Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards vs. Novel: Wallet Pass for Brands Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right retention tools for a Shopify store often feels like navigating a dense thicket of technical specifications and pricing tiers. With customer acquisition costs rising, the focus for growing brands has shifted toward maximizing the value of existing traffic. Two apps that address this need from different angles are Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards and Novel: Wallet Pass for Brands. One focuses on a deeply integrated, points-based loyalty structure, while the other leverages the convenience of mobile wallets to bridge the gap between digital and physical commerce.

Short answer: Rivo provides a robust, points-based loyalty structure with deep developer tools, while Novel focuses on frictionless mobile wallet passes and push notifications. Choosing between them depends on whether a store prioritizes a traditional rewards experience or a modern, mobile-first engagement strategy, though consolidating these functions often leads to better operational efficiency.

The purpose of this analysis is to provide an objective, feature-by-feature comparison of Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards and Novel: Wallet Pass for Brands. By examining their core functionalities, pricing models, and integration capabilities, merchants can determine which tool aligns with their specific operational goals and technical requirements.

Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards vs. Novel: Wallet Pass for Brands: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Core Features and Workflows

Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards is designed around the classic mechanics of customer retention. The app enables merchants to build a comprehensive ecosystem where customers earn points for specific actions, such as making a purchase, following social media accounts, or celebrating a birthday. These points can later be redeemed for discounts or specialized rewards. A key component of the Rivo workflow is its focus on high-growth DTC brands, offering a dedicated loyalty and referral page that can be styled to match the brand's aesthetic. The inclusion of VIP tiers allows merchants to segment their most valuable customers and offer escalating rewards, which is a proven method for increasing customer lifetime value.

Novel: Wallet Pass for Brands approaches retention through the lens of mobile convenience. Instead of requiring a customer to log into a store or check their email for rewards, Novel places a branded pass directly into the Apple or Google Wallet. This pass serves as a permanent digital touchpoint on the customer’s phone. The core workflow involves sending push notifications that bypass crowded email inboxes and SMS filters. Because the pass lives in the wallet, it can also facilitate "scan-in-store" redemptions, making it a powerful tool for brands with a physical retail presence. The conversational referral system via SMS or QR codes further simplifies the process of word-of-mouth marketing.

Customization and Control

Control over brand identity is a significant factor for Shopify merchants. Rivo offers extensive customization options, particularly in its higher-tier plans. Merchants can utilize custom CSS and fonts to ensure the loyalty program feels like a native part of the storefront rather than a third-party add-on. For brands with complex requirements, the Rivo Developer Toolkit provides the ability to unlock deeper levels of customization. This is particularly relevant for stores that want to trigger specific actions or integrate loyalty data into proprietary workflows.

Novel focuses its customization on the wallet pass itself. Merchants can design a branded pass that appears professional and recognizable within the mobile wallet environment. The app also offers automatic storefront login for Shopify Plus merchants, which reduces friction during the shopping journey. While Novel provides a streamlined experience for mobile engagement, its customization is more specialized toward the wallet interface rather than the entire web storefront.

Pricing Structure and Value for Money

The pricing strategies of these two apps cater to different stages of business growth. Rivo offers a "100% Free Forever" plan which is highly accessible for new stores. This plan supports up to 200 monthly orders and includes basic loyalty points and email campaigns. As a brand scales, the "Scale" plan at $49 per month introduces VIP tiers and advanced branding. For enterprise-level needs, the "Plus" plan at $499 per month provides checkout extensions, custom integrations, and access to the developer toolkit. This suggests a pricing structure that scales as order volume grows, allowing merchants to pay based on their current needs.

Novel also provides a free entry point, though it is specifically designated for developer stores. The primary paid tier, "Gotta Have it," is priced at $299 per month. This plan includes unlimited push notifications, location-based alerts, and QR code referrals. When comparing plan fit against retention goals, merchants must weigh the $299 cost of Novel’s mobile-first approach against Rivo's tiered options. Novel's pricing is more of a flat-fee structure for full feature access, whereas Rivo's costs increase significantly as more advanced technical features are required.

Integrations and Technical Fit

Connectivity within the Shopify ecosystem is vital for maintaining a clean data flow. Rivo lists compatibility with several key tools, including Shopify POS, Checkout, and Klaviyo. Its ability to work with Gorgias and Postscript ensures that loyalty data is available to customer support and SMS marketing teams. The "Plus" plan's focus on custom Klaviyo events indicates a deep commitment to lifecycle marketing integration.

Novel boasts a wide array of integrations, working with POS systems and a long list of retention and marketing apps like Yotpo, Okendo, and Recharge. Its focus is on being an "omnichannel solution," meaning it aims to sit alongside existing loyalty or review apps rather than replacing them. This makes Novel a specialized addition to a tech stack rather than a central hub. For merchants reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from, the list of "works with" partners for Novel is particularly extensive, highlighting its role as a connective layer for mobile engagement.

Performance and Operational Overhead

Managing multiple apps can lead to "app sprawl," where the cumulative cost and management time of various tools become a burden. Rivo attempts to mitigate this by providing a comprehensive loyalty and referral platform in one package. However, a merchant using Rivo might still need separate apps for reviews or wishlists, adding to the total cost of ownership. The operational overhead for Rivo involves managing point balances, adjusting VIP tier thresholds, and ensuring the referral system is functioning correctly.

Novel introduces a unique form of engagement through location-based push notifications. This feature allows a brand to send a notification to a customer when they are near a specific physical location. While this is a powerful marketing tool, it requires careful management to ensure notifications are timely and relevant without being intrusive. Because Novel is a specialized tool, the operational overhead is focused on creative asset management for wallet passes and the strategic timing of push campaigns.

Customer Support and Reliability

Reliability in the e-commerce world is often measured by the quality of support and the stability of the app. Rivo emphasizes its 24/7 live chat support and a "world-class" customer success team. With a 4.8 rating from its reviews, it shows a high level of satisfaction, though the review volume provided in the data is low. The focus on shipping weekly updates suggests a proactive development team that stays current with Shopify’s evolving technology.

Novel holds a 5-star rating from 14 reviews, which is a strong signal of reliability for its user base. The higher review count compared to the provided Rivo data suggests a more established presence in its specific niche of wallet pass technology. Merchants checking merchant feedback and app-store performance signals will find that Novel's specialized focus results in a very satisfied, albeit smaller, user group.

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

While specialized tools like Rivo and Novel offer distinct advantages, they often contribute to a broader problem in the Shopify ecosystem: app fatigue. When a merchant installs one app for loyalty, another for reviews, another for wishlists, and another for wallet passes, the tech stack becomes fragmented. This fragmentation leads to siloed data, where a customer's review activity isn't reflected in their loyalty status, or a wishlist item doesn't trigger a relevant referral incentive. Managing these disparate systems often requires selecting plans that reduce stacked tooling costs to keep the business profitable.

Growave addresses this challenge through a "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy. Instead of acting as a single-function tool, it provides an integrated platform that combines loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlists into one interface. This approach eliminates the need for complex "glue" integrations between different apps and ensures a consistent experience for the customer. By seeing how the app is positioned for Shopify stores, it becomes clear that a unified platform reduces the technical debt that often comes with high-growth scaling.

One of the primary benefits of this integrated model is the ability to create more meaningful customer journeys. For instance, loyalty points and rewards designed to lift repeat purchases can be automatically granted when a customer leaves a photo review or shares a product from their wishlist. This level of cross-functional automation is difficult to achieve when using separate apps that may not communicate perfectly with each other. By looking at real examples from brands improving retention, merchants can see the impact of having all retention data in one place.

Furthermore, an all-in-one platform simplifies the administrative side of running a store. There is only one support team to contact, one billing cycle to manage, and one dashboard to learn. For brands moving toward the enterprise level, having capabilities designed for Shopify Plus scaling needs within a single platform is a significant operational advantage. It allows the marketing team to focus on strategy rather than troubleshooting integration issues between five different vendors.

The efficiency gained from a consolidated stack also extends to site performance. Every additional app installed on a Shopify store can potentially slow down page load times due to extra scripts. A platform like Growave is optimized to deliver multiple features through a streamlined codebase, helping maintain the fast load speeds essential for conversion. Merchants can find many customer stories that show how teams reduce app sprawl by migrating to a more holistic solution.

Ultimately, the goal is to build a sustainable retention engine. Using VIP tiers and incentives for high-intent customers within a unified system ensures that every customer interaction—whether it’s a review, a referral, or a purchase—is captured and rewarded. This creates a cohesive brand experience that feels professional and well-orchestrated. For those looking for features aligned with enterprise retention requirements, the value of a consolidated platform becomes even more apparent as the complexity of the store grows.

Detailed Comparison: Strategy and Use Cases

When to Choose Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards

Rivo is an excellent choice for merchants who are looking for a dedicated loyalty solution with a high degree of technical flexibility. If a brand has a developer on hand or requires very specific custom logic for its rewards program, the Rivo Developer Toolkit is a standout feature. It is also well-suited for brands that are just starting and need a functional free plan to test the waters of loyalty marketing.

• Ideal for brands prioritizing a custom-built loyalty aesthetic.
• Strong fit for stores that need deep integration with Klaviyo for advanced email flows.
• Suitable for merchants who prefer a tiered pricing model that grows with their order volume.

When to Choose Novel: Wallet Pass for Brands

Novel is the preferred option for merchants who see the future of retention in mobile-first, omnichannel engagement. If a significant portion of a brand's traffic comes from mobile users, or if the brand has physical storefronts, the wallet pass functionality is a major advantage. It bypasses the noise of traditional marketing channels and creates a direct, permanent link on the customer’s phone.

• Best for omnichannel retailers who want to connect online and in-store experiences.
• Ideal for brands looking to replace or supplement SMS marketing with push notifications.
• Strong choice for Shopify Plus merchants who want a frictionless "no-app" mobile presence.

Scalability and Future-Proofing

Scalability isn't just about handling more orders; it’s about how the complexity of your operations grows. Rivo’s "Plus" plan is clearly aimed at the higher end of the market, offering the support and extensions needed for large-scale operations. Novel’s flat-fee structure for its main tier offers a different kind of scalability—it allows a brand to send unlimited notifications without worrying about increasing costs per message, which is a common pain point in SMS marketing.

However, as a brand grows, the desire to have a unified view of the customer becomes paramount. This is where the choice between specialized apps and a platform becomes a strategic decision. Specialized apps like Rivo and Novel excel in their niches, but they require the merchant to act as the "integrator," ensuring that all parts of the tech stack work in harmony.

Operational Efficiency and Maintenance

Every app added to a Shopify store requires a certain amount of "babysitting." For Rivo, this might mean updating reward rules or styling the loyalty page to match a new site theme. For Novel, it means managing the content of push notifications and ensuring the wallet pass design stays current. When these tasks are multiplied across several different apps, the marketing team’s time is quickly consumed by administrative work.

A centralized platform reduces this burden. Instead of jumping between dashboards to check review status, loyalty points, and wishlist activity, everything is available in one place. This allows for more sophisticated marketing, such as sending a "points-expiring" email that also features items from the customer’s wishlist and recent five-star reviews from other buyers. This level of synchronization is the hallmark of a mature e-commerce operation.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards and Novel: Wallet Pass for Brands, the decision comes down to the specific primary engagement channel they wish to master. Rivo is a powerful tool for those who want a traditional, point-heavy loyalty program with deep customization and developer access. Novel, on the other hand, offers a modern, mobile-first approach that leverages the convenience of digital wallets and push notifications to drive repeat purchases and omnichannel conversion. Both apps are highly rated and provide specific strengths that can significantly improve a store's retention metrics.

However, as merchants scale, the challenges of managing multiple specialized apps—ranging from inconsistent user experiences to the high total cost of ownership—often become a barrier to growth. Choosing an integrated platform that houses loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlists under one roof can provide a more seamless experience for both the merchant and the customer. By verifying compatibility details in the official app listing, brands can see how a unified approach provides a stronger foundation for long-term customer relationships.

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

FAQ

Is it better to have a mobile app or a wallet pass for my brand?

A wallet pass is often a more accessible first step than a dedicated mobile app. Developing and maintaining a custom app is expensive and requires customers to take the significant step of downloading it from an app store. A wallet pass, such as those offered by Novel, requires no download and lives in the pre-installed Apple or Google Wallet, providing many of the benefits of an app—like push notifications—with much lower friction for the customer.

How do loyalty points impact my store's profit margins?

Loyalty points are a form of deferred discount. While they do represent a cost to the business, they are generally more profitable than flat discounts because they encourage repeat purchases and increase customer lifetime value. By rewarding customers for non-purchase actions like reviews or referrals, you are also building brand equity that isn't purely based on price.

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

Specialized apps often offer the deepest possible feature sets within a single niche, such as wallet passes or advanced loyalty logic. However, an all-in-one platform provides better data integration and a lower total cost of ownership. The "all-in-one" approach ensures that different retention features—like rewards and reviews—work together automatically, which reduces the manual work required by the merchant and creates a more cohesive journey for the shopper.

Can I use Novel and Rivo together on the same Shopify store?

Yes, it is possible to use both. Novel is designed to integrate with various loyalty apps, meaning the wallet pass can display a customer's Rivo loyalty balance or offer a QR code for in-store redemption of Rivo rewards. While this provides a powerful mobile experience, it does mean the merchant is paying for and managing two separate subscriptions and integration points.