Punch card banners display announcements to your customers when they are logged into the Affinity customer portal. Use this feature to highlight discounts, and customer order streaks, or to announce new products or specials.

This guide explains how to set up this feature in your store, things to consider when using this feature, and a list of use cases.

How it works

Punch card banners are available to merchants using Rewards. Recharge provides a prebuilt template that you can quickly activate. It triggers when a customer loads their customer portal, ensuring customers see the banner when they login to their portal, alerting them of their upcoming rewards.

This template uses conditional branches to provide different experiences to customers depending on their streak count. By default, this template triggers when customers hit streak counts of 1, 2, and 3. You can add or adjust the conditional branches to set different conditions that trigger the announcement in the customer portal. See Optional - Add or update conditions for more details.

While Recharge offers a pre-built template, you can completely customize the experience and:

• Specify when customers see the banner in the customer portal
• Set conditions to determine what customers can see
• Customize the banner message

Personalize the experience depending on the customer's status

Use the Conditional Branch node to display different announcements to customers depending on the conditions you set. 

For example, you could show one announcement to customers on their fourth order, letting them know they'll receive a discount on their next order, and then show a different announcement to customers on their fifth order, letting them know they received the discount. 

Use cases

Review the following use cases to understand how you can use this feature to communicate with your customers:

Step 1 - Create the experience

Create the experience in the Recharge merchant portal:

1. Click Loyalty in the merchant portal and select Rewards from the dropdown.
2. Click Create from template and select Punch card banner.

Step 2 - Review the default experience

Recharge provides a pre-built experience to get you started. You can keep the experience as is, and customize the announcement experience for your customers, or add/adjust the conditional branches to customize the experience.

Trigger node

The experience is set to trigger after the customer portal loads for a customer. You cannot adjust the trigger for this experience.

Conditional Branch node

Use the Conditional Branch node to create multiple branches, allowing you to display different banners to customers depending on the configured conditions. This template is configured by default to have three different branches that use the customer’s streak order number.

For example, if a customer is on streak order 1, you could display a punch card that says only two orders away from 50% off the entire order. If the customer is on streak order 3, you could show an announcement letting the customer know they’re receiving 50% off their upcoming order.

See Optional - Add or update conditions for instructions on changing the conditions used in the prebuilt template.

Announcement node

The Announcement node displays the banner to customers directly in the Affinity customer portal. This template shows customers your announcements when they hit their first, second, and third streak order milestones.

While Recharge provides a basic announcement template, you are highly encouraged to update the announcement. See Step 3 - Update the Announcement node for set-up instructions.

Optional - Add or update conditions

By default, this template displays different banners to customers based on their order streak. Customers see a different banner in the customer portal after completing their first, second, and third consecutive orders.

You can customize these conditional branches to better suit your needs. For example, you might keep the original three branches and add new ones for customers who complete a fourth or fifth consecutive order. Alternatively, you can remove the default branches and create your own.

Adding new conditional branches does not automatically display an announcement for customers who meet that condition. You must manually drag an announcement node onto the flow canvas and configure it for the relevant branch.

Step 3 - Update the Announcement node

The Announcement node displays the banner to customers directly in their customer portal. Each node associated with a conditions branch displays a different banner. Make sure to update all three nodes to reflect your brand’s identity.

Click on the announcement node to start making changes:

1. Choose one of the following methods to configure the announcement node:
   • Text and image: Customize the text and image of the announcement and an additional button.
   • Custom: Customize the announcement with HTML and CSS markup
2. Click Customize announcement to open the announcement site builder.

The Site Builder is what you use to show customers the banner in the portal.What you can update on the builder depends on whether you use the Text and Image method to display your announcement, or if you use HTML or CSS to customize the announcement.

Text and Image

If you are adding text and an image to your banner, you can also add or customize the following elements on the announcement site builder:

• Set the heading and adjust the heading size
• Add text and align the text
• Upload an image and provide alt text
• Adjust the image width and position for the desktop
• Add a button, style it, and include a button link

Custom

If you customize the banner using custom HTML or CSS, you can add your customizations to the HTML/CSS Content box. Update the Announcement node for all branches included on the flow canvas to match your branding.

Example

This example shows how to use a punch card to track and display a customer’s progress toward earning their next free gift or reward.

Use the following code as a starting point to tailor your announcement when using the Custom option.

<h2>You're just five orders away from a free gift!🥳</h2>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="700" height="100" viewBox="0 0 700 100">

<circle cx="50" cy="50" r="40" fill="#435161" />
<polygon
points="50,27 55,42 70,42 58,52 63,67 50,59 37,67 42,52 30,42 45,42"
fill="white"
/>
<circle cx="150" cy="50" r="40" fill="#909EAE" />
<polygon
points="150,27 155,42 170,42 158,52 163,67 150,59 137,67 142,52 130,42 145,42"
fill="white"
/>
<circle cx="250" cy="50" r="40" fill="#909EAE" />
<polygon
points="250,27 255,42 270,42 258,52 263,67 250,59 237,67 242,52 230,42 245,42"
fill="white"
/>
<circle cx="350" cy="50" r="40" fill="#909EAE" />
<polygon
points="350,27 355,42 370,42 358,52 363,67 350,59 337,67 342,52 330,42 345,42"
fill="white"
/>
<circle cx="450" cy="50" r="40" fill="#909EAE" />
<polygon
points="450,27 455,42 470,42 458,52 463,67 450,59 437,67 442,52 430,42 445,42"
fill="white"
/>
<circle cx="550" cy="50" r="40" fill="#274AB3" />
<rect x="530" y="41" width="40" height="25" fill="white" />
<line x1="550" y1="41" x2="550" y2="66" stroke="#274AB3" stroke-width="2" />
<line x1="530" y1="53" x2="570" y2="53" stroke="#274AB3" stroke-width="2" />
<path d="M550 41 C535 36, 535 31, 545 31" fill="white" />
<path d="M550 41 C565 36, 565 31, 555 31" fill="white" />
</svg>

Customize the code to fit your use case: 

• Update the messaging: Replace "You're just five orders away from a free gift!" with your preferred message. For example, you might say "Only five more orders until your reward!" or something that aligns with your brand voice.

• Update the colors: Customize the appearance of your punch card by replacing the default color codes. For instance, update fill="#435161" to fill="#964B00" to change the first circle icon from dark grey to brown.

• Change the icon fill: To modify the color inside the icon, update any instance of fill="white" to your desired color code.

Optional - Copy and paste the Announcement node

To make it easier for you to implement the same strategies on different branches, you can apply the following actions to the Announcement node:

• Copy this node’s configuration: Copy the node’s setup completely
• Apply this node’s configuration to all nodes of this type: Apply the node configuration to all other announcement nodes in the template
• Paste copied node configuration: Paste the copied node configuration from one announcement node to another on the template

Click on the vertical dot menu to apply these actions.

Optional - Build your other Reward experiences

You can use the Announcement node to display a banner to your customers. While the banner lets customers know what to expect, it does not automatically apply any rewards or incentives to a customer’s next order. You must configure additional Rewards experiences to match your announcement node.

You must configure a corresponding Rewards experience to ensure customers receive the matching reward.

For example, if your banner tells customers they’ll receive a free gift after placing their third consecutive order, you must create a Reward experience that applies the gift once Recharge successfully processes that third order.

Step 4 - Save and activate the experience

Save the experience and activate it to go live when ready:

1. Click Save in the top right corner to save the experience.
2. Click Activate when you’re ready to go live with the experience.

Optional - Display the banner on other pages

Recharge displays the banner to customers as soon as they log into their customer portal. By default, this announcement appears only on the home page of the portal. This visibility is controlled by activating an experience that includes the Announcement node.

Instead, consider designing custom landing pages or onsite experiences that align with your banner.

For example, you can add a callout block to the cancellation survey page in a Cancellation Prevention experience. This allows you to share targeted messages such as highlighting the customer’s current status, reminding them of upcoming free gifts, or showcasing their credit balance.

You can also use the Conditional Branch node to create different landing pages that display personalized announcements based on the customer’s current streak number

Example of an Announcement node in Customer portal	Example of the Callout block in Cancellation prevention

When building the onsite experience for each streak, use the different sections to highlight key announcements, including:

• Callout: Highlight important announcements to customers, such as how many orders they have left until they receive an incentive, or reach the next level of customer tiers.
• Custom HTML: Add custom HTML to creatively announce important updates to customers, such as what benefits they’d lose if they cancel their subscription.
• Free gift reminder: Let customers know they have a free gift with their next order, incentivizing them to remain subscribed.
• Credits balance: Let customers know they have a credit balance that can be applied to their next order, incentivizing them to remain subscribed.
• Text and image: Display images, such as a punchcard or a product, to visually remind customers about your brand and what they’d lose by cancelling.

Considerations

Consider the following when building announcements in the customer portal: