Loyalty points and store credit
How to read, adjust, and use a customer's loyalty balance and prepaid store credit
Loyalty points and store credit
Two separate balances live on every customer profile, loyalty points and store credit. They look similar but solve different problems. This article explains both, and when to use which.
Loyalty points
Loyalty points are earned automatically when the customer pays for services or products. The earn rate (e.g. "1 point per 100 Ft spent") is set under Settings → Loyalty.
Customers redeem points for discounts, free services, or rewards you've defined.
The Loyalty tab on the customer profile shows:
- Current balance
- Earn history (every appointment that gave points)
- Redemption history (when they spent points)
- Manual adjustment button (add or subtract for goodwill or correction)
When to use it
- Reward repeat business: classic loyalty card replacement.
- Win-back campaigns: "you have 500 points expiring soon, come use them".
- Tier programs: combine with VIP tag for tiered loyalty (Bronze, Silver, Gold).
Scenario
Customer has 1,200 points after a year of regular visits. The salon set "1,000 points = free haircut". She redeems at her next visit. She gets the freebie, you get the goodwill, and she's stickier than before.
Store credit (balance)
Store credit is prepaid money on the customer's account. They top up at the till (e.g. "I want to put 50,000 Ft on my account") and use it across future visits.
The Credit tab on the customer profile shows:
- Current balance
- Top-up history (when and how much they added)
- Usage history (which appointments drew from it)
- Manual adjustment (rare, for refunds or corrections)
When to use it
- Pre-paid blocks: "I'll pay 100k Ft now to cover my next 6 visits".
- Gift voucher rebook: customer received a voucher, paid in. Future visits draw from credit.
- Refund-as-credit: instead of refunding cash, offer store credit (with a small bonus to make it attractive).
Scenario
Spa customer wins a corporate gift card. Receptionist tops up 80,000 Ft on her account. Over the next 6 months she comes 4 times for treatments, each time the system auto-applies credit. She never thinks about money. The spa got the cash up front and a returning customer.
Loyalty vs store credit, what's the difference?
| Loyalty | Store credit | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Earned by spending | Prepaid by customer |
| Currency | Points | Money |
| Auto-applied | No, customer chooses | Yes, automatically draws |
| Best for | Retention | Cashflow + sticky bookings |
| Expiration | Configurable | Usually never |
You can use both in the same salon. Loyalty rewards regulars, store credit converts gifters into payers.
Manual adjustments
Sometimes you need to override:
- A customer was double-charged, refund as store credit.
- A customer should have gotten points but didn't (system glitch), add manually.
- Goodwill bonus for a complaint resolution.
Click Adjust balance on either tab. Enter amount, reason (visible on history), and save. Manual adjustments are logged so you can audit later.
Tips
- Pick one or the other to push hard: salons that try both equally tend to have weaker programs. Make loyalty your retention play OR store credit your cashflow play, then promote it heavily.
- Manual adjustments leave an audit trail: don't be afraid to use them for goodwill, they show up in the activity log so the team knows.
- Communicate balance: customers forget they have points or credit. Show it on the receipt and remind them at checkout.
- Set expiry on points: unlimited-life points become a liability on your books. 12-24 month expiry is reasonable.
- Don't expire credit: store credit is real money the customer prepaid. Hungarian consumer law mostly forbids expiration anyway.