Joy Loyalty vs Stamped: 2026 Comparison

Most Shopify store owners think all loyalty platforms are created equal. They're not.

You've probably noticed that customer acquisition costs have skyrocketed. It now costs 5 to 7 times more to bring in a new customer than to keep an existing one. This reality forces a strategic choice: invest heavily in chasing new buyers, or build systems that turn casual shoppers into repeat customers who come back month after month.

That's where Joy Loyalty and Stamped enter the picture. Both are powerful retention tools available in the Shopify App Store, but they solve fundamentally different problems. Understanding the distinction between them could mean the difference between a loyalty program that sits idle and one that generates measurable revenue growth.

This comparison goes beyond feature lists. We're diving into why customer loyalty and retention are critical for Shopify stores, then building a decision framework so you can choose the right tool for your specific situation.

Joy Loyalty: The Dedicated Customer Retention Specialist

Joy Loyalty is built on a single conviction: your loyalty program should be as sophisticated and customizable as your brand itself. This isn't a one-size-fits-all rewards tool. It's a platform designed for merchants who want deep control over every customer interaction.

The interface feels modern and approachable. Setup doesn't require engineering expertise. But under the hood, Joy offers flexibility that scales from simple startups to complex enterprise loyalty ecosystems.

Joy Loyalty Pros:

• AI-driven engagement through gamified bonuses — The platform uses intelligent bonus systems that respond to customer behavior, not just static point multipliers. Gamification elements keep customers engaged between purchases.
• Transparent, cost-effective pricing tiers — You understand exactly what you're paying for at each level. No hidden fees or surprise charges when you exceed limits. The free plan supports 150-250 monthly orders, making it accessible for newer stores.
• Intuitive dashboard for non-technical teams — Your marketing manager doesn't need to be a data analyst to understand what's happening. The dashboard is clean, organized, and built for humans.
• Seamless migration from other loyalty platforms like Smile.io reduces switching friction and data loss anxiety.
• Extensive customization across 30+ touchpoints allows truly on-brand loyalty experiences that feel native to your store.
• Highly praised 24/7 live chat support with dedicated Account Manager access, leading to consistently high user satisfaction ratings (4.9/5 stars from nearly 1,600 reviews).
• Strong focus on points-based rewards, referral programs, VIP tiers, and paid memberships with flexible earning rules.

Joy Loyalty Cons:

• Support response times can lag on standard plans — Premium support tiers get faster response times, which means standard users might experience delays during critical moments.
• Primary focus is loyalty; lacks integrated review/UGC capabilities, so you'll need separate apps for a full social proof suite.
• May be perceived as more specialized, potentially less appealing to merchants seeking a true all-in-one platform.
• Advanced features shine brightest for mid-market and larger stores on Shopify Advanced/Plus plans.

Stamped: The All-in-One Reviews & Loyalty Platform

Stamped approaches retention from a different angle. Instead of specializing in loyalty alone, it builds a complete ecosystem: reviews, user-generated content, SEO-rich widgets, and loyalty programs all integrated into one platform.

Think of it like the difference between owning a high-end espresso machine versus buying a full-featured coffee shop setup. Stamped handles more of the retention workflow under one roof.

Stamped Pros:

• Combined reviews and loyalty in one affordable app — You're not juggling separate vendors for different retention functions. One dashboard, one vendor relationship, one contract to manage.
• AI sentiment detection for review moderation — The platform automatically analyzes review tone and flags potentially problematic content, saving your team hours of manual moderation.
• Shoppable Instagram galleries as a bonus feature — Transform customer-generated photos into shoppable Instagram feeds directly on your site. This turns social proof into direct sales opportunities.
• NPS tracking included to monitor brand health — Understand not just what customers think, but how likely they are to recommend you. This forward-looking metric predicts retention better than satisfaction scores alone.
• Strong SEO benefits through star ratings, rich snippets, and Google Shopping compatibility.
• Automated review requests via email and SMS enhance collection rates without manual effort.
• Proven track record: Georgiemane achieved 49.9% repeat revenue, GURU Beverage hit 53% open rates for review engagement, Inno Supps saw 51% AOV lift, and wildwonder scaled from 5x to 30.9x ROI in 3 months.

Stamped Cons:

• User reports of platform crashes during peak volume — Some merchants have experienced service disruptions during high-traffic periods, which is problematic during sales events or seasonal rushes.
• Slower reviews widget than modern specialists — While adequate, the widget doesn't load quite as snappily as dedicated review-only platforms. This matters for mobile users and conversion-sensitive stores.
• Loyalty and reviews are often segmented across separate products or plans, potentially leading to higher costs for the full suite than pricing pages initially suggest.
• Its flexibility for branding requires more configuration effort compared to simpler solutions.
• Some users may find the combined platform has a steeper learning curve if they only need a specific feature (like just loyalty).
• User ratings for its loyalty app specifically (4.7/5 stars) are slightly lower than Joy Loyalty's dedicated offering.

The Critical Difference

Joy Loyalty specializes in loyalty mechanics. Stamped specializes in reviews + loyalty. Your choice depends on whether you already have a reviews solution (or don't need one) versus wanting everything unified under one vendor.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison: Digging Deeper

Loyalty Program Mechanics: Points, Referrals, VIP Tiers

Both platforms support points-based rewards, referral programs, and tiered VIP structures. But the depth differs significantly.

Joy Loyalty excels at custom reward logic. You can create complex earning rules that respond to customer segments, purchase history, and behavioral triggers. The system supports everything from simple "1 point per $1 spent" to sophisticated mechanics like "3x points on items purchased within 30 days of a referral" or "bonus points for first-time customers who refer a friend."

This flexibility is exactly what you need when you're trying to drive specific behaviors. Want to encourage larger order values? Create multipliers for orders over a certain threshold. Want to activate dormant customers? Build a win-back tier with special incentives.

Stamped's loyalty mechanics are solid and AI-powered, but they're designed to work alongside its reviews and UGC focus. The real power in Stamped isn't in hyper-customized earning rules—it's in how loyalty integrates with social proof signals to drive conversion.

For merchants prioritizing flexibility and depth of points-based rewards, referral systems, and VIP tier structures, Joy typically edges ahead.

Reviews and User-Generated Content

This is where the philosophies diverge most clearly.

Stamped has built-in review collection, moderation, display widgets, and photo gallery features. When a customer purchases, Stamped's automation sends review requests via email and SMS. Responses automatically populate customizable widgets on your product pages. The platform handles everything from star rating displays to interactive photo carousels.

Joy Loyalty doesn't handle reviews natively. Instead, it integrates with third-party review apps like Judge.me, Loox, and others. This approach means you're managing two separate tools, but you get to choose the best-in-class reviews app for your specific needs.

For merchants who heavily depend on visual user-generated content—fashion brands, skincare companies, home decor stores—Stamped's integrated approach simplifies workflows. You're not syncing data between platforms or managing separate logins.

But here's the counterintuitive reality: specialized tools often outperform generalist platforms in their core function. If collecting stunning photo reviews is critical to your sales strategy, a dedicated reviews app might actually serve you better than Stamped's reviews feature, even though it means managing an additional integration.

Customization and Branding

Joy Loyalty offers 30+ customizable touchpoints. This means nearly every customer-facing element—pop-ups, email templates, loyalty pages, reward widgets—can be branded to match your aesthetic and voice.

Stamped provides robust customization for reviews widgets and loyalty program branding, but the breadth of customizable elements is somewhat more limited. You can certainly make it look like your brand, but Joy's approach to customization is more granular and pervasive.

Think of it this way: Joy lets you customize 30 different interactions. Stamped lets you customize 15 of them really well.

For brands where the loyalty experience needs to feel seamlessly integrated into a broader brand ecosystem—not like a bolted-on third-party tool—Joy's extensive customization matters. For brands where functionality is more important than perfect aesthetic alignment, Stamped's customization is perfectly adequate.

Integrations and Omnichannel Support

Both platforms integrate with Shopify POS, Klaviyo, Omnisend, Gorgias, and Shopify Flow. This is table stakes for modern loyalty apps.

Where they differ is depth. Joy's Shopify POS integration allows for true unified online and offline loyalty experience, where in-store purchases, online orders, and referrals all feed into a single loyalty account. Customers see consistent balances and tier status across channels.

Stamped's POS integration works, but it's not as comprehensive. The loyalty aspects sync, but the review and UGC functionality remains primarily online-focused. This matters less if your store is primarily e-commerce, but it's a significant limitation for truly omnichannel brands.

Analytics and Reporting

Both platforms provide dashboards tracking key loyalty performance metrics and ROI. You can see enrollment rates, redemption rates, repeat purchase frequency, and customer lifetime value impacts.

Joy's analytics are customizable. You can build reports that focus on whatever metrics matter most to your business. Stamped's analytics are more standardized but comprehensive—they tell you the story, but less flexibility exists in how you view that story.

For data-driven merchants who want to continuously optimize loyalty mechanics based on specific KPIs, Joy's reporting depth wins. For merchants who want a clear, pre-packaged view of performance without customization overhead, Stamped's approach is simpler.

Pricing Reality Check: Understanding the True Cost

This is where many merchants get surprised. Pricing pages tell only part of the story.

Free Plans:

Joy Loyalty's free plan genuinely supports 150-250 monthly free orders with no payment method required. This is legitimate runway for testing. You're not getting advanced VIP features or dedicated support, but the loyalty core works.

Stamped's "free" positioning is trickier. At the time of writing, Stamped segments its products across reviews and loyalty. You might qualify for a free reviews tier while loyalty is a paid add-on, or vice versa. A truly free, full-featured loyalty program from Stamped appears unavailable. This matters if budget is your primary constraint.

Mid-Tier Plans:

Joy's mid-tier plans ($99-299/month range, based on order volume) include advanced VIP features, custom integrations, and priority email support. Everything scales clearly with order volume.

Stamped's mid-tier plans segment differently. You're often choosing between "Reviews Premium" and "Loyalty Business" tiers separately. The combined cost for a mid-sized store wanting both reviews and loyalty typically runs higher than Joy's equivalent mid-tier.

Enterprise Plans:

Joy may offer more advanced features for large enterprises at a slightly lower price point in the highest tier compared to Stamped, especially if you need multiple integrations or custom configurations.

Stamped's enterprise tier is quote-based, meaning transparent pricing ends and negotiation begins. This can work in your favor if you have leverage, but it introduces uncertainty into budget planning.

Hidden Costs & Limitations:

Watch for SMS review requests on Stamped—these may incur additional costs beyond the base plan. Joy's SMS integrations typically route through your existing marketing platform (Klaviyo, Omnisend), so costs are transparent.

Also monitor order volume thresholds. Exceed them and pricing jumps. Joy's pricing jumps are predictable and published. Stamped's can be opaque.

Which App is Right for Your Shopify Store? A Decision Framework

Choose Joy Loyalty if:

• You operate a mid-market or larger Shopify store (especially Advanced or Plus plans) with sophisticated loyalty program needs.
• Your brand identity demands extensive customization across 30+ customer touchpoints.
• You prioritize premium support and potentially want a dedicated account manager for strategic guidance.
• You already have a best-in-class reviews solution (Judge.me, Loox, etc.) or don't prioritize review collection.
• You operate in beauty, fitness, or lifestyle verticals where personalized loyalty mechanics drive customer lifetime value.
• You want transparent, predictable pricing with no surprises as you scale.
• You need true omnichannel loyalty across online and POS channels.

Choose Stamped if:

• You want an all-in-one platform combining reviews, UGC, and loyalty under a single vendor relationship.
• You heavily depend on visual customer testimonials (photos, videos) for conversion rate optimization.
• You want AI-powered features optimizing both review moderation and loyalty mechanics.
• You value SEO benefits from integrated star ratings and rich snippets.
• You operate in industries where social proof density directly impacts purchase decisions (fashion, skincare, home goods).
• You're primarily e-commerce focused (not omnichannel) and want to simplify your vendor landscape.
• You want NPS tracking integrated into your customer health monitoring.

The Real Question

Don't ask "which is better?" Ask "which solves my specific problem?" Joy is better at loyalty mechanics. Stamped is better at unified social proof. Your answer depends on which problem costs you more revenue today.

Real-World Impact and Customer Stories

Joy Loyalty merchants frequently cite seamless migration from competitors. One beauty brand moved from Smile.io with zero data loss and launched enhanced VIP tiers within two weeks. Their repeat purchase rate jumped 18% within three months—directly attributable to more sophisticated tier mechanics and better customer communication through the platform.

Fitness brands using Joy report that their member retention improved measurably when they could create VIP tiers with exclusive perks (early class access, discounted merchandise, birthday bonuses). The gamification element kept members engaged between purchases in a way basic point systems didn't.

Stamped's case studies show different strengths. Georgiemane, a skincare brand, achieved 49.9% repeat revenue by leveraging customer photo reviews prominently on product pages. GURU Beverage hit 53% open rates for review engagement emails. Inno Supps saw 51% AOV lift by using Stamped's UGC integration. Wildwonder scaled from 5x to 30.9x ROI in 3 months, largely through social proof accumulation and referral mechanics.

These numbers reveal the mechanism: when you make it easy for customers to submit visual content and see that content influence others, conversion rates rise. When you give customers sophisticated loyalty mechanics that match their tier status to genuine benefits, retention rises.

The industry data is clear: 84% of consumers stick with brands that offer loyalty programs. Establishing a loyal customer base can increase your company's profits by up to 25%. The question isn't whether loyalty programs work. It's which platform unlocks that value for your specific store.

Conclusion: Making Your Loyalty Choice for 2026

Both Joy Loyalty and Stamped are genuinely powerful tools. They don't fail because they're poorly built. They fail because merchants choose the wrong tool for their specific situation.

Joy Loyalty is the specialist. Choose it when you need deep customization, complex loyalty mechanics, premium support, or when you already have reviews covered. It's built for merchants who see loyalty as a core strategic lever deserving dedicated attention.

Stamped is the integrator. Choose it when you want everything unified, when visual social proof drives your conversion strategy, or when you want to simplify your vendor landscape. It's built for merchants who want reviews and loyalty to work together seamlessly.

Consider your store size. Consider your industry. Consider whether you already have reviews infrastructure. Consider your support expectations. Consider what loyalty mechanics actually move the needle for your customer psychology.

How loyalty programs increase customer lifetime value (LTV) depends on choosing a platform that matches your operational reality. This decision framework does the thinking so you don't have to.

For merchants building truly sophisticated, customized loyalty ecosystems at scale, Joy Loyalty consistently delivers. For merchants prioritizing integrated social proof and simplified vendor management, Stamped's unified approach wins. Make the choice based on your actual needs, not on feature lists or app store ratings.

Frequently Asked Questions About Loyalty Programs

What is the difference between a points program and a VIP tier program?

Points programs reward customers with currency they accumulate and redeem. Customers earn 1-5 points per dollar spent, then redeem 100 points for a $10 discount, for example. Tier programs segment customers into levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold) based on spending or activity, with each tier unlocking different perks and benefits. Points programs emphasize transactional rewards. Tier programs emphasize status and exclusivity. Many modern programs like Joy Loyalty combine both—customers earn points while tier status determines point multipliers and exclusive perks.

How do loyalty programs increase customer lifetime value (LTV)?

Loyalty programs increase LTV through three mechanisms: they increase repeat purchase frequency by giving customers reasons to return, they increase average order value by offering tiered rewards tied to spending thresholds, and they improve margins by reducing reliance on discount-driven customer acquisition. A loyal customer who makes 5 purchases per year versus 2 purchases per year, each $5 larger due to tier incentives, generates substantially more profit—especially when acquisition costs are included.

Can these apps integrate with my existing email marketing platform?

Yes, both Joy Loyalty and Stamped integrate with Klaviyo, Omnisend, and other major platforms. Integration allows you to segment customers by loyalty tier or points balance, trigger automated emails based on loyalty milestones (tier upgrade, points expiration), and include dynamic loyalty information in emails. Check the app's integration documentation for your specific platform before committing.

What metrics should I track to measure loyalty program success?

Track enrollment rate (percentage of customers who join), redemption rate (what percentage of earned rewards are actually redeemed), repeat purchase rate (percentage of customers making multiple purchases), average order value trends, and customer lifetime value by tier. Most importantly, measure repeat purchase rates among program members versus non-members—the gap reveals your program's true impact. Track these monthly for at least 3-6 months before evaluating program success, as loyalty benefits compound over time.