How loyalty programs work

A booking earns a stamp once all of these are true:

• the booking has ended;
• it is confirmed, not cancelled or still pending;
• it costs more than R0;
• it was not paid with a package credit, a loyalty reward or a loyalty coupon;
• it is for a service the program covers.

Bookings paid at the venue and payments you record in person count the same as online payments, as long as there is no unpaid online checkout outstanding on the booking.

Visits you log after the fact, such as a walk-in you add to your calendar later, count once they meet the same rules. So do bookings you confirm late and payments you record late, as long as the program has been running since the visit ended.

Stamps count from the day you create the program. Visits before that day do not earn stamps. To credit earlier visits, add stamps by hand (see below).

Free visits. Pick the Service and Option the client gets free, and how many Free visits they earn, from 1 to 100. Booklink emails the client a link. They book their free visits through that link, the same way they use a session package. You can set an expiry in months, or leave it blank for none.

Coupon. Choose a percentage or a rand amount off. You can also set a maximum discount for a percentage coupon, a minimum spend, a number of days the code stays valid, the services it applies to, and whether it can be combined with a sale price. Booklink creates a single-use code and emails it to the client. The code is linked to the client's email address, so it only works for them. They enter it at checkout.

A coupon reward needs an email address on the client. If a client has none, the stamps still count but no code is created. Once you add their email, the reward is issued automatically on their next qualifying visit.

Clients see a line such as "You have 3 of 5 visits toward a free Haircut." on their booking confirmation email and on their manage page. To hide this for a program, switch off Show progress to clients on the program page. Rewards are still emailed.

Open the client's page and choose the Loyalty tab. It shows their stamps, any rewards they have earned and a history of every stamp. Click Adjust, enter the stamps to add or remove (up to 50 at a time) and a Reason, then save. The reason is kept in the history.

Use this to thank a regular with a bonus stamp, to credit visits from before the program started, or to correct a mistake. Adding enough stamps to reach the target issues the reward as usual.

A coupon that has not been used yet shows a Deactivate button on the card, in case one was issued by mistake.

A cancelled booking does not earn a stamp. If a booking was already stamped and you then cancel it, for example after a no-show, Booklink takes the stamp back, as long as it has not already been used toward a reward. If you restore the booking later, it earns its stamp again, as long as the program has been running since the visit ended.

If a client did not show up but the booking is still confirmed, it counts as a visit. Either cancel the booking, or open their card and adjust their stamps down with a reason.

Switch Active off on the program page to pause it. A paused program stops earning new stamps, and rewards already issued stay valid. Visits that end while a program is paused do not count, and counting starts again when you switch it back on. Delete program stops clients earning stamps for good, and rewards already issued still work.

You can edit a program at any time. Changes apply to future visits. If you remove a service from a program, visits already stamped for it keep their stamps, unless you later change that booking, which then follows the new rules.