Configuring Membership Eligibility Rules

Member System allows you to control exactly who can participate in your store’s membership program. You can enroll all customers automatically, restrict membership to registered customers with a valid email address, or exclude specific segments from participating. 

By adjusting these rules, you can manage how customers join your membership program, encourage account registration, and better control the distribution of points and member benefits. 

This guide explains how to configure participation rules, exclude specific segments, and how changes may affect your customers’ points, tiers, and rewards.

Understanding Customer Statuses and Membership Eligibility

In SHOPLINE, customer status, membership eligibility, and membership tiers are different concepts. Whether a customer can participate in your membership program, receive membership tiers, or enjoy member benefits depends on both the customer's account status and your store's membership settings.

Customer statuses can generally be divided into the following levels:

Shoppers

Shoppers refer to all people who visit or purchase products from your store, including:

• Guests / visitors
• Customers with registered accounts

Shoppers do not necessarily appear in the Customers list in your SHOPLINE Admin.

Customers

Customers are users who have a customer record in the SHOPLINE system and are assigned a user ID (UID). These users can be viewed in the Customers list in your SHOPLINE Admin.

Customers may have one of the following account statuses:

• Registered account (password set)
• Account invited for activation or pending activation
• Blacklisted account

Customers may also:

• Have or not have an email address
• Have or not have a phone number
• Subscribe or not subscribe to marketing emails

Customers Eligible to Participate in the Membership Program

Customers eligible to participate in the membership program are customers who meet your store’s membership eligibility requirements. Merchants can control which customers are allowed to join the membership program through the Membership eligibility rules settings in the Member System, as explained in this article.

Only customers who meet the membership eligibility rules may be eligible to:

• Earn or redeem points
• Receive or use store credits
• Receive or redeem rewards
• Receive or use gift cards
• Enjoy member benefits
• Obtain membership tiers

Customers with Membership Tiers

Customers with membership tiers are members who have obtained any tier within your store’s membership mechanism. Membership tiers may be obtained through:

• Tier upgrades based on spending
• Purchasing paid memberships

How to Set Up Membership Eligibility

By default, your store is set to allow All customers to participate in the membership program. To change your eligibility strategy, follow these steps:

1. From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Member System > Settings > Membership eligibility. 

   

2. Select one of the following options:

   

   • All customers (recommended): All customers, including visitors, can participate in the membership program and earn rewards.

   • Registered customers with email only: Only customers who are registered and have a valid email address can participate. Visitors cannot earn new points or enjoy member benefits. 

     Notes:  Only customers who are registered and have a valid email address will be enrolled. Customers without an email address or without a registered account will not be included. After switching to this option, any points previously earned by visitors will be retained. These points can only be used after the customer completes account registration. For more details, please refer to the "Understanding the Impact of Eligibility Rule Changes" section.

   • Exclude specific segments: All customers can participate except those in the segments you select. Click + Select segment to restrict specific groups, such as internal staff or promotional partners, from accessing membership benefits. For detailed setup instructions, refer to the "Managing Excluded Segments" section below.

3. Click Save, review the confirmation window, then click Switch now to confirm.

   

Managing Excluded Segments

When you select Exclude specific segments as your eligibility rule, the system will display a segment management button. Clicking it opens the segment selection pop-up, where you can add, review, or remove excluded segments at any time.

When using this option, you must select at least one segment before saving.

Adding segments to exclude

To add segments to the exclusion list:

1. Click + Select segment to open the segment selection panel.

   

2. Search for a segment by name using the search bar, or browse the segment list.

3. Select the checkbox next to the segment(s) you want to exclude. You can select multiple segments across different pages.

   

4. Click Confirm. The selected segments will be added to the exclusion list on the Membership eligibility page.
5. On the Membership eligibility page, click Save to apply the settings. 

Removing segments from the exclusion list

To allow a previously excluded segment to rejoin the membership program:

1. In the exclusion list, find the segment you want to remove.

2. Click the trash icon in the Action column next to the segment. The segment will be removed from the exclusion list, and customers in that segment will regain membership eligibility.

   

3. On the Membership eligibility page, click Save to apply the settings. 

Understanding the Impact of Eligibility Rule Changes

When you switch membership eligibility rules, the system will automatically update customers’ membership status. It is important to understand how these changes may affect customers’ points, membership tiers, and related benefits.

When Customers Are Excluded from the Membership Program

Customers may lose membership eligibility under the following circumstances:

• Your store switches to Registered customers with email only, and the customer no longer meets the eligibility requirements.
• The customer belongs to a customer segment that has been added to the exclusion list.

After customers are excluded from the membership program, the following impacts will apply:

• Membership status changes: All customers excluded from the membership program will immediately lose their membership eligibility.

  Note: Customers whose membership tiers were manually assigned (for example, after member migration) or who purchased paid memberships will not be downgraded to non-members due to eligibility rule changes.

• Member benefit changes: Affected customers will lose their VIP tier, stop earning points or store credits, and no longer be eligible for member-exclusive offers.
• Points and rewards retention: Previously earned points, store credits, rewards, and gift cards will remain in the customer’s account:
  • Store credits, rewards, and gift cards: Customers can continue using them even after being removed from the membership program, but they will no longer be able to receive new benefits.
  • Points: Customers must rejoin the membership program before they can use their existing points.
• Referral impact: Referral links remain valid and can still establish referral relationships, but no referral rewards will be issued to non-member customers.
• Purchase-related impact:
  • Purchasing paid membership products will not activate membership tiers.
  • Purchasing gift card products will still issue gift cards as normal.
• Notifications: Only notifications related to store credit refunds and gift cards will be sent. Other types of notifications will not be triggered.

When Customers Regain Membership Eligibility

Customers may regain membership eligibility under the following circumstances:

• Your store switches back from a restricted rule to All customers.
• The customer’s segment is removed from the exclusion list.

After customers regain membership eligibility, the following impacts will apply:

• Eligibility restored: Customers who rejoin the membership program (such as guest customers) will regain their membership eligibility.
• Automatic tier recalculation: VIP tiers will be recalculated automatically based on the customer’s historical orders.
• No retroactive rewards: Points, referral rewards, or membership benefits that would have been earned during the excluded period will not be issued retroactively.

Membership Eligibility Rules FAQs and Important Notes

Q1: Will customers whose tiers were manually adjusted or who purchased paid memberships be affected by strategy changes?

No. Customers whose tiers were manually adjusted (e.g., after membership migration) or who have purchased paid memberships will not be downgraded to non-members due to strategy changes.

Q2: Can I manually adjust points for customers who were excluded from the program? 

Yes. While historical points are not retroactively issued by the system, you can manually adjust points, rewards, or store credits in the admin panel if you wish to compensate a customer.

Q3: Will customers be notified when their membership tier is lost due to a strategy change? 

No. The system will process the tier downgrade, but it will not trigger a downgrade email notification to the customer.

Q4: Will customer data be deleted if they become ineligible for the membership program?

No. All existing data for all customers, including points balance, rewards, store credits, gift cards, and membership history, will be retained in the system.

However, while the customer is ineligible, new data (such as points or rewards) will not be generated based on system rules.

Q5: What happens if a customer belongs to multiple segments and only some of those segments are on the exclusion list?

If a customer belongs to at least one excluded segment, they will be blocked from participating in the membership program, regardless of whether they also belong to other non-excluded segments.

Q6: Can I use the segment exclusion rule at the same time as the Registered customers with email only rule?

No. The three eligibility options are mutually exclusive. You can only apply one rule at a time.