Aloha Loyalty Bonus Plan FAQ

The list below provides quick links to the different categories of frequently asked question for Loyalty:

•	Bonus Plan Configuration Questions

•	Bonus Plan Reward Questions

•	Bonus Plan Event Questions

•	In-store Operation Questions

Bonus Plan Configuration Questions

Q. Corporate Issued — What are bonus plans?

A. A bonus plans defines the means in which a member can earn credit for receiving a reward. An example of a bonus plan would be “Buy 10 Coffee’s in One Week and Receive a Free Muffin.” In this example, you define the following business rules for the bonus plan:

•	The items the member must purchase to qualify for the bonus plan (coffee).

•	The number of items the member must purchase to earn the reward (10).

•	What the reward will be (one free muffin).

•	The length of time in which the member can earn the reward before their credit is reset.

Q. What types of bonus plans can I create?

A. There are multiple types of bonus plans:

•	Be My Guest-based — A Be My Guest based bonus plan is one in which the member receives a card with a pre-defined bonus plan reward. For example, you can create a bonus plan that enables you to donate bonus plan cards that entitle a customer to 100% off on their next visit, up to $25.00 off.

•	Currency-based — A Currency-based bonus plan is one in which the member earns the reward based on the amount of money they spend at your stores. For example, you can create a bonus plan that rewards the member for every $20.00 they spend.

•	Employee Comp-based — An Employee Comp-based bonus plan is one in which the employee receives a percentage or dollar discount each time they use the card to dine in the restaurant.

•

Frequency-based — A frequency based bonus plan is one in which the member earns the reward based on the number of times they visit your stores. For example, you can create a bonus plans that rewards the member every 10th time they use their Loyalty card at any of your stores; the plan can be based on a special occasion, such as the member’s birthday, anniversary, or sign-up date.

•	Items-based — An Items-based bonus plan is one in which the member earns the reward based on the number of items they purchase at your stores. For example, you can create a bonus plan that rewards the member after every 10th beer they purchase at your stores.

•

Lottery-based — A lottery plan is a unique plan in that it allows your company to set the “odds” for which the member has a chance to receive the reward simply by using their card at your stores. For example, you can create a lottery bonus plan in which the member has a one in 10 chance of winning a free coffee each time they visit your store, or perhaps they have a one in 500 chance of winning $100.00, to be added to their Stored Value card.

•

Points-based — A Points-based bonus plan is one in which the member earns points based on items purchased or dollars spent at your stores. For example, you can create a bonus plan that rewards the member 25 points for every $5.00 they spend at your stores. The member can then redeem the points for various rewards.

•	Smart Rewards-based — The Smart Rewards-based bonus plan is one in which you reward the customer based on historical data. For example, you can reward all members that have not used their card in the past 30 days a free appetizer with their next visit.

Q. Can I define when my bonus plans start and end?

A. Yes. All bonus plans can include a starting and ending date. This is ideal for bonus plans that are seasonal, such as a holiday season promotion.

Q. Can I qualify the items the member must purchase to earn credit toward their reward?

A. Yes, you can specify the category from which the member must purchase an item for them to earn credit. You can do this for one or more categories. For example, you can create a bonus plan that only awards the member if they order any item from your appetizer and/or dessert categories.

Q. Can I specify the items within a specific category that the member must purchase to earn credit toward their reward?

A. No. Item qualification for member credit is at the category level. If you would like to qualify one or more specific items (excluding the other items in its category), you can create a new category using Aloha Insight Category Setup for those specific items and use that as the category qualifier.

Q. Can I specify whether discounted items that are purchased by the member count toward their reward?

A. Yes. You have the option of specifying whether items that have a comp or promotion applied to them count toward the member’s reward. If you do decide to allow discounted items to count toward the reward, you have a further option of specifying whether to base the earned credit on the item price before or after applying the promotion or comp.

Q. What about modifiers? Do they count toward a reward?

This is up to your company. You have the option of specifying whether items ordered as modifiers count toward the reward.

Q. Can I specify whether an item purchased by the member counts only once toward their reward on that visit, and not on future visits?

A. Yes. The member can earn credit each time they purchase an eligible item (even if it is the same item), or you can specify that the item purchase counts only once toward their reward. This is ideal for companies wanting to encourage the member to purchase different items in efforts to receive their reward.

Q. Can I define the number of points the member earns based on the amount of dollars they spend, or number of items they purchase?

A. Yes. The Bonus Plan application allows you to specify whether the member earns points based on the amount of money they spend, or the number of items they purchase at your stores. For example, you can create a bonus plan that rewards the member one point for every dollar they spend, or create a plan that rewards them three points for every three items they purchase.

Q. Can points accrued from two Points-based bonus plans go toward one reward threshold?

A. Yes. The Bonus Plan application allows you to link multiple Points-based plans together.

Q. Can I place a limit on the amount of credit (such as points) the member can earn on a single guest check?

A. Yes. The Bonus Plan application provides you with an option to define the maximum amount of credit (points, items, dollars, or visits) that a member can earn on a guest check. For example, a member enrolled in an Items-based plan comes in to your store and picks up the tab for his church group. Even though there are 70 eligible items on that guest check, if you have the bonus plan configured to allow a maximum of 20 items earned per check, the member only receives credit for 20 items.

Q. Can I schedule the days/times that the member can earn credit for a bonus plan?

A. Yes. A bonus plan can occur only during the day of the week and times of the day that you specify. For example, you can create a bonus plan that awards the member credit only on Friday and Saturday during the hours of 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm.

Q. What other qualifiers can I place on a bonus plan?

A. In addition to defining when bonus plans are “active” and the eligible items the member must purchase to earn credit, you can also define the day part(s) or hours of the day in which the bonus plan is active, the revenue center from which the member must purchase the items to earn credit, and/or the order mode for the transaction.

Q. How do I reset a bonus plan?

A. The Bonus Plan application provides you with options to reset the earned credit for that bonus plan to zero. The following options are available:

•	When member receives the reward - This option resets the earned credit to zero after the member receives the reward for the bonus plan.

•	Every year on a specified date - This option resets the earned credit to zero each year on the day and month you specify.

•	Reset every specified number of days after the member enrolls in the bonus plan - This option resets the earned credit to zero every x number of days after the member enrolls in the bonus plan.

•	Reset every specified number of days after the bonus plan start date - This option resets the earned credit to zero every x number of days after the user-defined start date for the bonus plan.

Q. How does the option that resets the earned credit after the member receives the reward affect bonus plans with multiple reward levels?

A. The credit resets to zero after the member receives the reward for the last level. For example, if you have three reward levels, the credit does not reset until the member earns the third reward.

Q. What sort of modifications can I make to bonus plans after they are created?

A. Users within your company that have appropriate security access can edit various options within a bonus plan at any time. This includes options such as the eligible items, reward levels, scheduling options, bonus events, and more.

However, the following options cannot be changed after any member enrolled in that bonus plan earns credit for the plan:

•

Plan type

•	Start date

•	Changing a Frequency-based plan from “Every x number of visits” to “On special occasion,” and vice-versa

•	Allowing/disallowing items to count only once toward credit

•	Changing points earned per dollar spent to points earned per number of items purchased, and vice-versa

Once a member earns credit for a specific bonus plan, these options are disabled.

Q. When do the changes I make to my bonus plans take effect?

A. The changes take effect the next day of business.

Bonus Plan Reward Questions

Q. What types of rewards are available with Loyalty?

A. The Bonus Plan application provides you with four powerful reward types:

•

Corporate-issued — Used when the corporate office or a third party issues the reward. Use this type of reward if the reward is not to be issued at the local store. For example, you can create a bonus plan that rewards the member with a leather jacket. The corporate office or third party vendor distributes the jacket.

•

Stored Value Add Value — Used to add value to an Stored Value card balance. For example, you can create a bonus plan that deposits $10.00 to the member’s Stored Value card for every $100.00 they spend at your stores. The Stored Value Add Value reward is only available for companies who are licensed for Stored Value.

•	Real-time Discount — Used to instantly apply a POS promotion or comp to a guest check. For example, you can create a bonus plan that reduces the guest check by 10 percent every fifth time the member uses their Loyalty card at your stores.

•	Reward Voucher — Used to print a voucher at the store (separate from the guest check) to be redeemed the next time the member visits your stores. For example, you can create a bonus plan that rewards the member with a voucher for a free coffee the next time they visit one of your stores.

Q. How does a real-time discount reward work? Does it act like a regular comp or promotion?

A. Yes. When you are setting up your real-time discount, you first select whether the discount applied to the guest check is a comp or a promotion. Next, you select the applicable comp or promotion to apply. Last, you specify the discount amount and the items that are eligible for the discount. The comps and promotions you can choose are the existing Loyalty comps/promotions you set up for your stores in Aloha Manager.

Q. What types of comps and promotions are supported with real-time discounts?

A. Define your Loyalty promotions in Aloha Manager as New Price discounts and your Loyalty comps in Aloha Manager as a percent off or dollar off discount.

Q. Can I select the specific items to discount on the guest check when issuing a real-time discount?

A. No. With the initial release of Loyalty, when the system applies a real-time discount to a guest check, it applies the discounted amount across all eligible items on the check. For example, if there are three soft drinks on a check, and one of them is to be discounted, the POS system reports the discount evenly across all three soft drinks (not on a specific soft drink). A future release of Loyalty will allow you to select the specific item to be discounted when using the real-time discount reward type. However, you can limit the eligible items for the real-time discount to a specified category of items. For example, if you did not want to apply the discount to all beverages on the check, create a beverage category, limiting the discount to items in that category only.

Q. What can cause the POS system to reject a real-time discount?

A. The POS system rejects any real-time discount that violates a business rule associated with the comp or promotion. For example, if the comp or promotion ID does not exist in the local store database, the POS cannot apply the Loyalty real-time discount.

Q. Are there any reporting issues I should be aware of using real-time discounts?

A. No. There should be no discrepancies in the comp/promotions amount reported on the POS and on Insight.

Q. If the POS system rejects a real-time discount due to business rules associated with the comp or promotion, will the member simply lose that reward?

A. Your company can establish whether the member loses real-time discount rewards that are rejected by the POS. You can configure Loyalty to “queue” or save the rejected real-time rewards for future visits made by the member. For example, if the POS system rejects a real-time discount of $5.00, the system places the reward in a queue. The next time the member uses his or her card at any of your stores, Loyalty automatically applies the comp or promotion to the guest check (assuming it does not now violate any business rules associated with the comp or promotion).

If you elect not to queue rejected real-time discounts, Loyalty disregards them and the reward is not valid again until the member reaches the defined threshold for that reward. For example, if the member enrolls in a bonus plan that gives them a 10 percent discount on every fifth visit, and the POS system rejects the real-time discount, the member will not receive the reward until his next fifth visit (assuming it is not rejected again).

Q. What if the comp/promotion amount is greater than the guest check total? Will the check have a negative balance?

A. No. Loyalty will not apply a real-time discount to a guest check if the check total is not equal to or greater than the comp/promotion amount. For example, if the check amount is $8.00, but the member receives a real-time discount for $10.00 off, the system does not apply the real-time discount to the check. If your company supports the queued reward feature, the reward queues until a future visit. If your company does not support queued rewards, the real-time discount is disregarded.

Q. How does the Stored Value Add Value reward work?

A. If your stores are licensed for Stored Value, a member who possesses a combination Loyalty/Stored Value card can earn a reward that adds value to their Stored Value balance. Using the Bonus Plan application, you define the threshold the member must meet or exceed to receive the reward, and identify the dollar amount that is added upon receiving the reward. When the member receives the reward, Loyalty deposits the defined amount to their Stored Value balance.

Q. Does the Stored Value Add Value reward amount need to be in whole dollars?

A. No. You can configure Loyalty to add any amount, such as $10.50, or even just .50 cents.

Q. Which store gets charged for the Stored Value Add Value reward amount?

A. When setting up the bonus plan that rewards an Stored Value Add Value, you choose whether the system charges the store in which the reward was earned with the deposit, or you can select a specific store to charge for the Stored Value add value. The latter option is ideal for companies to charge a corporate store with the Stored Value reward, because the store where the reward was earned did not receive the money for the added value.

Q. If the Stored Value Add Value reward is charged to the store where the reward was earned, will it affect the Daily Sales Report for the store?

A. No. The Daily Sales Report will not reflect the add value amount because the store did not receive money for the add value. The Stored Value Sales report will report the add value at the selected store and the transaction affects the Stored Value reporting the same as if you made a manual adjustment to increase the Stored Value balance.

Q. Does the store receiving the charge for the Stored Value Add Value reward need a license for Stored Value?

A. Yes. The store receiving the charge for the Stored Value Add Value reward must have a license for Stored Value.

Q. Can a member earn an Stored Value Add Value reward at a store not licensed for Stored Value as long as you charge the add value amount to a store that has a license for Stored Value?

A. No. Both the store that awards the Stored Value Add Value reward and the store receiving the charge for the add value reward must have a license for Stored Value.

Q. Will a member know when they earn an Stored Value Add Value reward?

A. Yes! Whenever a member earns an Stored Value Add Value reward, you can choose to have Loyalty print a voucher that notifies them of the reward. This voucher is separate from a POS guest check and is fully custom-built.

Q. How do reward vouchers work? Can I customize reward vouchers?

A. You can define bonus plans that reward the member with a voucher that prints at the POS upon earning the reward. The voucher is separate from the POS guest check and is fully customizable. When creating the voucher, you enter the text to appear on the voucher. For example, “Congratulations, John. You have purchased your 10th coffee. Present this voucher on your next visit to any of our stores and receive a FREE muffin.”

Loyalty offers keywords that dynamically render data stored in your Loyalty database onto the voucher. An example of this is the member’s first name. Using keywords, you can render member names into the voucher using the %MemberFirstName% keyword. You enter the voucher text as: “Congratulations %MemberFirstName%. You have just received...” When a member earns the reward, the voucher prints the first name of the member in place of the %MemberFirstName% keyword. To achieve this, however, the member’s first name must be stored in the Loyalty database. Other examples of keywords include the bonus plan name, the amount of credit still needed to earn a reward for the bonus plan, and more. There are over 60 keywords from which you can choose to completely customize your reward vouchers!

Q. What if I use a keyword in my voucher text such as %MemberFirstName% and a voucher prints for a member whose first name is not stored in the Loyalty database?

A. Some keywords might not contain values, such as those that render member profile information. If you include a keyword for which Loyalty cannot find a value, the system defaults to a pre-defined value for that keyword. Using the %MemberFirstName% keyword as an example, if the member’s first name is not stored in the Loyalty database, the system defaults to “Valued guest”.

Q. Can I utilize multiple reward levels within a single bonus plan?

A. Yes. The currency, items, frequency, and Points-based bonus plans allow you to define an unlimited number of reward levels so that the member can earn different rewards based on various thresholds. For example, you can create a Frequency-based bonus plan with three reward levels. The first level rewards the member with a five percent discount after their 10th visit. The second level rewards them with a 20 percent discount after their 15th visit, and the third level rewards them with a 50 percent discount after their 75th visit.

Q. What happens if a member earns rewards for multiple levels in a single visit?

A. The member could potentially receive multiple rewards in a single visit. For example, a plan has three reward level thresholds: $10.00 earn a free coffee; $20.00 earn a free dessert, and $50.00 earn a free entrée. If the member comes to your store and spends $55.00 on eligible items, the member would receive all three rewards. However, the system checks the “Maximum number of rewards a member can receive in a single day” setting defined in Loyalty Configuration. If the maximum is set to two rewards, the member only receives two rewards for the visit and not all three.

Q. If I limit the amount of credit a member can earn on a guest check, and a member exceeds that limit, what happens to the remaining credit?

A. If a member exceeds the maximum allowable credit, the Loyalty system disregards any credit for that visit in excess of the defined maximum amount.

Bonus Plan Event Questions

Q. Can I reward a member with extra credit if they come in on a certain day or order specific items?

A. Yes. The Bonus Plan application includes an excellent feature called bonus events. Bonus events allow you to place a multiplier on credit earned based on certain qualifications, such as when and where the member uses their card, the items they purchase, and more. For example, you create a bonus plan that gives the member one point for every dollar they spend. You can add a bonus event to the plan that grants the member two points for every dollar they spend in your bar revenue center on Monday nights. Bonus events are a great way to entice the member to visit your stores during off-peak hours/days, or to sample items they might not typically order.

Q. What qualifiers can I place on bonus events?

A. You can use the same qualifications (activation interval, eligible items, time of day, revenue centers, day parts, and order modes) that are available with bonus plans. Additionally, you can specify the number of items purchased, or the dollar amount spent within one or more categories, for the member to qualify for the bonus event.

Q. Does the system determine if the member qualifies for a bonus event using the time you open the check, or the time you order an item on the check?

A. This varies. If you configure the bonus event to qualify by day part, the system uses check open time to determine if the member receives event credit. If you configure the bonus event to qualify by hours, the system uses the time you order the item.

Q. Can I define the maximum amount of credit a member can earn for a bonus event?

A. Yes. Just as you can define the maximum amount of credit a member can earn at the bonus plan level, you can also limit the amount of credit a member can earn for each bonus event.

Q. Can bonus plans contain multiple bonus events?

A. Yes. A bonus plan can contain multiple bonus events, each with its own credit multiplier and qualifications. Each bonus event calculates credit earned separately. For example, a check qualifies for an event that awards double credit on beer items, and a second event that awards triple credit on beer items during happy hour. The member earns credit for each event individually. The member earns five points on the check for the bonus plan. The member also receives an additional five points for the double-credit event and an additional 10 points credit for the triple-credit event. The member receives a total of 20 points credit for the bonus plan and events.

Q. Can I specify the stores where the bonus events can occur?

A. Yes. For example, you can create a bonus plan that is active in all your stores, but the bonus event associated with the plan is only active in certain stores.

In-store Operation Questions

Q. Can the member automatically earn a reward on special occasions, such as their birthday?

A. Yes. Using the Frequency-based plan type, you can configure the system to reward the member on their birthday, wedding anniversary, or the date they enrolled in your bonus plan. Birthdays and wedding anniversaries are dependant on whether you store that specific profile data in the Loyalty database. In other words, if the member did not supply you with the date of his or her birthday, the system cannot detect when they have a birthday and the member will not receive the reward.

Q. Do my members need to come in on their birthday to receive the “special occasion” reward?

A. This is up to you. You can configure Loyalty to present the reward on the specific special occasion date, during the week of the special occasion, or during the month of the special occasion.

Q. If I select to allow the member to receive a reward on the week of their birthday, will they receive a reward each time they use their card at my stores that week?

A. No. The member only receives the special occasion reward once. For example, if you have a member whose birthday is June 1st, you can configure Loyalty to grant the member their reward the first time they visit one of your stores during the week of June 1st.

Q. How can a member find out how many points they have accrued?

A. A member can get their current standing while visiting any of your stores. The server or cashier can quickly generate a “Member Report” directly from the POS system. This information is available for all plan types. You can also elect to print an updated total standing for the member directly on the member guest check. This way, the member gets an up-to-date balance each time he or she uses their Loyalty card.

Q. How does a member redeem their points for rewards?

A. You can use the Member History application, which allows you to manually deduct points from a member’s bonus plan. The system does not currently support the member automatically selecting a reward for which they would like to redeem their points.

Q. How will the server/cashier know if the POS system rejects a real-time discount?

A. There will be no on-screen or guest check message that tells a server/cashier when the POS system rejects a real-time discount, because the POS user is not able to take any corrective action. Any rejected real-time rewards are reported on Aloha Insight in Loyalty reports.

Q. How will the member know if they receive a real-time discount?

A. The discount your member receives prints on the guest check. Optionally, you can configure Loyalty to print a customized voucher to inform the member when they receive the discount. For example, upon receiving a real-time discount, the POS system can print a voucher that reads, “Congratulations, John. You have just received a $5.00 discount off your check!”