Run a loyalty program

Reward your regulars - customers who join earn towards a reward, visit by visit or dollar by dollar.

A loyalty program gives your regulars a reason to keep coming back: they earn towards a reward with every visit, and the reward is a discount on a bill here.

Set it up

Turn on Run a loyalty program under Growth, Loyalty, then pick what counts:

  • Visits - every completed visit counts one, like a stamp card. Simple, and right when most visits cost about the same.
  • Money spent - every dollar of the bill counts, so bigger visits earn more. Right when a $200 colour should count for more than a $30 trim. Tips never count.

Then set the reward: how many visits (or dollars) earn it, and what it's worth - "every 5 visits, $10 off".

You can also choose whether reward progress expires: never (the default), or after 12, 18 or 24 months without a visit. If you set a clock, members see the date wherever their progress shows, and anyone close to losing it gets a heads-up email a month before, with a booking link - one visit keeps everything alive.

Joining is always the customer's choice

Nobody is ever added automatically. A customer joins:

  • On their profile - the Join button, or the prompt when you complete their visit. Press it only because they said yes.
  • When they book online - a tick at checkout, shown when they're logged in. Logged-out visitors see an invitation to log in first: joining is a membership, so it belongs to their own account.

Earning starts the moment they join - the balance only ever counts visits from then on. Leaving is one tap on their profile, and their history is kept.

Every new member gets a welcome email explaining the program, with a button to their own BeNotely account - where their rewards live. Customers without an account are invited to create one with the same email, so their balance is waiting when they do. The email's footer carries a one-click leave link - no login needed, and everything they earned is kept if they go (rejoining is one click too).

Earning

The balance builds when a visit is completed at checkout - one more reason the checkout habit pays off. The Members list under Growth, Loyalty shows everyone in the program and how close each is to their reward.

Members can see their own progress too: it shows when they book online, on their booking confirmation email, and on the My rewards page in their BeNotely account - where they can also leave the program any time.

Giving the reward

When a member has earned their reward, the checkout tells you: "They've earned $10 off - apply it to this bill." One click takes it off as a discount - ask them first, it's theirs to spend. Whatever they earned beyond the reward keeps building, and the visit itself still counts towards the next one.

The reward comes off the bill, so your receipts, reports and GST all treat it like any other discount. It can bring a bill down to zero, but never below - it's a discount, not money back. It never comes off a gift card or package sold on the same bill.

What if I applied it by mistake?

Voiding the sale puts everything back exactly as it was - the reward returns to their balance, and the visit's earning is removed with the sale.

Watching it work

The Loyalty report (under Reports) shows the program at a glance: how many members you have, who joined in the period, how much was earned, the rewards you gave, and - the number worth checking before a busy day - how many members walk in next holding a reward. It also names everyone who joined or left in the period - and leaving keeps everything earned, so anyone who rejoins picks up where they left off.

There's also an automation for the almost-there moment: Almost at their reward (under Growth, Automations) offers a friendly note when a member is one visit away - "you're just one visit away from $10 off" - with a booking link. It appears while a program runs, and like every automation it starts in ask-first mode: suggestions wait for you in BeNotely Intelligence.

What happens if my plan lapses?

Balances are kept exactly as they are - nothing is ever erased. Earning pauses until the plan is back (and so does any expiry clock), and customers can still leave the program at any time.

Does reward progress expire?

Only if you choose it. The default is never. With a clock set, progress expires after your chosen number of months without a visit - and any visit resets the clock, so regulars never lose anything.

Can I change the program later?

Yes - the earn model, the threshold and the reward can all change. Progress already earned keeps its value.

Still need a hand?

Drop us a line any time and someone on our team will help you sort it.

support@benotely.com