Loyalty Program

The rewards program is a points-based loyalty program. Customers earn points on what they spend at your registers and spend those points on rewards. It is built for customers who haven't joined your club, membership or program (walk-ins, regulars and online shoppers), and it also enrolls your members unless you leave a tier out of it.

MemberZone names your offering with your business's word (club, membership or program) and its options as tiers, levels or plans. This guide says tier.

Availability: The rewards program lives under Rewards > Loyalty in the HQ sidebar. If you don't see Loyalty there, it isn't available on your account yet; ask MemberZone support from Help in the sidebar.

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What the Rewards Program Is

You have one rewards program per business, shared across all your locations. Points a customer earns or spends are recorded on their customer profile with your business, separate from any membership they also have.

• Points - Earned on qualifying spend and spent on rewards.
• Earn rules - How many points each dollar earns, and which dollars count.
• Bonuses - A one-time signup bonus and a yearly birthday bonus.
• Public signup - Whether customers can join from a public page without buying anything.
• Card on file - Whether you collect a card at signup so staff can charge it at the register.

The program does not replace the rewards on your tiers. Both run side by side; see Program Rewards and Tier Rewards below.

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Setting Up Your Program

Open Rewards > Loyalty. The page is titled Loyalty Program ("Configure your points-based loyalty program for customers and members.").

If no location has a POS connected, a No POS connected notice explains that points accrue automatically from POS purchases, that customers can still join, and that you can award or adjust points from any profile in your member list.

With no program yet, you see No loyalty program yet ("Set up a points-based loyalty program so customers and members can earn and redeem rewards at your locations.") and a Set Up Program button that opens the form. Once the program exists, the page shows a summary (name, Active or Inactive, Publicly joinable, and "Earning N points per $1 spent"), a Settings card, the Sign-up QR, Rewards in this Program and your Terms & Conditions. Click Edit to change anything.

The form has these cards:

General

Field	Description
Program Name	The name customers see, for example "Crooked Vine Rewards". Required.
Active	When on, points accrue and rewards can be redeemed. Turning it off pauses the program without deleting anything.
Publicly Joinable	When on, anyone with your link can sign up from your public signup page. When off, customers are only enrolled automatically or by staff.

Earn Rules

Field	Description
Points per Dollar	"How many points a customer earns for each dollar spent." Whole numbers only. 1 means $1 of qualifying spend earns 1 point.
Exclude Tax	On by default. Tax doesn't earn points.
Exclude Tip	On by default. Tips don't earn points.
Exclude Gift Cards	On by default. Gift card sales don't earn points.
Exclude Alcohol	Off by default. When on, alcohol items don't earn points.

Discounts already applied to the check are also taken off before points are worked out, so customers don't earn points on dollars they just saved.

Bonuses

Signup Bonus - Points granted once when a customer first enrolls. Turn it on and enter the Points.

Birthday Bonus - Points granted once a year around the customer's birthday. Turn it on, enter the Points, and choose a Window:

• Day of birthday - Only on the birthday itself
• Within a week - Any day in the week of the birthday
• Birthday month (the default) - Any day in the birthday month

The customer needs a birthday on file. The window is judged on your business's date, in your time zone, and bonuses go out around 6 AM local time. See Time Zones.

Communication & Card on File

Message Channel - Email or SMS, for messages such as the signup link and birthday bonus notices.

Card on File - Whether customers add a payment card when they sign up:

Policy	Behavior
Optional (default)	Customers can add a card but don't have to.
Required	After verifying their email, customers add a card before they can use the program.
Disabled	No card step at signup.

Expiration

Points Expire After (months) - Leave it empty ("Never") for points that don't expire, the default. With a number of months set, every new grant (earned points and bonuses) gets its expiry date when it is granted; changing the setting later doesn't move dates already given. Points expire at the same local time of day that many months later, in your time zone, and expired points are cleared around 1 AM local time.

Terms & Conditions

Free text for your program's terms, shown to customers on the signup page and on their rewards page.

Rewards in this Program

Lists every reward priced in points, with its point cost. You don't add rewards here: a reward joins the program when it is saved with the reward scope "{your program name}, redeemed with points" and a Point cost, on the Where step of the reward editor under Rewards > Rewards. Change the scope there to take it out again. See Reward Scope.

Click Create Program on the first save, or Save Changes after that.

Deleting the Program

Delete Program asks "Delete rewards program?": points stop accruing and rewards can no longer be redeemed, while balances and history are kept for your records. Tick Also remove members from the rewards program to de-enroll everyone as well; their points history is kept, and they aren't re-enrolled automatically if you start a new program later.

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How Customers Join

While the program is Active, customers are enrolled in any of these ways. Each is recorded on their profile:

How	When it happens
Joining your club, membership or program	A new member is enrolled automatically, unless their tier is left out of the program (see below).
Buying from your online store	A customer who completes an online order is enrolled automatically.
At the register	A known customer is enrolled when they make a purchase at a connected Toast or Shift4 register.
Public signup	The customer signs up from your signup page (only while Publicly Joinable is on).
Staff	A team member with Manage Member Rewards enrolls them from their profile.
Import	Customers imported from a loyalty export.
Program start	When you create or activate the program, your existing members, staged members and contacts with an account are enrolled in one sweep, without a signup bonus.

Automatic enrollment never brings back a customer who was removed from the program or suspended; only staff can.

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The Public Signup Flow

With Publicly Joinable on, the Sign-up QR card shows your signup link (/b/your-business/rewards/join), a QR code, Copy link and a Printable poster for your counter.

1. The customer enters their Email.
2. If they already have a MemberZone account, a secure sign-in link is sent straight away. Otherwise they add their Name, Mobile number (required: "it's how we find you at checkout") and, optionally, their Birthday for birthday rewards.
3. They get a link by email. Clicking it verifies their email, creates their account if needed, enrolls them and grants the signup bonus if it's on.

Links expire after 30 minutes and work once. Up to 3 links can be requested per email address every 15 minutes. Returning customers sign in from your rewards login page with their email.

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How Customers Earn Points

• At the register - When a sale settles at a connected Toast, Square, Shift4, Lightspeed or Clover register for an identified rewards customer, the qualifying spend (after your exclusions and any discounts) is multiplied by Points per Dollar. The same sale never earns twice. A sale dated more than seven days before it reaches MemberZone (for example from a register that was offline) isn't credited automatically; adjust the points by hand if it should count. Past sales imported into purchase history (for example Square's history when a location connects) don't earn points either.
• Signup bonus - When they enroll, if it's on.
• Birthday bonus - During their birthday window, if it's on.

Staff with Manage Member Rewards can also adjust a customer's points from their profile. See Managing a Customer's Rewards.

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Managing a Customer's Rewards

Open anyone on People and go to their Profile tab. The Rewards section works the same for members and for customers who only have rewards.

When they're enrolled, a card shows your program's name, Active, their points available, and points Earned, Redeemed and Visits. Underneath: when they enrolled, how they joined (for example "At the register" or "Added by staff") and when they last earned. The card has two actions:

• Redemption history - their past redemptions.
• Adjust points - opens the Adjust points sidebar (needs Manage Member Rewards).

Below the card, Points activity lists every change to their points, newest first, with Show more for older entries.

Suspend and remove are in the ... menu beside the section heading (needs Manage Member Rewards), and each asks you to confirm:

• Suspend rewards - "Their points are frozen. They can't earn or redeem until you reactivate rewards." The card then reads Rewards suspended with their balance and a Reactivate rewards button.
• Remove from rewards - "They'll stop earning points and won't come up in the register's rewards lookup." Their points stay on file and come back if they're re-enrolled. The card then reads Removed from rewards with a Re-enroll button.

When they aren't enrolled, the section reads Not enrolled in {your program name} with Enroll, and Enroll with points to enroll them and set a starting balance in one step.

Adjusting points

The Adjust points sidebar shows the person's name and current balance.

1. Choose Add, Remove or Set balance.
2. Enter the points, or tap a quick amount (25, 50, 100, 250 or 500) for Add or Remove. For Set balance, enter the new balance.
3. Check the preview: Now, the change, and After.
4. Give a Reason, at least 5 characters, or tap one: "Goodwill gesture", "Missed at the register", "Correcting a mistake" or "Event or promotion". For Set balance the reason fills itself in ("Set balance to 500 (was 320)") until you write your own. The reason shows in their points activity.
5. Optionally pick who it was Adjusted by (needs the View Staff permission to list your team).
6. Click the button, for example Add 100 points.

You can't remove more points than they have ("They only have 320 points."), and setting the balance they already have is refused ("That's already their balance."). For someone not enrolled yet, the sidebar says "Saving enrolls them in rewards, then applies the points." and the button reads, for example, Enroll and set to 500.

Points on People and the profile

• When your rewards program is active, the People table has a Points column with each enrolled person's balance. Click the heading to sort by points; people who aren't in rewards sort last either way. A suspended balance is greyed with Suspended under it. On a phone, the contact card shows the points too.
• The summary strip at the top of a profile shows Points right after Lifetime value for anyone in rewards (greyed when suspended). To make room, the plan tile gives way for a member with one active membership, and for a customer Points replaces the Rewards status tile.

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How Customers Redeem Rewards

Rewards in the program have a point cost, for example "Free tasting for 2, 300 pts". A point cost of 0 makes a reward free for any rewards member, like a birthday drink.

• Toast - Staff look the customer up and the reward is offered as many times as their points cover. Applying it takes the points off their balance.
• Shift4 - The reward is listed with its point cost and the points are taken off as staff apply it.
• Square and Lightspeed - These registers can't take points off a balance, so rewards priced in points aren't applied there.

If the sale is later voided, the points come back to the customer. See Loyalty & POS Redemption.

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What Customers See

In the member portal, Rewards lists every rewards program a customer belongs to. Each business's page shows their points balance, points Earned and Redeemed, Visits, a QR code staff can scan at the register, their recent activity, and their card on file ("Save a card for faster checkout at the register."). The combined QR page shows their membership QR cards and their rewards QR cards together.

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Card on File Payments

When a customer saved a card at signup, staff can charge it at the register without the customer paying another way. On Toast this is the Charge to card on file payment option once the customer is identified. MemberZone charges the saved card, the check settles, and points accrue on it as usual. If the check is voided, the charge is refunded automatically. See Toast Integration.

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Program Rewards and Tier Rewards

Every reward has a Reward scope, set on the Where step of the reward editor:

Reward scope	Who gets it	How it's redeemed
Your tiers, free to redeem (the default)	Active members of the tiers it's on. Choose the tiers on the reward's Where step, or on a tier's Rewards step in your program setup.	At the register or on orders, within the reward's limits
Your rewards program, redeemed with points	Anyone enrolled in the rewards program	The customer spends points; staff apply it at the register

A reward has one scope at a time, so it can't be both a tier reward and a reward priced in points. To offer the same thing both ways, create two rewards.

Leaving a Tier Out of the Program

Each tier has a Participates in loyalty program switch on the Access step of its editor in your program setup ("Members of this tier earn points on POS purchases and can redeem rewards. Turn off to exclude this tier from points-based loyalty."). It is on by default. Turn it off and new members of that tier aren't enrolled automatically; they keep their tier rewards. A customer with several memberships takes part if any of their tiers does.

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Permissions

Privilege	What it allows
View Rewards	See the Loyalty page
Create Rewards	Create the program (the first save)
Edit Rewards	Change program settings
Delete Rewards	Delete the program
Manage Member Rewards	Adjust a customer's points, suspend or reinstate their rewards, or enroll them manually

See Team and Permissions.

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Points History Entry Types

Every change to a customer's points is a new entry in their history; entries are never edited or deleted.

Type	Direction	When
Earn	+	Points from a settled sale
Signup Bonus	+	One-time grant when a customer enrolls
Birthday Bonus	+	Yearly grant in the birthday window
Redemption	-	Points spent on a reward
Reversal	+ or -	An earlier earn or redemption undone, for example a voided check
Adjustment	+ or -	A change by staff with Manage Member Rewards
Expiration	-	Points reached their expiry date
Import	+	A balance brought over from an import