VIP Account Tiers
When customers spend a certain amount within your store, you may want to encourage them to sustain this high level of spending. One way would be to use the Customer Account Management area to find these "big spenders" and send them a targeted email with a discount code that will work as a one-off and allow them to take advantage of your generosity. Another way would be to give them a sense of community and make them feel like they've earned a place at the Captain's Table.

The VIP Account Tiers allow you to set specific discount levels for four different account types. Your store comes with four VIP Account Tiers built in - Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. You decide what level of discount is applicable to each account type, such as 1% for Bronze, 2% for Silver, 5% for Gold and 10% for Platinum. You then have your own free choice as to which customers receive which VIP Status... if any!

Let's assume you're looking through your sales stats and see that one invoice was for a particularly high amount, and the products purchased were of a particular type of lifestyle. The chances are, if that customer got their goods on time and were happy with them, that they'd consider coming back to you for purchases in the future. Of course, there's no guarantee that they'll come back to you, and they may decide that, even though they were happy with their purchase from your store, that they want to try someone else next time around. You can very easily encourage them to continue shopping at your store by changing their account status from it's current state (by default, this is "Basic" which means they receive no automatic discount) to "Gold", which would entitle them to an AUTOMATIC discount of 5% (or whatever you set the figure to yourself) every time they purchase from your store. They don't have to enter a discount code at checkout, because they're instantly recognised as being a Gold Account Holder and will receive their discount automatically. You would then let this customer know, and also let them know that when they reach the NEXT threshold, they will advance to Platinum level with a much higher discount.

People like to be treated well, and like to return this feeling to others. By giving your best customers a high VIP status, you're ensuring that they continue to shop with you. They'll continue to be happy with their discount and the level of service being afforded to them, and may well reach the next threshold for the higher VIP status quicker than if they hadn't advanced to Gold status.

Ultimately, the VIP Account Tiers were created to help bring a sense of worth to your customers and allow them to be rewarded for their continued support of your store. Ingenii has a similar scheme, which you may be interested in, called Loyalty Points.