Alright, this was a weird one.

For the first time on the Shopify1Percent Podcast, I was the one being interviewed.
And let me tell you, being the guest is way harder than grilling someone else about their Shopify tactics, churn math, or secret sauce for explosive growth.

But the conversation turned into something I think every Shopify founder needs to hear.
Because loyalty is changing.
Retention is changing.
The modern buyer is changing faster than our dashboards can keep up.
And if we do not adapt, our brands will slowly turn into museum pieces.

So here is the breakdown of the biggest lessons, takeaways, and psychology-backed strategies from the episode.
Everything here is designed to help you grow your Shopify business in a world where customers expect more, decide faster, and churn without remorse.

Let’s get into it.

The Harsh Truth: Most Loyalty Is Fake

A lot of Shopify brands proudly talk about their “loyal customers,” but let’s be honest.
Most loyalty isn’t real loyalty.
It is convenience.

When COVID hit, McKinsey found that 75 percent of consumers switched brands because of fulfillment, availability, or pickup options. Not because they hated the product. Not because they wanted to move on. They simply wanted whatever was easiest.

That should make every Shopify founder sweat a little.

Loyalty built on convenience collapses the moment convenience disappears.

The future of loyalty is not about retaining convenience.
It is about creating identity.

Loyalty in 2030: Identity Over Points

Traditional loyalty was built on points, punch cards, and discounts.
Buy ten, get one free.
Congrats.

But loyalty in 2030 will look nothing like that.
Loyalty will be defined by identity, belonging, status, and community.

The brands that win on Shopify will be the ones where customers say:
“This brand feels like me.”
“This aligns with who I am.”
“This is where I belong.”

This is not marketing fluff. This is psychology.
Harvard studies show that identity-driven brands enjoy triple the loyalty and repeat purchase behavior of discount-driven brands.

You cannot bribe someone into loyalty.
But you can design them into it.

Acquisition Is Retention: Stop Treating Them as Separate Things

One of the biggest traps I see in the Shopify world is the obsession with cheap CAC.
Everyone is chasing that seven dollar first purchase like it is the holy grail.

Meanwhile, the churn rate is quietly screaming,
“You acquired the wrong person.”

I said it on the show, and I will repeat it here:

The biggest retention problem most brands have is their acquisition strategy.

If you acquire customers who are misaligned with your product, your experience, or your promises, no retention tactic in the world is going to save you.

Retention starts before the first purchase.
But it accelerates immediately after it.

Because right after checkout, something amazing happens.
A dopamine spike.
A micro-high.

And what do most Shopify brands send at that moment?

A boring, transactional order confirmation.
Thanks for your order. Here is your receipt. Goodbye.

Meanwhile, high-performing subscription and membership brands fill the first 24 hours with:

• Reinforcement

• Education

• Case studies

• Founder stories

• Behind-the-scenes content

• Early access

• Personalization

If you waste the dopamine spike, you waste your best retention moment.

Subscription Fatigue Is Real, But Beatable

Let’s talk about the monster under the Shopify subscription bed: fatigue.

The average product-only subscription lasts six to seven cycles before customers cancel out of boredom, routine fatigue, or diminishing perceived value.

Here is the fix:

Perceived value must be at least 3 times the subscription cost.

And that value does not need to come from the product itself.

Layer in:

• early access

• VIP pricing

• content

• partner perks

• community events

• surprise gifts

Amazon Prime is not a shipping program anymore.
It is a full ecosystem.
And that is why Prime members spend 4 to 7 times more than non-members.

You do not beat subscription fatigue with more product.
You beat it with more value.

The 2025 Buyer Brain Is Overloaded, Impatient, and Seeking Ease

If you run a Shopify store today, you are not fighting competitors.
You are fighting cognitive overload.

The modern buyer is:

• overwhelmed by choice

• numb to marketing

• impatient with slow experiences

• addicted to personalization

• craving ease

• drawn to recognition

• aligned with values

Here is what the data says:

• The average consumer encounters 10,000 marketing messages per day

• 76 percent get frustrated when personalization is missing

• 82 percent expect brands to know something about them

• Ease increases conversion by up to 45 percent

Subscriptions and memberships are built for this world because they:

• remove decisions

• automate value

• create predictability

• build familiarity

• anchor habits

Which brings us to the real magic of subscriptions.

Subscriptions Engineer Habits. Memberships Engineer Identity.

The episode dives deep into this idea, and it feels worth repeating.

Subscriptions turn buying into a default behavior.
But paid memberships turn buying into a meaningful behavior.

This is where sunk cost fallacy comes in.

Once someone invests money, effort, or emotion into belonging, they will do almost anything to justify that decision.

That is why membership credits, perks, and exclusive access work so well.
Customers feel a pull to use what they have already invested in.

This is not manipulative.
This is behavioral psychology.
And it works incredibly well when you do it ethically.

Paid members:

• spend 4 times more

• choose your brand 63 percent more often

• refer friends 2 to 3 times more

• stay longer

• advocate harder

This is how Shopify brands escape the subscription death curve.

Why Marketing Has To Change Now

Most marketing budgets look like this:

• 70 to 80 percent acquisition

• 5 to 15 percent churn reduction

• 3 percent on member marketing, if the CFO remembered

This is backwards.

Marketing to your members is the highest-leverage activity in your entire Shopify business.

Retention compounds.
Referrals compound.
LTV compounds.

If acquisition is your engine, membership is your fuel.

Shift your budget toward:

• member engagement

• community building

• referral loops

• habit engineering

• surprise moments

Referral is the only way to break out of the flatline growth curve.
And the best referrals are built on identity and belonging, not coupons.

Your 2026 Action Plan: Build for Belonging

Here is the starter blueprint I outlined in the episode.
Use it as your next Shopify roadmap.

1. Fix your onboarding.
Capitalize on the dopamine spike.

2. Layer value beyond the product.
Add two or three benefits that create perceived value.

3. Rebalance your budget.
Put real money into member marketing and referral design.

4. Engineer exclusivity.
Limit invites. Build prestige. Create desire.

5. Surprise customers.
Small human moments outperform big discounts.

6. Measure loyalty correctly.
Focus on NDR, reorder rate, referral rate, and membership engagement.

7. Whiteboard your ecosystem.
Ask the question:
“What does belonging look like in our brand?”

That question will define the next decade of Shopify winners.

The Future: Loyalty as Identity

Everything we discussed in the interview leads to one conclusion:

The future of Shopify belongs to brands who stop selling products and start selling identity.

By 2030, customers will sign up for only a handful of memberships.
Make sure yours is one of them.

Because when loyalty becomes identity, customers do not just buy more.
They stay longer.
They engage deeper.
They refer more.
They become advocates.
And your brand becomes a part of their story.

That is the future of Shopify.
And the brands who build for it today will set the pace for the next decade.