why the top tier is worth reaching even though nobody earns any faster. If you take one idea from this guide, take that one.

What you'll set up

We will build this on a skincare store, with a program called Glow Insider. The tiers are Insider, Devotee and Radiant, mirroring Sephora's Insider, VIB and Rouge.

Step 1: Set your earning rate

Go to Loyalty → Earning Points and open the Purchase rule. It already exists, so there is nothing to create.

That is Sephora's rate exactly, and it is a reasonable default if you are still working out how many points per dollar to give. Two things happen automatically and are worth knowing.

Points are calculated on your merchandise subtotal, so tax and shipping never earn. That matches Sephora's rule with no configuration.

Leave the exclusion box unchecked. Your customers will be checking out with reward codes constantly, and ticking that box would stop those orders earning anything. Sephora lets customers earn on discounted products, and so should you.

Sephora gives nothing for signing up, so open the Signup rule and set it inactive. If you would rather welcome people with a few points, leave it on. That part is your call.

Step 2: Set your tier rules

Go to VIP Tiers → Program Settings. Set these before you switch tiers on.

Entry method is spend, not points. Sephora's tiers are about how much you spend, not how many points you hold.

Calendar Year means progress resets on 1 January, which is Sephora's rule word for word.

Protect tier status is the setting people miss. It keeps a customer's tier until the end of the following calendar year. That is how Sephora actually behaves: reach Rouge in November and you are Rouge for the rest of that year and all of the next one. Without it, a customer who works their way to your top tier in November drops back six weeks later on 1 January, which is the fastest way to lose the customer you just spent a year earning.

Step 3: Create your three tiers

In VIP Tiers → Tiers, add three.

Every multiplier stays at 1. This is the flat earn rate from earlier, and it is the one field where copying Sephora feels wrong but is right. The tiers are about to start unlocking rewards that lower tiers cannot touch, and that is where their value comes from.

Give each tier a colour so customers can see where they are, then switch VIP Tiers on. Mage sorts your existing customers into the right tier automatically. If you want to pressure test those thresholds against your own order data first, our guide to designing VIP tiers that drive repeat purchases walks through it.

Step 4: Add your $10 reward

This is your version of Beauty Insider Cash. Go to Loyalty → Redeeming Points → Add Reward → Fixed Discount.

Set amount, not flexible. Sephora's version is a fixed block used once per order, not a slider where the customer picks how much to spend.

Check all three combination boxes. Sephora is unusually generous here and lets Beauty Insider Cash stack with sample promotions and temporary product discounts. Allowing your $10 on top of a sale is what makes redeeming feel good, and it is the single easiest way to get a first time redeemer to come back.

Step 5: Build your rewards catalogue

Sephora calls this the Rewards Bazaar. It is a catalogue of samples and products at a range of point prices, and it is the reason customers keep checking their balance.

Sephora splits it in two. Cheaper rewards require you to be buying something anyway. Expensive ones can be claimed on their own. In Mage that difference is a single field.

A sample reward, via Add Reward → Free Product:

A full size reward, same form, with Minimum subtotal 0 and Points Cost 1000. No purchase needed.

Build five or six across a spread of prices: 50, 100, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 points. A cheap one a customer can reach within a couple of orders keeps them engaged. An expensive one gives them something to save toward.

Turn on Enable seamless discount. It drops the product into the cart and applies the code in one action, instead of handing someone a code and asking them to go and find the product themselves.

Step 6: Add tier exclusive rewards

This is what the tiers are actually for.

Go to VIP Tiers → Devotee → Tier-Specific Rewards → Add Reward → Free Product.

Anything created here is only visible to customers in that tier. An Insider will never see it in their rewards list.

That is the trade Sephora makes. Everyone earns at the same rate, but spend enough and a better shelf of rewards appears. It costs you nothing until someone qualifies and redeems.

Step 7: Add your premium tier reward

This is your Rouge Reward, and it is the centrepiece of the program.

Go to VIP Tiers → Radiant → Tier-Specific Rewards → Add Reward → Fixed Discount.

Look at the maths against Step 4. Your $10 reward is 2 cents a point. This one is 4 cents a point. Saving for it doubles what a point is worth, and that is exactly the mechanism described at the top of this guide.

Combinations are all off here, the opposite of your $10 reward. $100 off is generous enough on its own, and Sephora applies the same rule.

The 90 day expiry matches Sephora and does real work. A reward this large sitting in an account forever is a liability. A reward this large with three months on the clock is a reason to come back.

Step 8: Set up a birthday gift that scales by tier

Sephora gives every member a birthday gift, and the gift gets better the higher your tier.

Go to Loyalty → Earning Points → Add Earning Rule → Birthday.

Then open Advanced Settings, enable the per tier amounts, and set:

Finally, create the gift itself under Redeeming Points → Add Reward → Free Product, priced at 250 points with Minimum subtotal 0.

The effect is neat. An Insider can afford exactly the birthday gift. A Devotee gets it with points to spare. A Radiant member takes the gift and still has 750 points toward something else. The generosity scales on its own, from one rule.

It fires once a year in the customer's birthday month, automatically. If you want to build email campaigns around it, that is covered in Shopify birthday rewards.

Step 9: Turn on points expiry

Go to Loyalty → Loyalty Program → Points Expiry.

Read Sephora's rule carefully, because the detail matters. Points expire after twelve months of inactivity, not twelve months from being earned.

Setting the mode to Customer's last purchase date means every order resets the clock on a customer's whole balance. Someone who keeps shopping never loses a point, no matter how old. Someone who disappears for a year loses the lot. It only ever penalises customers who already left, which is exactly what you want from expiry.

The 30 day reminder gives them a nudge before it happens, and those reminder emails are some of the highest converting messages a loyalty program sends. There is more detail on the timing in our guide to points expiry that drives redemptions without annoying customers.

Step 10: Schedule a bonus points event

Sephora runs bonus point events a few times a year, and they are one of the highest converting plays in the whole program.

Go to Loyalty → Bonus Campaigns → Create Bonus Campaign.

Scoping it to a collection means only those products multiply, rather than your whole catalogue. Set it to Scheduled and it turns itself on and off on the dates you chose.

There is a second type, Tiered, if you would rather run a spend and get promotion. Spend $75, get 500 bonus points. Same idea, different shape.

Step 11: Put it in front of customers

A loyalty program nobody can see does not work. Two key surfaces to set up:

Loyalty Pages. Your landing page. Add the How it works, Ways to earn, Ways to redeem, VIP tiers and FAQ blocks. They populate themselves from everything you just set up.

Account Sidebar. The signed in view, showing balance, tier progress and rewards available right now.

Spend real time on the VIP tiers block. In a program where every tier earns at the same rate, that comparison table is the only place a customer finds out what your top tier is actually for. It is the page that sells the climb.

Finally, turn on Checkout points earned so customers see the points they are about to earn while they are paying.

You don't have to copy all of it

Very few stores need the whole program, and Beauty Insider is modular by design.

If you want one thing, make it the tier structure with a genuinely valuable top reward. That is Steps 2, 3 and 7, and it is most of the value.

If you sell consumables like skincare, haircare or supplements, add the rewards catalogue in Step 5. Sample sized versions of products people already buy are the cheapest loyalty currency there is, and they drive trial of your other lines at the same time.

If your customers buy occasionally, the birthday gift in Step 8 and the expiry reminders in Step 9 do more for you than tiers will.

If you already run promotions, start with bonus point events in Step 10. It is the fastest thing on this list to set up and the easiest to measure.

The parts stand on their own. Take the ones that suit how your customers actually shop.

We'll set it up for you, free

If you would rather not configure any of this yourself, our team will do it for you at no cost. That includes the full build above, tuned to your catalogue and your margins, plus your branding across the widget, sidebar and loyalty pages.

Already running a loyalty program somewhere else? We handle migrations free of charge too, including your existing customer balances, tiers and history, so nobody loses the points they have earned. We have migrated stores from Smile.io, LoyaltyLion, Yotpo, Rivo, Stamped, Joy and Bubblehouse.

Talk to our team and tell us what you want your program to look like.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sephora's Beauty Insider loyalty program? Beauty Insider is Sephora's free rewards program. Customers earn one point per dollar spent on merchandise and redeem those points for samples, full size products and discounts. It has three tiers, Insider, VIB and Rouge, based on how much a customer spends in a calendar year.

How does Sephora's rewards program work? Every member earns at the same rate of one point per dollar, regardless of tier. Points are spent in the Rewards Bazaar, a catalogue priced from 50 points up to 100,000. Spending $350 in a year unlocks VIB, and $1,000 unlocks Rouge, which gives access to rewards lower tiers cannot redeem, including a $100 reward for 2,500 points.

Can I create a loyalty program like Sephora's on Shopify? Yes. Every part of the structure described in this guide can be set up in Mage: the earning rate, the three spend based tiers, the rewards catalogue, tier exclusive rewards, the birthday gift and points expiry. This guide covers each step with the exact settings.

How long does it take to set up? About twenty minutes if you follow this guide. If you would rather it was done for you, our team sets it up free of charge.

Should my VIP tiers earn points faster? Sephora's do not, and there is a good argument for following that. A flat earn rate keeps your margin predictable and pushes the value of your top tier into exclusive rewards, which cost you nothing until they are redeemed. If your top tier's only benefit is earning slightly faster, customers rarely find it worth chasing.

What happens to points when a customer returns something? Points earned on that order are removed automatically, including any bonus points from a campaign. Partial refunds reverse points proportionally. Tax and shipping never earned points in the first place, so nothing needs unwinding there.

Can I switch from my current loyalty app without losing customer points? Yes. We migrate balances, tiers and history from other loyalty platforms free of charge, so your customers keep everything they have earned.

Mage is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Sephora. Beauty Insider, VIB and Rouge are trademarks of Sephora USA, Inc. This guide references the program for the purpose of comparison and education.