Pending Points

Pending points ensure fair use of loyalty rewards and help manage return policies, such as a 14-day return period.

Instead of making earned points immediately available, they should remain in a "pending" status for a set period. This period should align with the allowed return window.

This prevents situations where a customer:

1. Earns points from a purchase.
2. Uses those points right away.
3. Returns or cancels the original order.

Without a pending period, customers could take advantage of the system by using points from purchases they later refund. A well-configured pending period helps prevent abuse and ensures loyalty programs remain fair and effective.

Contents

1. How to manage Pending Points?
2. Manual Actions for Pending Points
3. Tracking Pending Points with Webhooks
4. Pending Points as Triggers for Distribution
5. Exemplary Scenarios

How to manage pending points?

Pending points can be set up when creating or managing a loyalty program in Voucherify for the "Order paid" earning rule. In the second step of creating an earning rule, you can assign a point value and decide whether customers can receive points immediately or after a defined time. The Pending Points feature allows you to set a specific pending period in days, between 1 and 90. The points will be credited to the customers once the configured number of days has passed.

Pending points can be displayed in several places:

1. Customer wallet.
2. Loyalty card details.
3. Loyalty card details – pending points tab.
4. Loyalty campaign details – pending points tab.

Manual actions for pending points

Sometimes, pending points need to be managed manually. This can be done in two ways. First, select the loyalty campaign in the Dashboard (or a given loyalty card from the chosen loyalty campaign) and head to the pending points tab. You will find an overview of the most important information connected with pending points there. Click the three dots on the right to reveal the following actions:

• Activate pending points manually – You can activate points before their scheduled activation time.
• Adjust pending points manually – In case of product return, you may want to subtract the selected number of pending points to keep them aligned with the updated order. You can also add the specified number of pending points if needed.
• Delete pending points manually – If an order is canceled or a product is returned, pending points can be removed before they become active.

These actions can also be performed using Voucherify’s API:

• Activate Member Pending Points
• Adjust Member Pending Points
• Cancel Member Pending Points

Tracking pending points with webhooks

In case of product return, you may want to subtract the selected number of pending points to keep them aligned with the updated order. You can also add the specified number of pending points if needed. The following events are available as project-level webhooks:

• When pending points are added: Pending Points Added
• When pending points become active: Pending Points Activated
• When pending points are canceled: Pending Points Canceled
• When pending points are updated: Pending Points Updated

Pending points as triggers for distribution

Pending points can also be used to trigger distributions. This means you can send messages to customers when their pending points are updated. The following triggers are available:

• When pending points are added
• When pending points are updated
• When pending points are activated
• When pending points are canceled

Exemplary Scenarios

These examples show how pending points can be handled in different situations.

Automatic Activation (Happy Path)

• A customer makes a purchase and earns pending points for 14 days.
• After 14 days, the points become active automatically.

Order Cancellation (Removing Pending Points Manually)

• A customer makes a purchase and earns pending points for 14 days.
• The order is canceled within 14 days.
• An administrator removes the pending points so they do not become active.

Product Return (Recalculating and Canceling Pending Points)

• A customer makes a purchase and earns pending points for 14 days.
• The customer returns a product within 14 days.
• The administrator calculates the number of points that should be canceled and adjusts the balance of pending points for a given order.

Manual Activation Before Scheduled Date

• A customer makes a purchase and earns pending points for 14 days.
• An administrator decides to activate the points earlier than planned.