Loyalty tokens: points a contact claims through a link or QR code

A loyalty token is a link worth a number of points. The points aren't added straight away: the contact opens the link, logs in to your contacts portal and claims them. That makes a token the way to hand out points to someone who may not have an account with you yet, by email or printed as a QR code on a flyer, a package or a receipt.

To add points to a contact's balance directly, without a link, use Assign points on the contact's page instead. See Adding and correcting a contact's balance.

Where to find your loyalty tokens

Every loyalty token your account has made is listed under Loyalty → Tokens: the ones you sent from a contact's page, the ones a campaign, recurring email or automated email created, and the ones from a Data → Generate batch. That's where you see whether a token has been claimed, who claimed it, and its link. See Keeping track of tokens below.

To send a token to 1 contact: open the contact under CRM → Contacts, click the ⋮ button and choose Send loyalty token, or click New loyalty token on Loyalty → Tokens.
To make many at once, for printing: Data → Generate.
To put a token in an email you design: the Actions panel in the email editor.
To change the email a contact gets with their token: Settings → Loyalty, under Loyalty token email.

One token, one claim

Every token is meant for 1 contact and can be claimed only once. As soon as it's claimed, it's used up. Nobody can claim it again, not the same contact and not anyone else. Whoever opens the link after that is told, once they've logged in, that the token has already been claimed.

So you need 1 token for every contact you want to give points to. To reach 100 contacts, you need 100 tokens. Every way of handing out tokens below makes them one at a time for you: a token sent from a contact's page is for that contact, an email action makes 1 for each recipient, and Data → Generate makes as many as you're printing.

A token isn't locked to the contact you meant it for. Whoever is logged in when the link is opened gets the points. If the link is forwarded and someone else claims it first, it's gone for the person you sent it to.

Sending a token to one contact

Go to CRM → Contacts and open the contact.
Open the options menu (the ⋮ button next to Assign points) and choose Send loyalty token.
Choose the Business profile. The points are booked on this business profile when the contact claims them. With only 1 business profile there's nothing to pick.
Enter the Number of points, at least 1.
Under Email to send you see the loyalty token email the contact will get. Click Edit email to change it first.
Click Send. You'll see Loyalty token sent.

The contact needs a valid email address, because the link in the email is the only way to claim the token. Without one, no token is created.

You can do the same from Loyalty → Tokens: click New loyalty token, fill in Points, pick the contact under Send to, choose the Business profile and click Create and send. You'll see Token issued. The loyalty token email always goes out from here, so you can't make a token on this page without sending it. For tokens you hand out yourself, use Data → Generate.

Printing tokens as QR codes

A token is a plain link, so you can turn it into a QR code and print it anywhere: on a flyer, a card in a package, or a receipt. A contact scans it with their phone, logs in to your contacts portal or registers, and claims the points. That makes tokens a marketing tool as well. Somebody who has never heard of your loyalty program gets a reason to sign up, and an existing contact adds the points in a few taps.

Because a token can be claimed only once, each QR code pays out to 1 person. If you print the same code on every flyer or on a poster, the first person who scans it gets the points and everybody after them gets nothing. Give every flyer, package or receipt its own token:

Go to Data → Generate, click Create, choose Loyalty Tokens under Type and click Start.
Enter a Name and, under Quantity, how many you're printing, up to 10,000. Click Next step.
Choose the Business profile and enter the Number of points each token is worth. On Check your data, click Start.
When the batch is Completed, open it, click Options → Export and choose Loyalty tokens from batch. The file has a URL column with one link per token.
Give that file to your printer or label software, and have each link printed as its own QR code.

We don't make the QR images for you: the export holds the links, and the printing software turns them into codes.

For receipts, the token has to be made at the moment of the sale. A till or webshop connected through our API can create a token for each order and print its link as a QR code on the receipt, so the contact claims the points for that purchase afterwards. Ask whoever built your till connection whether it does this.

The link carries your contacts portal's domain. Keep that domain in place for as long as the printed codes are around, or they stop working.

Other ways to hand out tokens

In an email you design. Campaigns, recurring emails and automated emails can carry a Loyalty token action, which creates a token for every recipient. Put the Loyalty token url tag in that email, for example behind a button. Nothing checks for it, and without it the email goes out with nothing to claim. See Adding a voucher, gift card, points or a wallet pass to an email.
In bulk, without an email. Data → Generate makes a batch of tokens you export as links, as described above. See Generate vouchers, gift cards, loyalty tokens and card numbers in bulk.
Through the API. A till or webshop connected through our API can create tokens, and send them by email. A token made through the API can hold a spend amount instead of points. Your earn rules work out the points when it's claimed. A till can also build token links itself with your account secret. If that secret changes, links built that way that nobody has opened yet stop working.

The loyalty token email

The loyalty token email goes out when you send a token from a contact's page or from Loyalty → Tokens, and when a till or webshop sends a token by email through the API. Campaigns, recurring emails and automated emails send their own email instead.

To change it, click the gear icon at the top right of the dashboard to open Settings, then click Loyalty under Functionalities. Under Loyalty token email, click the preview to open the editor, or View details to see who it was sent to.

The email must contain the URL tag from the loyalty token tags. Your changes are saved while you edit and used from then on. Publish tells you when the tag is missing, but it doesn't stop the email from going out, so contacts would get an email with no link to claim. Keep the tag in.
The Points tag shows how many points the token is worth, and the contact tags let you address the contact by name.
It's a functional email: it goes out even to contacts who unsubscribed from marketing.

How a contact claims the points

The contact clicks the link in the email, or scans the QR code.
Your contacts portal opens. If they aren't logged in, they log in, or click Register now if they don't have an account yet.
A dialog shows how many points are waiting. They click Claim.

The points land on the contact's balance straight away, booked on the token's business profile. The transaction shows Contacts Portal as its channel. From that moment the token is used up.

Someone without an account can only register if your contacts portal allows registration. Asking for a login code with an email address you don't know sends nothing, so new people need Register now.

An unclaimed token doesn't expire. It stays claimable until somebody claims it.

Keeping track of tokens

Loyalty → Tokens lists every token, newest first. Status is Open until someone claims it and Redeemed after. For a redeemed token, Contact shows who claimed it and Redeemed on shows when. A token that holds a spend amount instead of points shows it under Unit and Value. Filter on Status or Created at, or click Export.

Click a token to open it. Information shows its points, business profile and link. Version is technical and you can ignore it. Recipients shows who the loyalty token email was sent to.

When something goes wrong

The contact says they got no points. Opening the email isn't enough: they have to open the link, be logged in to the portal and click Claim. Check the token's Status. Open means it hasn't been claimed yet.
The contact registered or logged in, but no claim dialog appeared. The portal remembers the token in the browser where the link was opened. If they finished logging in somewhere else, for example by opening the login link on another device or in their email app, ask them to open the token link or scan the code again while logged in.
The contact is told the token has already been claimed. The token has been claimed and can't be used again. It may have been claimed through a forwarded link, or from a QR code that was printed more than once. Contact on the token shows who claimed it. To give the contact their points anyway, send them a new token or use Assign points.
The contact got no email. Check that their email address is valid, and look at Recipients on the token to see where it went.
A token isn't in Loyalty → Tokens. A link a till or webshop builds itself is only saved once somebody opens it, so one nobody has opened yet isn't listed.

Loyalty tokens aren't the same as the tokens your plan counts usage in. For those, see How to get insights into your token usage.