Passes
A financial pass, also known as a voucher or gift card, is similar to a pre-paid card. It comes preloaded with a specific amount of money that the beneficiary can use to make purchases either in retail shops or online.
THE ESSENTIALS
Here below are some common terms used throughout CRM.COM regarding pass plans and passes.
Pass Plan
Generating passes requires defining a pass plan that outlines the characteristics and behaviour of the passes.
Classifications
The pass plan Classification setting determines the type of passes that will be generated by the pass plan and their key characteristics.
Promotion - The pass can only be redeemed against a reward offer or a promotion when placing an order and is subject to the conditions of the reward offer or promotion.
Gift - This pass is typically used by someone other than the purchaser. The beneficiary can be either a registered contact or an anonymous contact in the system.
Top-up - The pass would normally be used by the purchaser themselves to top-up their Business Pocket balance.
Distribution Method
Passes can be generated either in printed or electronic format.
Printed Passes - These are pre-generated with a unique code and are usually sold over the counter.
Electronic Passes - These are generated on demand via third-party integrators, e.g. through a portal.
Validity
Validity is defined by the pass plan and inherited by each individual pass at the time of creation; it defines the period in which the pass must be redeemed. If a pass is not redeemed within the validity period, then it expires, and the Contact can no longer benefit from it.
The pass validity date should not be confused with the pass value expiration date - this is an optional setting that determines whether the pass's value (which has been redeemed to the Business Commerce Pocket) will expire if not consumed by a specific date.
Pass Value
Pass plans of type gift or top-up allow a fixed or variable pass value to be set for both printed and electronic passes. A value is not required for promotion passes since it will be determined by the reward offer they are linked to.
Fixed - The pass value is fixed, and all passes generated for the pass plan will have the same value (e.g. €50)
Variable - A minimum and maximum value range is set on the pass plan (e.g. €50-€250), allowing the actual pass value to be set either at the time of creation (for electronic passes), or at a later stage but before being redeemed (for printed passes).
Pass Code Format
Every pass generated by the system has a pass code; for promotion-type passes, the pass code can either be a unique code or a single code for all passes. For gift and top-up passes, the pass code is always unique. CRM.COM allows the pass code format to be defined by the system user and is adhered to when creating the passes.
PIN
Gift and top-up passes can optionally carry a PIN for additional security purposes. This implies that the contact must provide the pass code and PIN to initially redeem the pass, and then for each purchase where the pass funds will be spent. PINs are not applicable for promotion passes.
State
From the moment of creation, each pass has a state that dictates its current situation and permitted actions.
Draft - The pass has been generated but is not yet ready to be redeemed; a pass in this state would normally then become Active
Active - The pass is ready to be Redeemed (after setting a value for variable value passes)
Redeemed - The pass has been used, i.e. the promotion was consumed, or the Contact’s wallet has been credited with the value of the pass and can be spent for future purchases
Cancelled - The pass is cancelled and cannot be used; only Draft and Activate passes can be cancelled
Hashing
Hashing is a feature that can be optionally enabled to scramble pass codes using a specific algorithm. The hashed pass code is used instead of the actual pass code in subsequent API calls.
Generating Passes
This is the process of creating a pass and can be achieved in one of two ways:
Electronic passes - These are created on demand (i.e. not pre-created) and can either be created via an API call from a third-party integration system or through a landing page configured in CRM.COM.
Printed passes - These are pre-created either via the back-end system or via the respective API call.
Redeeming a Pass
Redeeming a pass is the action whereby the Contact’s wallet is credited with the value of the (Gift or Top-up) pass so that the Contact can spend the wallet funds, or the (Promotion) pass was used to enable an offer during a purchase, thus resulting in an instant price reduction.
A gift or top-up pass can be redeemed either by calling the Redeem Pass self-service API (when redeeming through front-end apps) or via the back-end system UI from the Contact screen.
Promotion passes can only be redeemed as part of a Create Purchase Event API call from an integration system.
In any case, when a Contact redeems a pass, the Contact information (e.g. name and email) is added to the pass.
Commerce Pool
Commerce pool conditions are the spending rules that dictate how/where the value of the pass can be spent. These conditions are optionally set on the pass plan configuration and only apply to Gift and Top-up passes.
Exporting Passes
The passes of a pass plan can be exported in .csv format and are automatically emailed to the logged-in user’s email address.
Gift Pass Beneficiary Information
The pass beneficiary is the person who received a pass and can redeem it. In CRM.COM, the beneficiary information (i.e. name, email/phone) is only necessary for electronic Gift passes and is provided by the person purchasing the gift pass. This information is subsequently used to notify the beneficiary that they have been sent a gift pass with instructions on redeeming and using it.
Typically, the process starts by manually creating a Pass Plan through the back-end system with the desired characteristics of the passes to be generated. Printed passes are then generated, printed, and distributed to the selling points. After that, a third-party system takes care of managing all passes, whether they are printed or electronic.
Managing Pass Plans & Passes
Pass Plans
A Pass Plan defines the behaviour and characteristics of the passes to be generated; it’s necessary to configure a Pass Plan to be able to generate passes of any type.
To view or create a new Pass Plan, navigate to Finance > Pass Plans using the main menu on the left-hand side of the screen.
Select Create Pass Plan to create a new pass plan.
Name
Provide a unique name for the pass plan.
Classifications
Pass Plans can be classified into one of three classifications:
Promotion - Promotion passes consume a Reward Offer and abide by the offer definition regarding the applicable discount (amount or percentage) and award & spend conditions. Promotion-type passes can be configured for multiple uses but require an accompanying communication plan to notify the relevant Contacts of the promotion pass or offer details.
Gift - A Gift pass would normally be purchased and loaded with an amount of money before being offered to another person as a gift. The beneficiary of the gift pass can be either an existing Contact in the system or an unnamed Contact.
Top-up - Top-up passes are usually purchased to credit the wallet of an existing Contact, who uses their wallet to pay for subsequent purchases
These are the main characteristics of the three types of Pass Plan classifications, which in turn determine the behaviour of the passes to be generated.
Pass Type | Format | Generated for | Consumes a reward offer? | Pass Codes | PIN option? | Can be used more than once? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Promotion | Electronic | Existing Contact | Yes | Unique codes or Single code | No | Yes |
Gift | Electronic or Printed | Existing or non-existing Contact | No | Unique Codes | Yes | No |
Top-up | Electronic or Printed | Existing Contact | No | Unique Codes | Yes | No |
Validity
The validity setting of the pass plan defines the duration of time whereby the pass must be redeemed and not the actual expiration of already redeemed pass funds in the Contact’s wallet. The validity of each pass is set when the pass is created and according to the pass plan setting.
Available validity settings are:
Always - The passes generated through this pass plan will never expire; they can be redeemed without any date restrictions
Period - Set a validity period using day, month, and year time intervals; a pass will expire if not redeemed within the defined time period from the date of creation
Date - Passes will expire on a fixed date if not redeemed
CRM.COM also allows setting an expiration date for the value of Gift and Top-up passes once they have been redeemed. This expiry date can be set on the pass plan definition using Commerce Pool Rules, which implies that the Commerce Pocket will be credited with the value of the pass.
Printed Passes vs Electronic Passes
Pass plans (and subsequently, passes) can be defined as either having a printed or electronic format. Printed passes are pre-generated (via the backend system or API) and can have a fixed or variable value. They can also be exported for printing purposes. Electronic passes are generated on demand (only via API) and again support fixed or variable values.
Number of Passes
The number of passes determines the maximum number of passes that can be generated using the specific Pass Plan. If the Pass Plan is configured for printed passes, then the number of passes to be generated must be set. For electronic Pass Plans, a maximum number of passes can be set, or use 0 (zero) for an unlimited number.
If a maximum number of passes has been defined for a Pass Plan, then no more passes can be generated once the maximum number has been reached.
Pass Values
Both printed and electronic (gift or top-up) passes can be defined as having either fixed or variable values.
Fixed value - The value of the pass is set when the pass is created and cannot be amended
Variable value - The value of the pass must be within the given range; it can either be set upon creation or at a later stage (via an API call), but certainly before redeeming the pass
Which wallet balance to credit with the value of the pass
Define which of the Contact’s wallet balances, Business or Commerce, will be credited upon redeeming the pass. Business Pocket funds can be consumed unconditionally, whereas Commerce Pocket funds can be subject to spend conditions (commerce pool rules), e.g. the pass funds can be spent at specific locations, and/or on specific products, and/or within a given time frame.
Commerce Pool Rules
Adding conditional spending rules to the pass plan configuration can restrict how and when the pass value can be spent; such conditions can only be set if the Commerce pocket will be credited upon redeeming the pass.
Commerce pool rules can be created and re-used, or new rules can be created on-the-fly. Either select an existing commerce pool condition or choose Create new Commerce Pool to create a new one instantly.
Pass Code Format
Define the format of a pass code when it is created. Pass codes are randomly generated (i.e., they are not sequential numbers) and are unique across the business.