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How many points should customers earn for each order?

Your order earning rate controls how many points customers earn when they place an order.

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Written by Sergey Rebbe

Your order earning rate controls how many points customers earn when they place an order.

In Glow, this setting means:

> How many points should customers earn for each 1 unit of your Shopify store currency?

For example, if your store currency is USD:

Setting

What a $50 order earns

1 point per $1

About 50 points

2 points per $1

About 100 points

0.5 points per $1

About 25 points

Glow uses your main Shopify store currency for this setting.

Choose a simple starting rate

A good starting rate is usually easy for customers to understand and affordable for your store.

Before choosing the number, decide what your rewards should be worth. Then work backward.

For example, if a $5 off reward costs 500 points:

  • At 1 point per $1, a customer would usually need about $500 in eligible spend to earn that reward from orders.

  • At 5 points per $1, a customer would usually need about $100 in eligible spend to earn that reward from orders.

  • At 10 points per $1, a customer would usually need about $50 in eligible spend to earn that reward from orders.

The right number depends on your margins, average order value, and how quickly you want customers to reach rewards.

Set the order earning rate during setup

During the setup wizard, Glow asks for this rate on the Reward New Purchases step.

Glow setup wizard showing the order earning rate and shipping/tax setting

To set it:

  1. Enter the number of points customers should earn for each 1 unit of currency spent.

  2. Choose whether shipping and tax should count toward points.

  3. Continue through the wizard and review your setup before launch.

Glow supports whole numbers and decimals up to four decimal places. For example, you can use 10, 0.5, or 2.25.

Glow rounds the final purchase points after calculating the order.

Change the order earning rate later

You can update the same setting after launch.

Glow Account Settings Rewards tab showing the order earning rate and shipping/tax setting

To change it:

  1. In Glow, open Settings > Account Settings.

  2. Select the Rewards tab.

  3. Make sure Place an Order is checked under Reward Types.

  4. Update the field for purchase points.

  5. Choose the Shipping & Taxes setting you want.

  6. Click Save Settings.

Decide whether shipping and tax should count

The Shipping & Taxes setting controls which order amount Glow uses for the base purchase-point calculation.

Setting

What Glow uses

Include Shipping & Tax

The order total, including shipping and tax.

Exclude Shipping & Tax

The Shopify order subtotal.

If customers are earning more points than you expected, check this setting first.

Why the final points may be different

The order earning rate is the base calculation. Other Glow settings can still change the final points awarded.

For example:

  • Collection Bonuses can add points or override normal product points for products in specific Shopify collections.

  • Order Rules can award fixed points, multiply points, or exclude points based on order details.

  • VIP multipliers can increase or change points for eligible customers.

  • If Place an Order is turned off, customers will not earn standard purchase points.

For the clearest launch, start with a simple order earning rate first. Add bonuses, rules, and VIP multipliers after you have tested the basic math.

Check your math before launch

Before announcing your program, test a few example orders on paper:

  1. Pick a common order value from your store.

  2. Multiply it by your order earning rate.

  3. Apply your shipping/tax choice.

  4. Add any collection bonuses, order rules, or VIP multipliers you plan to use.

  5. Compare the result to the reward cost you want customers to reach.

If the customer reaches a valuable reward too quickly, lower the order earning rate or increase the reward cost. If rewards feel too far away, raise the order earning rate or lower the reward cost.

Troubleshooting

Customers are earning too many points

Check these items:

  • Shipping & Taxes may be set to Include Shipping & Tax.

  • A Collection Bonus may be adding extra points.

  • An Order Rule may be multiplying or replacing the normal points.

  • A customer may have a VIP multiplier.

Customers are not earning order points

Check these items:

  • Place an Order is enabled in Settings > Account Settings > Rewards.

  • The order has a customer that Glow can match to a valid Shopify customer.

  • The order is eligible under your order rules, customer eligibility settings, refunds/returns settings, and other loyalty controls.

  • The order has not already been awarded points.

The points show a decimal in settings

That is expected. Glow displays the order earning rate with four decimal places, even when the value is a whole number. For example, 1 may appear as 1.0000.

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