Bring customers back with campaigns

Campaigns give customers a reason to come back. NextStamp has three kinds you start yourself, and six automations that run by themselves, each for one card, and none of them sends an email or a text message. What they give lands on the customer’s card, with your note, and on their Apple Wallet or Google Wallet pass if they’ve added one. For campaign ideas by trade and why they work, see loyalty campaigns that bring customers back.

Campaigns are for owners and admins: tap Campaigns on the Overview, under Customers, and Automations under it. A card must be published before you can run one.

The kinds

• One-off gift. A reward, bonus stamps or just a message for everyone on the card or a group of them, now or on a date. See send a one-off gift.
• Double stamps. Extra stamps on quiet days or hours, added at the till by itself. See run double stamps on quiet days.
• Deal. A combo, a new item or a price that customers see on their card and at the till while it runs, which your team marks with the stamps. See run a deal on a combo or new item.

The automations, Welcome back, Almost there, Reward reminder, Head start, Thank your regulars and “We miss you”, have their own screen, reached from the top of Campaigns. They use the same editor, Who it’s for and results as campaigns, and can keep a test group to show what they bring. See run automations that bring customers back and set up a “We miss you” campaign.

Start a campaign

1. In Campaigns, tap New campaign.
2. Choose What kind, and On which card if you run several.
3. Tap Create and set it up.

It starts as a draft with sensible settings for your kind of business: a treat named for your trade, a friendly note and numbers that suit how often your customers usually visit. Nothing goes out until you switch it on, so you can change anything first.

While you edit, What customers see previews the card with your gift or offer, and the alert a wallet pass would show. Above the buttons, NextStamp estimates how many customers it would reach.

Who it’s for

Under Who it’s for, any campaign can be kept to some of its customers. A choice left on Any narrows nothing, and every choice you switch on must hold.

• Customers by visit rhythm, for one-off gifts, double stamps and deals: Regulars, Coming back, New, Slipping away or Gone quiet, each with how many customers with the card are in it. The other conditions are under More conditions. See group customers by visit rhythm.
• Outlets they visit, for gifts and automations when you have two or more outlets: customers who Have visited any outlet you tick, or who Usually visit one, meaning it’s the outlet they’ve visited most on this card.
• Tier: the lifetime tiers they’ve reached on this card, and No tier yet for everyone else.
• Visits on this card: At least and At most. A visit is one trip: stamps given within 15 minutes of each other count once.

Double stamps and deals choose Where it runs instead of the outlets customers visit. Only customers in their group get them at the till and see them on their card, and the till’s banner says who they’re for.

The first time you use outlets or visits, NextStamp may still be counting the visits customers made before. You can save meanwhile, and switching it on waits until the count is done, usually a few minutes.

What customers see

• A gift appears on the customer’s card with your note, for example “We’ve missed you! Here’s a little something for your next visit.” A reward shows under Ready to use with its use-by date; bonus stamps fill in straight away.
• A message appears on the card as news from you, with its headline and your words. Nothing is added to the card.
• Double stamps show as a badge on the card, the scan screen and the till while they’re on.
• A deal shows with its photo, price and hours on the card, the scan screen and the till while it’s on.
• In Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, the pass shows an alert for a gift or for double stamps switched on, and Google Wallet for a deal starting. A card gets at most one campaign alert a day.

The campaign list

The Campaigns screen groups your campaigns into On now, Scheduled, Paused, Drafts and Past. With nothing yet, it suggests Ideas to start with. You can have up to 20 campaigns on the go at once; automations don’t count toward it.

A campaign that needs attention shows Needs you. That happens if sending keeps failing: nothing is given twice, and you can try again from its page.

Pause, end and archive

On a campaign’s page:

• Pause stops new gifts going out, stops the till adding bonus stamps, or hides a deal, until you Resume. Gifts already given stay on customers’ cards.
• Stop sending (a gift) or End it (automations, double stamps and deals) stops it for good and moves it to Past. Customers who already have a gift keep it.
• Don’t send turns a scheduled gift back into a draft before it goes out.
• Delete draft removes a campaign that was never switched on.
• Archive takes a finished campaign out of your Past list. Gifts already given stay on customers’ cards.

Results

Every gift campaign’s page shows what it did:

• Given: how many customers got the gift, or Sent for a message.
• Used: for a reward, how many have used it so far.
• Skipped: customers the campaign passed over, with the reason, such as “Card not active” or “Card full”.
• Wallet alerts: how many Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passes announced it.

Below the numbers is each recipient, marked Not used yet, Used, Expired or Cancelled, and when it last ran. Double stamps show how many wallet cards announced them instead, and a deal how many times customers had it. For the effect on visits over time, read your numbers in Insights.

Plans

Campaigns come with the plan every new business starts on. If a business’s plan doesn’t include automatic campaigns, the Automations screen says so. See plans and billing.