BON Loyalty Program & Rewards vs. Influence: Loyalty & Referral: A Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right retention tools often feels like a balancing act between feature depth and operational simplicity. For Shopify merchants, the loyalty and referral category is particularly crowded, making it difficult to distinguish between platforms that offer basic point systems and those that provide true scalability. Selecting a tool that does not align with a brand’s technical maturity or customer base can lead to fragmented data and a disjointed customer experience. This comparison focuses on two distinct solutions: BON Loyalty Program & Rewards and Influence: Loyalty & Referral.

Short answer: BON Loyalty Program & Rewards is highly effective for stores requiring multi-language support and specialized B2B loyalty structures on a budget. Influence: Loyalty & Referral is better suited for scaling brands that prioritize deep integrations with customer service tools and subscription platforms. Both apps offer powerful standalone features, though merchants must consider how adding specialized tools impacts the overall complexity of the store’s technical ecosystem.

The purpose of this analysis is to provide a neutral, feature-by-feature evaluation of these two apps. By examining their pricing, integration capabilities, and core loyalty mechanics, store owners can determine which solution fits their current growth stage and long-term retention goals.

BON Loyalty Program & Rewards vs. Influence: Loyalty & Referral: At a Glance

Core Product Philosophies and Merchant Focus

Every Shopify app is built with a specific merchant profile in mind. Understanding the underlying philosophy of BON Loyalty Program & Rewards and Influence: Loyalty & Referral helps in predicting how the software will evolve and where the developer focuses their support resources.

BON Loyalty Program: Global and Wholesale Versatility

BON Loyalty positions itself as a retention platform that emphasizes effortless setup and cross-platform flexibility. The inclusion of multi-language support early in its pricing tiers suggests a focus on the global merchant. In the Shopify ecosystem, many loyalty apps struggle with translation or require expensive third-party tools to display rewards in multiple languages. BON treats this as a core requirement.

Furthermore, the emphasis on B2B loyalty programs indicates a focus on the growing "Shopify for wholesale" market. Wholesale buyers have different motivations than retail consumers; they often buy in bulk and require different tier structures. BON’s ability to separate these audiences within a single app is a significant differentiator for brands running hybrid business models.

Influence: Scalable CX and Subscription Integration

Influence: Loyalty & Referral, developed by the team behind Reviews.io, is built for brands that view loyalty as one part of a larger customer experience (CX) strategy. The app’s strength lies in its ecosystem. Because it is closely tied to a major review platform, the workflow between earning points for reviews and redeeming them for future purchases is highly optimized.

The philosophy here is one of "connected growth." Influence leans heavily into integrations with heavy-hitters like Gorgias for customer support and Recharge or Loop for subscriptions. This makes it a natural fit for brands where customer service interactions and recurring revenue are the primary drivers of growth. It is less about being a standalone points bucket and more about being a layer of the existing tech stack.

Feature Comparison: Loyalty Points and Rewards

The heart of any retention strategy is the points and rewards engine. Both apps provide the standard "earn and redeem" loop, but their implementation of advanced mechanics differs.

Point Earning and Redemption Rules

BON Loyalty offers a straightforward point system that includes money-off, percentage-off, and free shipping rewards. On the professional end, it includes free product rewards, which is a powerful way to clear inventory while making customers feel valued. The app also features an "Order Booster" in its Growth plan, which is designed to incentivize higher spending during specific windows.

Influence provides "Basic earn rules" on its free plan and expands to "Advanced earn and redeem rules" on the Plus plan. A unique feature of Influence is the Digital StampCard. This is a psychological shift from traditional point-counting. For certain industries—like coffee, beauty, or high-frequency consumables—a stamp card is often more intuitive for customers than a complex point balance. It simplifies the "path to reward," which can lead to higher engagement rates.

VIP Tiers and Membership Structures

Both platforms utilize VIP tiers to gamify the shopping experience and reward high-value customers.

• BON Loyalty: Offers VIP Tiers starting at the $99 Growth plan. It also includes a specialized B2B Tier Program, allowing wholesale customers to have their own distinct rewards logic. This is critical for maintaining margins in B2B transactions while still encouraging loyalty.
• Influence: Provides Loyalty Tiers on its Plus plan ($199/month). It also offers "Memberships" and "Unlimited Membership groups," which suggests a more granular way to segment customers based on behavior or subscription status rather than just total spend.

Referral Program Management

Referrals are the most cost-effective way to acquire new customers by leveraging the trust of existing ones. Both apps include referral components, but the tools provided for management and fraud prevention vary.

BON Loyalty Referral Logic

BON includes an "Anti-Cheat referral program" even on its free plan. This is a vital feature for small stores that might be vulnerable to referral link spam. The system automates the delivery of rewards to both the referrer and the referee, reducing the manual workload for the merchant. The focus here is on a "set it and forget it" workflow that ensures new customer acquisition remains clean and profitable.

Influence Referral Incentives

Influence integrates referral incentives into its $49 Starter plan. While the data does not explicitly mention a dedicated anti-cheat engine like BON, Influence offers "Custom email & referral domains" on its higher-tier plans. This allows for a more branded experience, where referral links look like they belong to the store (e.g., rewards.yourbrand.com) rather than a third-party app. This level of professionalization can increase the click-through rate of shared links.

Omnichannel and POS Capabilities

As more Shopify merchants expand into physical retail, the ability to bridge the gap between online and in-store loyalty becomes essential.

BON Loyalty offers POS rewards for in-store customers starting at the $25 Basic plan. This allows a customer to earn points on a purchase made at a physical popup shop and redeem them later on the online store. The integration with Shopify POS is listed as a core "Works With" feature, ensuring that the staff at the register can easily see customer profiles and apply rewards.

Influence also offers full POS support, positioned in the $49 Starter plan. The app allows customers to earn and redeem points in-store and online seamlessly. For brands that use Shopify POS as a primary sales channel, Influence’s "Digital StampCard" is particularly effective in a retail environment, mimicking the physical cards customers are already used to carrying.

Integration and Ecosystem Compatibility

A loyalty app does not live in a vacuum. It must communicate with your email platform, your helpdesk, and your review software.

BON Loyalty’s Review Focus

BON Loyalty lists several "Works With" integrations that focus on social proof, including Fera, LAI, and Judge.me. This suggests that BON is designed to be the hub for rewards while letting specialized review apps handle customer feedback. It also integrates with Klaviyo for email automation and PageFly for landing page customization. The $349 Professional plan introduces a Software Development Toolkit (SDK) and Full API access, making it a viable option for stores using a headless (Hydrogen) architecture.

Influence’s CX and Subscription Focus

Influence has a more robust list of integrations centered around the customer lifecycle. Beyond Klaviyo and Shopify Flow, it connects with:

• Gorgias: Allows support agents to see loyalty points directly in the helpdesk.
• Recharge and Loop: Essential for managing loyalty for subscription-based businesses.
• Attentive: Provides deep SMS marketing capabilities.
• REVIEWS.io: Offers native synergy for collecting and rewarding reviews.

Influence is better positioned for a merchant who wants their loyalty data to be accessible across every department, from marketing to customer support.

Pricing and Value for Money

The cost of these apps is structured differently, which can significantly impact the total cost of ownership as a store scales.

BON Loyalty Pricing Analysis

BON uses a feature-gated pricing model. As you move from Free to $349/month, you unlock more advanced logic and technical access.

• Free: Includes points, anti-cheat referrals, and automated emails.
• Basic ($25): Adds the Loyalty Page, multi-language support, and POS rewards.
• Growth ($99): Unlocks VIP Tiers, B2B Tiers, and 24/7 live chat support.
• Professional ($349): Focused on enterprise needs, including API access and headless commerce support.

This model is predictable. Merchants know exactly what they will pay based on the features they need, regardless of how many orders they process (though "Unlimited orders" is specifically mentioned as a highlight of the $99 plan).

Influence Pricing Analysis

Influence uses a hybrid of order-based and feature-based pricing.

• Free: Limited to 300 orders. This is a generous cap for very small stores but will quickly be outgrown by active brands.
• Starter ($49): Offers unlimited orders and introduces the referral program and POS support.
• Plus ($199): Unlocks the most powerful features like VIP Tiers, API access, and custom domains.

For a merchant processing 1,000 orders a month, Influence is significantly more expensive than BON’s Basic plan but provides unlimited orders at a lower entry point ($49) than BON’s Growth plan ($99) if VIP tiers aren't yet required.

Technical Control and Customization

For brands that want a specific "look and feel," customization is non-negotiable.

BON Loyalty offers a "brand tailored loyalty page" and, at the $99 level, provides custom CSS support with the assistance of their development team. This is a high-touch service that helps merchants ensure the loyalty widget doesn't look like a generic add-on. The inclusion of an SDK and Full API access at the $349 level puts BON into the "enterprise-ready" category for stores that want to build their own custom loyalty front-end.

Influence offers a "Basic widget" on the free plan and a "Dedicated landing page" starting at $49. At the $199 Plus level, merchants gain full API access and custom email/referral domains. Influence seems to focus on a "no-code" setup that is easy to customize within the app's dashboard, whereas BON offers more technical "under the hood" access for developers.

Analyzing Merchant Feedback and Reliability

When evaluating these apps, the data provides a glimpse into their market position.

BON Loyalty has a 5.0 rating but only a single review. While this review is perfect, the lack of volume makes it difficult to assess how the app performs under the stress of high-volume traffic or across diverse store setups. It is likely a newer or more niche player in the space. However, their 24/7 support promise and the specific mentions of custom CSS support suggest a team that is eager to please new clients.

Influence has a 4.3 rating with 29 reviews. This indicates a more established presence. A 4.3 rating is solid but suggests there may be some friction points for certain users—often related to the complexity of setting up advanced rules or integrations. Merchants choosing Influence can feel more confident in its stability across many different store types, given the higher review volume.

Operational Overhead and App Stack Impact

A major consideration for any Shopify merchant is "app sprawl." Every time a new app is installed, the store's code becomes more complex, and the risk of data silos increases.

BON Loyalty focuses heavily on loyalty and referrals. If a merchant also wants to handle reviews and wishlists, they will need to install at least two more apps. This means managing three separate subscriptions, three different user interfaces, and three sets of customer data that may not always sync perfectly.

Influence is slightly more integrated due to its connection with the Reviews.io ecosystem, but it still functions primarily as a specialized loyalty tool. The merchant is still tasked with making sure all these disparate pieces—loyalty, reviews, support, and marketing—work together. This "stack" approach requires significant management time and can lead to a fragmented customer experience where a user might receive a review request and a loyalty update that feel completely disconnected in tone and timing.

The Alternative: Solving App Fatigue with an All-in-One Platform

As brands grow, the excitement of adding new features often turns into the frustration of managing too many tools. This phenomenon, known as "app fatigue" or tool sprawl, happens when a merchant realizes they are spending more time managing their software than their strategy. Fragmented data across different apps for loyalty, reviews, and wishlists makes it nearly impossible to get a clear picture of customer behavior.

Before committing to a specialized tool, it is worth comparing plan fit against retention goals to see if an integrated approach might be more efficient. Growave offers a "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy, combining loyalty, rewards, reviews, UGC, and wishlists into a single, cohesive platform. This integration ensures that the customer journey is seamless; for example, a customer can earn loyalty points and rewards designed to lift repeat purchases for the very act of collecting and showcasing authentic customer reviews.

When these functions are housed under one roof, the operational overhead drops significantly. There is only one dashboard to learn, one set of scripts slowing down the site, and one customer support team to contact. For merchants who are wary of the technical debt that comes with a "franken-stack" of multiple apps, selecting plans that reduce stacked tooling costs is often the most sustainable path to growth.

By centralizing these high-impact features, merchants can create more sophisticated automation. Imagine a scenario where a customer adds an item to their wishlist, receives a reminder email, and is simultaneously notified of the loyalty points they could earn by completing that purchase. This level of coordination is difficult to achieve when using separate apps that don't share real-time data. To see how this looks in practice, merchants can request a product walkthrough aligned to Shopify store maturity.

Furthermore, as a store scales toward the enterprise level, the need for governance and consistent branding becomes paramount. Instead of styling three different widgets from three different developers, an integrated platform allows for a unified design language across the entire store. This consistency builds trust with the customer. Before making a final decision, checking merchant feedback and app-store performance signals can provide insight into how other brands have successfully consolidated their tech stacks.

Ultimately, the goal is to spend less time on "software plumbing" and more time on customer relationships. Whether it is through loyalty programs that keep customers coming back or review automation that builds trust at purchase time, an all-in-one platform provides the structural foundation for long-term retention without the headache of managing a dozen different subscriptions.

If consolidating tools is a priority, start by evaluating feature coverage across plans.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between BON Loyalty Program & Rewards and Influence: Loyalty & Referral, the decision comes down to the specific technical needs and the current size of the business.

BON Loyalty Program & Rewards is a standout choice for those who need to support a global audience with multi-language rewards or those running a specialized B2B operation. Its pricing is accessible, and the high-tier focus on headless commerce via Hydrogen makes it a strong contender for tech-forward brands. However, its lower review volume means merchants are adopting it as early supporters of a newer platform.

Influence: Loyalty & Referral is the preferred option for established brands that are already integrated into the Reviews.io ecosystem or those who rely heavily on tools like Gorgias and Recharge. The Digital StampCard and membership features provide a unique psychological edge for consumables and high-frequency lifestyle brands. The trade-off is a higher price point for advanced features and an order-capped free plan.

While both tools are excellent in their specialized niches, the broader challenge of retention often requires more than just a loyalty program. Managing multiple apps for reviews, wishlists, and rewards can lead to a bloated tech stack and inconsistent customer experiences. Integrated platforms provide a way to bypass this complexity by offering a unified suite of tools that work in harmony. By verifying compatibility details in the official app listing, merchants can see how an all-in-one approach might better serve their long-term growth.

To reduce app fatigue and run retention from one place, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from.

FAQ

Which app is better for international stores with multiple languages?

BON Loyalty Program & Rewards is specifically designed with multi-language display features starting at its $25 Basic plan. This makes it a more natural fit for merchants who operate in multiple regions and need their loyalty widget to translate seamlessly for a global customer base.

Can Influence: Loyalty & Referral handle subscription rewards?

Yes, Influence has native integrations with Recharge and Loop Subscriptions. This allows merchants to reward subscribers with points or exclusive perks, which is essential for reducing churn and increasing the lifetime value of recurring customers.

Does BON Loyalty support headless commerce?

BON Loyalty provides Hydrogen support, a Software Development Toolkit (SDK), and Full API access on its $349 Professional plan. This is intended for enterprise-level stores that use a custom or headless front-end rather than a standard Shopify theme.

How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps?

An all-in-one platform reduces the technical burden on a store by replacing multiple single-function apps with one integrated system. While specialized apps might offer deeper niche features, an integrated platform ensures that data flows freely between loyalty, reviews, and wishlists, resulting in a more consistent customer experience and a lower total cost of ownership. This can be explored through a guided evaluation of an integrated retention stack.