How customers choose which offers they get
When someone joins your program, they choose which offers they want from you. Nothing is ticked in advance, there is no box they must tick to join, and the card works whether they pick anything or not. This guide shows what they see, and what it means for the messages you send.
What guests see
Under the form, a line reads Be the first to hear about deals from [your business]. Under it is one checkbox for each way you can reach them, none ticked in advance:
- Notifications on my phone (Apple Wallet) (offers that pop up on the lock screen from the card)
- SMS
The wallet name follows the phone: Apple Wallet on iPhone, Google Wallet on Android.
A guest ticks the boxes they want, then taps Add to Apple Wallet (or Add to Google Wallet, or Buy on a paid card). They can skip the question. If they pick nothing, they get no offer alerts, and joining still works.
Which checkboxes show, and why
A checkbox only appears when it makes sense for that guest:
- You use the channel. Email, SMS and WhatsApp show only when you have that channel set up. See Messages on WhatsApp, Sending SMS Messages and Send Your Customers a Newsletter by Email.
- The channel has its field. SMS and WhatsApp need a phone number on the form. Email needs an email address. If a guest picks a channel and leaves its field empty, they see "Add your phone number to get offers by SMS or WhatsApp." or "Add your email to get offers by email.".
- We don't already have an answer. A returning guest who already answered for a channel isn't asked about it again. The exception is Notifications after the card was removed from Apple Wallet, which is asked again.
Whether you offer one channel or several, the guest sees the same thing: the Be the first to hear about deals from [your business] line with one checkbox per channel.
The same choices appear wherever a guest adds your card or buys: the join page, cards with no form, claim codes and flyers, invite links, the install from a customer portal sign-in, gift claims and checkout. Downloading the PDF does not ask. A claim code or an invite link offers Email and Notifications, never SMS or WhatsApp, because no phone number was typed.
The notice and your card terms
Instead of a box to tick, a short notice sits under the button. It says that by adding the card the guest accepts your card terms, which of their details you use to run the card, and that they can change their offer choices any time. It links to the Privacy policy and to the card terms.
Every card gets a Card terms page automatically, written from your card's settings: how it works, how points are earned, expiry, validity, and how guests change their offer choices. It states no rule you didn't set on the card. You don't write or switch it on. Paid cards add a Payment section with the price, how long it lasts and that payment is handled by Stripe.
To add your own terms, write them in Setup → Card details → Terms & conditions (on a paid card, next to the price). They show on the back of the card and on the card terms page, under From [your business].
Guests can change their mind
In the customer portal, under My details, a guest sees Offers from [your business] with a switch for each channel you use: Email, SMS, WhatsApp and Notifications. Changes apply straight away. See Your Customer Portal.
Other ways out also work: the unsubscribe link in any email, and replying STOP to any SMS.
If a guest removes your card from Apple Wallet on every device they use, offer Notifications for that card are switched off. Removing it from Google Wallet does not do this, because Google doesn't tell us. Adding the card again does not switch them back on: they pick Notifications again on the join page, or switch it on in their profile.
Offers and card updates
Not every message is an offer.
- Offers are anything you write: campaigns, posts, welcome and after-visit messages, birthday and win-back messages, reward reminders, review requests. They go only to guests who chose that channel.
- Card updates are our own messages about the card itself: stamps or points added, reward ready, points about to expire, level changes, bookings. They always go to everyone, because they are part of the card.
Offers still reach everyone, on the card
A guest who didn't pick Notifications still gets your offer on their card and in their profile. They just get no lock-screen alert.
Before you send, the composer and the campaign editor show how many customers will be alerted:
312 get an alert · 228 see it on the card only
If some customers have no card on a phone at all, the composer adds [n] can't get notifications.
After sending, the message's page in Customers → Messages history shows an On the card, no alert count. Hover over it to see why. Each of those customers' rows says On the card, no alert.
On a customer's own page, the Can reach on box shows Installed · no alerts for offers when their card has offer alerts off (or Installed · some programs without alerts for offers when only some of their cards do).
Write your offers so they give a reason to come in and buy ("Two more stamps and your next coffee is on us", "Double stamps today"), not something for nothing. A free-for-all message teaches customers to wait for the next one.
Email: when a confirmation is needed
If your business counts as German (we go by your country, shop locations, phone number, website and account language), a guest who taps Email gets a confirmation email with a button, and is on your list only after pressing it. A guest who joins again with an email we already have also gets the confirmation email, in every country. Elsewhere, a tap on the join form counts at once, and the guest gets one short email, "You'll get news from [your business]", with an unsubscribe link. (An address that previously unsubscribed from you also gets a confirmation email, wherever you are. So does an Email tap from a claim code or an invite link, the back of the card, or a portal visit where the guest hasn't just proved their email, in every country.) More in Growing Your Email List.
Members who joined before this
Members who already had your card before offer choices were added keep offer notifications on, so your campaigns reach them as before. Their email and SMS choices don't change. They can switch Notifications off in their profile at any time. Members added without a join page (from your point of sale, the API, or an import) have offers off until they are asked, on the invite page or in their profile.