The story
Mary Maxim turned a small wool shop into a craft icon
For over 70 years, Mary Maxim has been the trusted home for knitters, crocheters, and needlecrafters across North America. What began in 1954 as a small wool spinner has grown into one of the most recognized names in the craft world: a destination for premium yarn, iconic patterns, knit and crochet kits, puzzles, and everything makers reach for to bring a project to life. Generations of customers come back to Mary Maxim for the same reason their grandparents did: quality materials, dependable patterns, and a brand that understands the people who use them.
The challenge
Years of searching never turned up the right loyalty platform
Mary Maxim’s customers are the definition of loyal: makers who plan projects for months, come back season after season for new yarn drops, and treat their craft as a lifelong practice. The brand wanted to give that loyalty something tangible in return, a real way to thank repeat customers and deepen the relationship beyond the transaction.
The problem was finding a loyalty platform that actually worked. The team had looked at options before and never found one that delivered the experience they wanted for their customers, or that didn’t demand constant hands-on maintenance from their side. They needed a program that could run reliably in the background, reward the right behaviors automatically, and reflect the trust Mary Maxim has built with crafters for over 70 years.
Set up was easy, everything worked correctly, provided customer rewards we wanted, and automated the entire process.
The solution
Mary’s Rewards launched fast and ran itself
Mary Maxim chose Smile to power Mary’s Rewards. The decision came down to fit: a platform that matched what the team wanted to offer their customers, set up quickly without a heavy lift, and ran reliably once it was live. Smile gave Mary Maxim a real way to give value back to the crafters who keep coming back, without adding ongoing work for the team.
The setup was straightforward and the program went live without the friction Mary Maxim had encountered with previous solutions. From day one, earning and redemption ran automatically, freeing the team to focus on the catalog, the patterns, and the community rather than manually administering a loyalty engine.
Smile’s rewards widget gives customers a single, always-on place to see their balance, learn how to earn more, and redeem when they’re ready. That visibility, paired with referral incentives that reward both the existing customer and the friend they bring in, turns Mary Maxim’s most engaged crafters into a quiet acquisition channel of their own.
What Mary Maxim got with Smile:
- Easy setup with no developer involvement, live across the storefront without disrupting the team
- Fully automated earning, redemption, and voucher issuance, no manual work required
- Multiple ways for customers to earn beyond purchases: reviews, social follows, referrals, and birthdays
- A persistent rewards widget that keeps points balances and redemption visible across every page
- Points and vouchers that never expire, matching how real crafters plan and shop
The stack
Shopify
The results
Redeemers buy 172% more often and spend 325% more
Since launching Mary’s Rewards on Smile, the program has become one of the most efficient growth levers in the business. A 49% points redemption rate signals that members aren’t just enrolling, they’re actively coming back to claim the value they’ve earned. Redeemers also buy 172% more often than non-redeemers, and when they do, they spend 325% more per year, compounding into outsized lifetime value from the program’s most engaged members.
Just as important as the metrics is what happens behind the scenes.
Using the program is very hands-off once set up. Smile makes everything very easy to use, and there is trust that it will work correctly. Our goal was to give value back to our customers who consistently purchase from us, and we have helped achieve that.
Why Smile
Loyalty doesn’t have to be loud to be valuable
Mary Maxim’s story is a reminder that loyalty doesn’t need to be loud to be valuable. The right program runs quietly in the background, gives customers real reasons to come back, and lets the team stay focused on the product and the people who buy it. After years of looking for a solution that fit, Mary Maxim found it in Smile: easy to launch, easy to trust, and built to reward the kind of long-term relationships that have defined the brand for over 70 years.
