How to set up punch cards

Punch cards let you define reward milestones and show customer progress directly in the customer portal. This setup combines the reward logic and the customer-facing experience into a single flow.

This guide walks you through creating, customizing, and activating a punch card.

Before you start

• This feature is available through Rewards. Access to Rewards depends on your plan. Check the Loyalty tab in your merchant portal to confirm whether this feature is available in your store.

• Review existing reward flows to avoid overlapping reward logic.
• Decide which customers should qualify and what rewards you want to apply before you begin setup.
• You must use the Affinity Customer Portal (Original next order page) or the Affinity Customer Portal Affinity (Custom home page). 

How it works

Punch cards track customer progress based on processed subscription orders and apply rewards at defined milestones. Each punch represents a qualifying order, and rewards are applied when a customer reaches a specific order number.

Each punch card includes three main parts:

• Audience rules: Define who qualifies based on order data, customer attributes, or segments.
• Reward milestones: Choose which order numbers trigger rewards and what rewards they receive, such as credit, a discount, or a free gift.
• Customer experience: Control how the punch card appears in the customer portal, including text, icons, and branding.

Punch cards use the After order is processed trigger. Order one is not eligible because it is the initial Shopify checkout, so the earliest reward you can apply is on order two.

Rewards appear on the punch card at the order number when the customer receives or can use the reward.
For example:

• A free gift on order 2 displays on order 2
• A discount on order 5 displays on order 5
• Credit earned on order 6 displays on order 6, because this is when the customer can use the credit

Step 1 - Create a punch card

Start by opening the punch card builder from the Loyalty section. This is where you create the reward flow and customer-facing experience together.

1. In the merchant portal, select Loyalty and click Rewards. 
2. Select the Punch cards tab.
3. Click Create a punch card.

Step 2 - Define your audience

Choose which customers should enter this punch card journey. Set these rules carefully so the right customers receive the right rewards.

Audience conditions are evaluated after an order is processed, based on the most recently processed order.

1. Click the pencil icon next to Review your audience.
2. Select the object and attribute for each condition.
3. Click Mark as done & continue to save your audience rules, and continue to the next section.

You can build audience rules with these condition types:

• Charge: Type, total price, or discount code.
• Customer: Number of active subscriptions, number of subscription orders processed, program, segment, streak count for subscription orders, subscription AOV, total subscription spend, or tags.
• Line item: Collection, variant, or variant SKU.
• Shipping address: Country, zip code, or state/province.

Use product or SKU conditions for product-specific rewards, segment conditions for targeted campaigns, and order value conditions for higher-value incentives.

Step 3 - Configure reward milestones

Next, choose which order numbers should trigger a reward and what customers should receive. This is the main reward logic for the punch card.

1. Select Review & customize your rewards and click Select a reward.
2. Choose a reward type: Order discount, Credit, or Free gift.
3. Select the order number where the reward should apply, and choose if the reward should be a discount amount, a credit amount, or a free gift product.
4. Click Configure discount to enter the reward details and choose whether the reward should remain available on skip if that option applies to your reward strategy.
5. Click Add notification to configure automated email notifications customers receive, alerting them about their rewards.
6. Repeat these steps to add more rewards.
7. Click Mark as done & continue to save your rewards.

The earliest reward you can assign is order 2. You can configure up to 12 reward milestones.

Step 4 - Customize the customer experience

After you set the reward logic, customize the punch card's appearance in the customer portal. This helps customers understand their progress and the value of the next reward.

1. Select Review & customize your punch card experience.
2. Click Review & customize.
3. Update the Header text and Description text.
4. Choose whether to show:
   1. Icons on non-reward milestones
   2. Order counts under each milestone
   3. Custom text for earning milestones
5. Toggle Use custom icon to upload custom completed and incomplete milestone icons if you want branded visuals.
6. Upload a custom image for the punch card top, if needed.
7. Adjust the horizontal padding between intervals.
8. Preview the punch card and click Done when finished.
9. Click Mark as done & continue to save your punch card experience.

Use milestone text when you want to explain the reward clearly at a specific order, and use custom icons when you want the punch card to match your brand more closely.

Step 5 - Finalize and activate

Once the reward logic and customer experience look correct, complete the setup and activate the punch card. Activation makes the punch card live for eligible customers.

1. Select Finish setup.
2. Enter a name for the punch card for internal tracking.
3. Select Mark as done
4. Click Activate punch card.
5. Review the activation modal. In the modal, choose how past orders should be applied:
   • Customers' progress will be updated based on their order history, but they will not retroactively receive past rewards: This option backfills customers’ progress using their past orders. Customers won’t receive rewards for past orders, but they can immediately unlock any rewards their updated progress qualifies for.
   • Start the punch card from zero: Only orders placed after activation will count toward progress.
6. Click Confirm: activate punch card.

After activation, you can still update the customer-facing design in the editor, but you cannot change the main configuration, such as the audience or reward setup.

Advanced mode

Advanced mode lets you create more flexible punch card programs using Recharge's flow canvas. You can start with a simple setup and switch to advanced mode at any time to customize your logic. 

When you set up a punch card, you define your audience and reward milestones. When you enable advanced mode, your existing setup is automatically converted into a flow. Recharge prebuilds the flow with your selected audience and reward structure.

• Add conditions to control when customers earn punches
• Create different paths for specific customer groups
• Add steps like A/B tests or external notifications

Using advanced mode

After building the initial punch card, you can turn on advanced mode:

1. Click Switch to advanced mode after you create your punch card experience to access the advanced builder. After switching to advanced mode, you cannot switch back.
2. Drag and drop different nodes from the Add a node menu to customize the experience. For example: 
   • Use the Conditional branch node to add more complex logic 
   • Use the Segment node to target specific customer groups 
   • Use the A/B test node to test different reward experiences 
   • Use the Klaviyo notification node to send notifications through Klaviyo
3. Click Save to save the punch card experience.
4. Select Activate to turn the experience on for customers. 

Considerations

Consider the following when using punch cards: