Why can't customers earn stars when PURCHASING gift cards?

[GeorgeX]

I just started with Square Loyalty and noticed my customers are not earning stars when they purchase gift cards. I believe the person spending the money should earn the stars, not the recipient of the gift card! That doesn't sound fair at all. 

Another way to look at it is that the gift card recipient (assuming the gift card is high enough to earn a reward) is double-dipping. They're getting free product through the gift card, then they're getting more free product (in my case since that's how I set up my program) by redeeming the stars!

I think this should be changed or Square should give us the option to allow stars to be earned when a customer purchases a gift card, AND to disable someone earning stars when they pay with a gift card. This seems backwards to me! Am I missing something?  

[EJ_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @GeorgeX

This is really good feedback for our Gift Card and Loyalty teams. 

I can see how this would be seen as an improvement and provide for a better customer experience. 

A few sellers have mentioned they like the current set up since more times than not, the gift card is being purchased as a gift for a customer who frequents that business and is a regular.

It also makes it easier to understand the why behind this behavior if you think of Loyalty Stars as being earned in exchange for purchasing one of your items or services. 

A gift card isn't necessarily one of your business items or services, but rather a pre-payment for a customer to come in and redeem the gift card for an item or service. 

I completely agree that an option for you as a seller would be ideal, so hopefully we get some news around this in the future. 

[EJ_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @GeorgeX

This is really good feedback for our Gift Card and Loyalty teams. 

I can see how this would be seen as an improvement and provide for a better customer experience. 

A few sellers have mentioned they like the current set up since more times than not, the gift card is being purchased as a gift for a customer who frequents that business and is a regular.

It also makes it easier to understand the why behind this behavior if you think of Loyalty Stars as being earned in exchange for purchasing one of your items or services. 

A gift card isn't necessarily one of your business items or services, but rather a pre-payment for a customer to come in and redeem the gift card for an item or service. 

I completely agree that an option for you as a seller would be ideal, so hopefully we get some news around this in the future. 

[giggleblossom]

I would like to add to the thread on loyalty points added in the case of gift cards.  Our return policy is for store credit only and when we load a gift card to be used at a later time as a store credit, the customer will be receiving double the points - being they will receive points for the initial purchase and also receive points again for when they come back and use the gift card that we loaded as their store credit.  I completely agree with the idea that the loyalty points should be given to the customer who PURCHASES the card, and not when the card is used as payment - or at least have the option to choose.  We stopped using Square's loyalty program in the past due to loop holes like this, but are giving it another try.  I hope we have reason to permanently switch from the other loyalty program we have used for the last 2 years, but these issues make me uncertain.

[CafeMilo]

I see that I can exclude the ability to earn stars when a gift card is purchased. This is done in the settings of my loyalty program by unchecking the blue box next to the item 'gift card'. 

I am unable to see how to exclude the ability to earn stars when using different payment methods.

I agree that the person purchasing the card should get the stars but it also makes sense that the regular who uses the card should get them.

[Arie]

Thank you for adding your feedback, @CafeMilo! 

[thewakezone]

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: Gift Card and Loyalty program

We currently have gift cards and I am looking to start a loyalty program.  Do the points for the loyalty program accrue when a gift card is purchased/loaded or do the points accrue when the gift card is used to purchase products?

Thanks

[pessosices]

Hey @thewakezone

As far as I’m aware Loyalty points are only given when a gift card is used as payment, and not when a gift card is loaded. 

[Helen · Accepted solution]

Helen here from the Community team, just to confirm that @pessosices is correct here. Thank you! Points are only earned by a customer when a gift card is used to pay for an item/service.

[thefibreshop]

Most of the people who come into my shop to buy gift cards are not going to care about the loyalty program, because they aren't my customer. It wouldn't make sense for them to earn points, nor would it work to give the intended person the points at the time the card was purchased, as then they would get a message saying they earned points. If this is ever something Square thinks about implementing, be it an option, not a complete switch over.

[pbbqfinance]

We would like to offer the buyer of the plastic gift card extra points as a gift to them for buying the card. Is there any way to do that? Can we add the card as an item and set up the loyalty program to add the points to the buyer? I realize we will have to manually swipe the card also but at least it would automate the points and we can offer them something for their purchase. 

[Laurie_]

Hi there @pbbqfinance,

Unfortunately, I don't have any further news to share regarding customers receiving loyalty points when purchasing gift cards. 

The workaround you've come up with would involve a lot of manual tracking and there is also the issue of double-ups in your transaction history. The main issue would be essentially selling two gift cards/gift card items but accepting one payment.

However, you're welcome to try this and let us know how you go on your end!

In the meantime, I'll continue to raise this feature request with our Product Team and we'll be sure to share any updates in this thread as they are received.