My Custom Programs | Cash Back Rewards

My Custom Programs | Cash Back Rewards

Now you can have a Cash Back Reward Custom Program on Astro!
  1. These programs will tally a Cash Back Percent of your choosing.
  2. You can choose to reward a Cash Back amount for either the entire cost of the sale or you can base it off of the sub-total, or the before-tax total.
  3. You can reward cash back based on the purchase of specific services (ex. Dog Wash, Groom, Nail Trim, Daycare Visit, etc).
  4. You can also reward cash back on general purchases, meaning they get cash back for each visit to your store where they make a purchase. 
  5. You can choose how many purchases or visits you want your customer to make before they can complete their card.
  6. Your customer cannot redeem their tallied Cash Back Reward until they complete and redeem their card. 
This program allows you to track specific purchases and rewards a predetermined % cash back reward. For example, let's say you wanted to reward cash back on all Grooming Service Purchases. We would add your services to the program as purchase items; Small Dog Groom, Large Dog Groom, Nail Trim, etc. Then you designate the fraction of a dollar that you want to reward the customer for each dollar they spend on these services;  so if you want 5% Cash Back it would be 0.05. Then you need to designate how many purchases you want your customer to have to make in order to redeem their earned cash back. Then every time a customer comes in and purchases one of these services you ring them up for that service then record the dollar amount they are paying for that service. Astro will record the Purchase Credit on the card as a green punch, it will also save the total amount of dollars your customer has spent with you and the amount of cash back they have earned so far. Then when the customer has filled their card you can redeem it to close it and reward them their earned cash back as a credit either on their account or as a discount applied to their next purchase. 

This is a manual program - meaning you need to record the Purchases or Visits manually and redeem the card manually. These programs cannot be integrated with your POS or e-com website. If you are using a POS with a partial-integration such as Vend, Springboard, or Lightspeed (the integration for these POS systems allow the cashier to enter Astro) then you can use this style of program manually just like a standard Astro user. 

Designing Your Cash Back Rewards Program

Here is what Astro Support will need to know in order to build this style of program for you. 
  1. What % Cash Back would you like to issue to your customers?
    1. Keep in mind your margins. You want to encourage loyalty, not give away all of your profits. Common choices for Cash Back Percentages range from 3%-10%. If your program has more than one Service Item you can get fancy and reward a different Cash Back % for each item. 
  2. What would you like to reward Cash Back for? 
    1. This can for Services, select Purchases, or general purchases.
  3. How many purchases or visits to your store would you like them to complete before they can redeem their card for their Cash Back Reward?
    1. The key here is finding the sweet spot. You don't want to require too many, but you also do not want to issue a reward too soon. Common choices for required visits range from 5-10. 
  4. What would you like for the Program's Title and Description?
    1. This is what your customer will see on their card if they are using the Free Mobile App. This is also what your cashiers will see written on the card under Checkout. You want to make sure the program is properly explained while also keeping it fun for the customer. You can edit your program's Title and Description whenever you like if you decide you wish to change it.
  5. Optional - Do you have a 400x400 pixel image that you would like us to add to your program?
    1. This is the image that your customers will see on your My Astro Webpage. You are also able to Edit the program and attach new images whenever you like. 

How to Use a Cash Back Rewards Program in Checkout

Before you start using your program you will need to decide what Total on the customer's sale you wish to reward cash back for. 
  1. Sub-Total - This is always the Before-Tax total. However, in some POS systems this is also the total before a Discount is applied. Make sure you inspect your POS System in order to determine what is taken into account on your sale sub-totals.
  2. Sale Total - This is the total amount of money your customer is giving you in order to pay for their purchase. This total has both the Sales Tax and any Discounts applied to it. 

Checking Out - Ringing Up the Service Item

All Custom Programs contain Service Items. Depending on your Cash Back Program you either have one Service Item or several. 

To ring up this Visit you do one of three things:
  1. Use the 3 drop-down menus below your Search Bar to select your store's Name, the Program Title, and the Service Item.
  2. Type the Name or the Item Number of the Service Item onto your Search Bar and hit Enter on your keypad.
  3. Print a barcode for your Service Item ahead of time and keep it by the register to scan. This is done by going to Actions > My Custom Programs > My Items/Services > then clicking the Barcode link beside your Service Item listed.
The Program I am using as an example is a 10% Cash Back for Grooming Services. The Program contains 3 Service Items: Groom, Nail Trim, and Bath - each rewarding 10% Cash Back. 

Once you have rung up the Service Item you will see a pop-up that will ask you to type in the $ amount of the sale in your POS. You can either type in the full dollars and cents amount or you can round up or down - totally up to you. Once you have the value entered click Save Value.



Now the Purchase/Visit will appear on a Frequent Buyer Card for your customer. 



This card contains some key bits of info all meant to keep the customer engaged.
  1. Below each of the Green Punches on the card it will show the $ amount that was spent by the customer on that visit. 
  2. Card Total - Located at the top right-hand corner of the card. This is the total $ amount the customer has spent with you while you are tallying up their card. This customer only has one punch on their card for $25.99, so their Card Total so far is $25.99. 
  3. Reward Value - Located at the top right-hand corner of the card just under Card Total. This is the Cash Back $ amount the customer has earned on their card so far. So in this example we have $25.99 x 10% = $2.60. Remember - they cannot redeem this reward until they have completed the card. 
  4. Expand Details - Red button located at the bottom right-hand corner of the card. If you are tracking more than one type of Service or Purchase on your program you can use Expand Details to see specifically what Service or Item was purchased and when. 
Feel free to add any needed notes or reminders to the card using Edit Card Notes. 

Checking Out - Redeeming a Cash Back Reward

When a card is completed you will see an Unredeemed Reward alert at the top of your Checkout screen above Today's Purchases. 

 


Just in case you are curious, here is what my demo card looks like when it is completed. We see that this customer has spent $193.90 with us and they have earned a 10% Cash Back Reward of $19.40.




To redeem the card you must first click Checkout just as you would with any other redemption on Astro.

You will then be greeted by a Reward Redemption Pop-up. This pop-up will contain a drop-down menu that contains the same Services and/or Items that were used to populate the card. Beside that drop-down menu you will see the $ amount they earned for their Cash Back Reward. 


In this example I have the option to redeem the card for a Groom, Trim, or Bath. I am going to choose Groom as my redemption. FYI - Even though I chose Groom it is still up to me as to how I apply their Cash Back Reward to their sale. I can either apply the $19.40 towards a grooming service, or I can apply it towards another purchase they are making. It's your program so the choice is yours.

Make sure that you discuss with your staff how the Cash Back Reward will be applied to the customer's sale so there isn't any uncertainty at this point. 

The Cash Back Reward Redemption will show up under Rewards Earned / Redeemed This Visit as the Service Item you chose. Beside that item it will also show the Cash Back Value they earned. 



The card, since it has been redeemed will no longer show up under their Checkout screen. But you can locate it under their History if you need to view it at a later date.

Once you are satisfied that the redemption was completed properly in Astro make sure you click Finished to finalize the transaction. 

Checking Out - Applying the Discount to the Sale in your POS

Astro cannot discount your customer's sale for you so you will need to apply the discount yourself. How you do this depends on your POS system. You can either discount a specific item, or you can discount the entire sale. 

Reports

There are several exportable Custom Program reports that will show you a compilation of all Transactions and/or Redemptions as well as a Custom Program Participation Report that will give you a general overview of Daily, Monthly, etc activity. 

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