Guides
Everything you need to set up a loyalty program, run it at the counter, and tell whether it is working.
Getting started
Create your account, learn what the product does, and get a program live.
What VivaPoints is and who it's for
VivaPoints is a loyalty platform for businesses that depend on customers coming back. Here is what it does, and how to tell whether it fits yours.
Creating your business account
Sign up, confirm your email, and log in to an empty dashboard that is ready for your first program. About five minutes.
Team members and what they can do
There are two presets, owner and scanner. Here is what each one can do, who on your team actually needs an account, and how to get one added.
Your first 30 minutes
A checklist that takes you from an empty account to a live program with a real customer earning points in it.
Your plan
What each plan lets you do, and how to change yours.
What your plan includes
Every plan is described by the same fixed list of limits and switches. Here is what each one controls and when it starts to matter.
Changing your plan
Plan changes are handled by us, not by a self-serve upgrade button. Here is how to ask, and what does and does not happen to your data.
Loyalty basics
How loyalty actually works, which mechanic to pick, and what to reward.
Why loyalty drives repeat business
The arithmetic behind keeping a customer instead of finding a new one, and why visit frequency is the number a loyalty program actually moves.
Program types and how to choose one
Points, stamps, tiers, benefits, referrals and gamification: what each one asks of your customer, which of them the builder gives you today, and how to layer them.
Which program fits your business
A recommendation for cafés, restaurants, salons, gyms, shops and service businesses, with a worked reward for each.
Setting earn and redeem rates
Pick the reward first, decide what percentage of spend you are giving back, and let the earn rate fall out of the arithmetic. With two worked examples.
Common loyalty mistakes
Seven ways a loyalty program quietly stops working, what each one looks like on your dashboard, and where in VivaPoints the fix lives.
Building your program
Rules, rewards, expiry and naming — the decisions you make once.
Setting up your first program
A field-by-field walkthrough of the program builder, with a café example carried from the name all the way to the first reward.
Rewards, redemption and expiry
How to price the rewards in your program, how many to offer, what happens when a customer claims one, and where the expiry policy comes from.
Naming your points
The builder asks what one unit is called, in singular and plural. It is a smaller box than it deserves — here is how to choose a name you will not regret.
Multiple locations and business groups
VivaPoints has no location object. It has programs inside a business, and businesses inside an organization — here is which shape fits a second site, a second brand or a whole high street.
Editing a live program without breaking trust
Changing a program that customers have already joined is safe for the data and risky for the relationship. Here is which changes people feel, and how to make them anyway.
Day to day
Joining, earning, redeeming, correcting mistakes, and training staff.
How customers join your program
Customers join by opening a link you share. Here is where to find that link, what they see when they tap it, and how to ask without holding up the queue.
Issuing points at the counter
Points are awarded by hand from your Customers page. Here is the flow, how to find the right person fast, and how to do it without making the queue wait.
QR codes: how they work and where to put them
There are two QR codes in VivaPoints and they do opposite jobs. This is which is which, where to print yours, and what to do when a scan does not work.
Redeeming a reward
The customer taps the reward on their card, which creates a pending redemption. Someone on your side confirms it, and only then are the points deducted.
Fixing mistakes, and why the ledger matters
Every point issued, spent or corrected is a permanent line that is never overwritten. Here is how to correct an over-award, and why that design is what makes your numbers trustworthy.
Training your staff in 15 minutes
Your staff need to do three things and know one sentence. Here is a 15-minute session you can run on a quiet Tuesday, and a short what-to-do-when list for the counter.
Your customers
Reading your customer list, winning people back, and handling their data.
Understanding your customer list
The Customers page is one table of everyone in your programs. Here is what each column tells you and what to look for when you scan it.
Winning back customers who stopped coming
The gap between Members and Active (30d) on your Overview is your lapsed group. Here is how to size it honestly and what you can actually do about it.
Privacy and customer data
What VivaPoints stores about a customer, what you can see as the business, what you cannot, and how to answer the questions customers ask you.
On your website
Putting your loyalty program on your own site, in your own brand.
What the embeddable experience is and when to use it
A box on your own website where your customers check their points, in your colours, with no mention of VivaPoints anywhere.
Adding the VivaPoints widget to your website
Where to paste the snippet, what it looks like once it is live, and how to check it is working.
Matching your brand: colors, fonts and shape
The handful of settings that make the widget look like part of your site rather than a bolted-on box.
Allowed domains and keeping your embed secure
Why you list the sites allowed to show your widget, and what happens when someone else tries.
The mobile app
What your customers see on their phone, and how to get them using it.
Analytics
The numbers on your dashboard and what they are telling you.
Reading your dashboard
Your Overview is seven tiles and two charts. Here is what each one counts, what a healthy number looks like, and the conclusion people wrongly draw from it.
Is your program working?
Four ratios you can work out from your Overview tiles, what a healthy range looks like for each, and how long to wait before you judge any of them.
Help and support
Common questions, troubleshooting, and how to reach a human.
A customer can't find their points
Almost every missing-points complaint has one of five causes. Check them in this order on your Customers page and you will have an answer in a minute.
Frequently asked questions
The questions business owners actually ask in their first month with VivaPoints, answered plainly, including the ones where the honest answer is to ask us.
Getting support
How to reach a person at VivaPoints, what to put in your first message so the first reply is useful, and the things we still do for you by hand.
Still stuck?
Email us and a human will answer.