Introduction
What the Loyalty platform is, its core concepts, the compute-then-commit model, and where each part of the work happens
Loyalty is a points program for your customers: they earn points when they transact, redeem them for rewards or discounts, bring in new customers through referrals, and every movement is tracked so the numbers always add up.
The Building Blocks
Concept | In plain words |
|---|---|
Customer | A person, identified by their phone number. Added once — adding them again is harmless. |
Earning rule | Your policy for turning purchases and events into points: how many, with what bonuses, and how long they last. |
Accrual | Points being awarded. The system first shows what will be earned, then awards it when you confirm. |
Redemption | Points being spent — optionally protected by a one-time code sent to the customer on WhatsApp or SMS. |
Reversal | Undoing things when a sale changes: returned orders take points back, refunded redemptions give them back. |
Referral | An existing customer brings in a new one and both are rewarded as the newcomer progresses through milestones you define. |
Centre | A branch of your business. Optionally, points are ring-fenced to the centre that issued them. |
Where the Work Happens
Who | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
Your administrators and staff | The loyalty app | Settings, earning rules, customers and their histories, referral programs, the review queue, analytics |
Your till, website or app | The API | Registering customers, calculating and confirming points, redemptions, reversals, sending business events |
Your referees | A public referral form | Signing themselves up with a referral code |
How Every Money Moment Works
Earning and spending share one safety pattern: the system first calculates, then commits. Your till or website sees the result before anything is final, and nothing changes a customer's balance until the confirmation step.
- Earning: the purchase is sent in → the system calculates the points → you confirm → the points land. (reward → confirm)
- Spending: the redemption is requested → points go on hold → the customer approves with their code → you confirm → the points are spent. (redeem → validate → confirm)
There is always a time limit
Promises the Platform Keeps
- Nothing happens twice — repeating a confirmation by accident is harmless.
- Retries are safe — if the network drops mid-operation, sending it again cannot double-award or double-charge.
- A customer's one-time code works exactly once, for exactly that redemption.
- The books always balance: earned minus spent minus expired minus reversed equals the customer's balance — always.
- Referral rewards are ordinary points: same ledger, same balance, same rules.
Next: read How a Day Works in the Quickstart, or send your developers to the interactive API reference.
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