Promotions or loyalty — which do I want?

The simple test that tells promotions and loyalty apart, what each is for, the deliberate places they meet, and how each one is redeemed.

Promotions or loyalty — which do I want?

The simplest test: did the customer have to earn it? If yes, it is a loyalty reward. If no, it is a promotion.

A promotion is something you give away

You create it on the Promotions page and decide how customers get it — a shared promo code for posters, one-per-person codes for a targeted email, or an automatic trigger (a birthday, an off-peak slot, a basket threshold). It works whether or not the customer has ever visited you before. Promotions are a marketing tool — you are trying to make something happen.

A loyalty reward is something a customer has earned

It only exists inside your loyalty scheme, priced in stamps or points, and only a member who has collected enough can have it. You are paying out on a promise they already earned. Loyalty is a retention tool.

Where they meet

They are separate systems with separate pages. A loyalty reward can never be given a promo code, and a promotion can never be priced in points. They meet in a few deliberate places:

• A promotion can be members-only, so only loyalty members can use it.
• The birthday gift can hand a member bonus stamps/points or one of your

claimable promotions.

• A member's saved offers appear inside their loyalty card in the customer

portal, and staff see both on the same Scanner screen.

• On a table order they stack in a fixed order — deal prices first, then a

promotion, then a loyalty reward, then the tip and any gift card.

How each is redeemed

Staff apply loyalty rewards at the venue through the Scanner — the member shows their loyalty card and your team taps the reward. If the venue takes table orders and the reward is linked to a menu item or category, a signed-in member can also redeem it at the order checkout, where their chosen item comes off the bill free. Promotions are redeemed wherever they work: typed at a checkout, applied automatically, or tapped by staff on a booking.