Getting Started with Punch Cards

Overview

Punch Cards in Loyalty provide a digital representation of a traditional, physical punch card. Punch Cards are intended to encourage Members to repeat a series of actions – usually purchases – each of which will earn them a “punch” on their digital Punch Card. Once they complete the entire set of required actions, they are gifted with a prize, such as an Offer or Metrics.

Punch Cards can be made available to all of your Members, or they can be targeted to only certain Members. Targeting a Punch Card is managed through the use of Segments. A Segment uses logical conditions to define the criteria for inclusion. See Segments for more information on Segments.

Named Punches

Punch Cards are very flexible; you can define specific conditions that govern what is a valid punch, such as only certain products, or meeting a subtotal threshold, for example. These conditions are defined through an object called a Named Punch.

A Punch Card can have one or more Named Punches. For example, you could have a simple Punch Card requiring ten punches, and each punch is earned by spending at least $10. In this example, you would have a single Named Punch, as you have only one requirement (Subtotal > 10) that applies to all ten punches.

You can also create more complex scenarios involving multiple Named Punches, each with unique conditions. For example, let’s say you want to encourage your Members to try all your menu options. You could define a series of Named Punches with different product requirements: a coffee, a pastry, a sandwich, a dessert, and so on. The Member could complete the Punch Card only by eventually purchasing all the different items specified in all the Named Punches.

Life Cycle

The typical life cycle of a Punch Card begins with a Member making a purchase. When the purchase information is transmitted to Loyalty through the Point of Sale (POS) API, the API will evaluate the purchase to see if it meets the conditions for a Named Punch on a Punch Card.

Note: Indicating which Punch Card(s) should be evaluated by the POS API is managed through the use of a Program Setting. Please speak to your Marigold team for assistance configuring this Program Setting.

If the purchase meets the Named Punch conditions on a Punch Card, and this Member does not currently have an in-progress Punch Card, the platform will assign the Punch Card to the Member, which results in the creation of a Punch Card Response object. Punch Card Responses are used by the platform to manage and track a Member’s progress toward completion of the Punch Card. The API will also mark the first punch as completed on the Punch Card Response.

If the Member already has an in-progress Punch Card, and the purchase meets the conditions for one of its Named Punches, the platform will simply assign another punch to the existing Punch Card Response.

Note: The platform supports using other Activity Types besides purchases to earn punches. However, using other Activity Types requires a more complex setup involving the use of Triggered Actions. A Triggered Action is a rule that tells the platform to “listen” for a specific Activity Type, then to take a specific action (in this case, marking a punch on a Punch Card) when that Activity Type is recorded for a Member. Please speak with your Marigold team to discuss Punch Card scenarios using Activity Types other than purchases.

From the Punch Cards screen, you can view information about all the Punch Cards defined in your Loyalty account. You can also create new Punch Cards. To access the Punch Cards screen, select Campaigns from the top navigation bar, then select Punch Cards > Punch Cards from the side navigation menu.

For more information on the search options available on the Punch Cards screen, see Search for a Punch Card.

View a Punch Card Create a Punch Card Getting Started with Named Punches