What are Rules and Wallets?

What are Wallets?

Wallets are buckets that hold value. Wallets are used in loyalty, gift, and comp programs.

Some examples include:

Number of visits
Dollars spent
Count of specific items purchased (e.g., coffees, dinners, pizzas, etc.)
Rewards: (e.g., 50% off a pizza, free appetizer, $5 off the whole check, etc.)
Stored gift value (gift card dollars)

Wallets are attached to individual card templates and can be either visible or invisible to guests. Each guest account will have wallets associated with it. If you have questions about what wallets you have configured, or if you want to configure new wallets, please reach out to [email protected].

What are Wallet Types?

Wallets have different types, which define how they can be used. Not every program uses every wallet type. Keep in mind that not every Point of Sale (POS) supports every wallet type. If you have questions about which systems support what types of wallet and programs please reach out to [email protected]

The table below provides useful information about of each wallet type and includes examples of how each type is typically used:

Wallet Type	Useful Information	Examples
Add	Tracks specific purchased items in a check during the close of check point accrual transaction. This wallet starts at 0 and increments to infinity. This wallet is usually not shown to the guest and is used by the rules engine, reports, campaign filters, and analytics. Typically, an add wallet is only tracked for a "purchased" item, so if the item is discount, it is not tracked on that transaction.	Coffees Bought - tracks the number of items purchased that belong to, say, POS major Group 2. Tracking "coffees bought" in a check is important for a "Buy X Coffees, get 1 Free" type program.
Internal	These wallets are displayed at the POS and/or Online Ordering on screens and on receipts, but do not directly interact with the check. Internal wallets are used to build out loyalty program structures.	“Points” - A common internal wallet is a “Points” wallet in a points program, which keeps track of how many points a guest has earned. A standard points program might be spend $100 and earn $10 reward dollars. The points wallet would range from 0 to 100 and track the guest's progress. “Visits” - Another common internal wallet is a “Visits” wallet, which keeps tracks of how many visits a guest has earned. This wallet is used in conjunction with a “Visit Tracking” rule can limit a visit to be 1 visit within an X minute time period. “Coffee Stamps” - in a Buy 9 coffees get 1 free program, this would be shown to the guest. Your earned two stamps today and have a balance of 7 stamps. The wallet would range in value from 0 to 9 and then wrap back to zero when a reward is earned.
Redeem	These wallets are rewards that guests can redeem for discount value in a POS or Online Ordering check. Redeem wallets are typically earned in a loyalty program automatically at the POS, through a "reward yourself program" where the guest selects their earned rewards online, and/or given by campaigns. Redeem wallets are also used in comp programs (e.g., an employee comp program that gives 50% off the check). Redeem wallets are typically assigned expiration date: either automatically added by the program (e.g., all core program rewards may have 30 day expirations), selected when creating the campaign (e.g., expires in 1 day), or given by a customer care rep if manually adjusting a redeem wallet (e.g., expires in 6 months). Expiration dates help manage outstanding liability of these wallets (which are not gift card dollars).	Some examples of redeem wallets include: 50% off a Pizza, Free Appetizer, $5 off the whole check, discount a salad down to $3, etc. Keep in mind that each POS integration may or may not support all types of redeem wallets. For example, some POS integrations allow dollars off a whole check, but not discounts on specific products.
Stored Value	Stored value are gift card dollars. Store value goes into the check as a tender payments (not a discount). Depending on the POS integration, the stored value wallet can be sold/reloaded in a check or redeemed as a tender payments. Stored value has a special place on receipts and in reports. A program can only have 1 "stored value" wallet, but that wallet can live on multiple card templates (e.g., $25 gift card template, open reload gift card template, Blackhawk card template, etc.) Stored Value has strict federal and state-by-state regulations, especially around expiration. Most Paytronix customers do not expire gift card dollars; you should consult with your legal counsel if you have any questions about gift card expiration.	Stored Value or Gift Dollars.
Stored Value Discount	This is a specific type of wallet used in programs that offer discounts on gift cards, often utilized by third-party distribution channels such as Blackhawk, Incomm, Costco, and Sam's Club. This wallet tracks the discount amount given to customers when they purchase a gift card at a discounted price. This setup ensures that the discount is correctly tracked and applied during redemption transactions to maintain the correct balance between the amount paid by the customer and the discount provided by the seller.	If a guest purchases a $100 gift card at a 10% discount, the stored value wallet would hold $100, while the stored value discount wallet would hold $10.
Member Pricing	This is a special type of redeem wallet where the reward doesn’t have to be earned; the reward is always present as a benefit of the program - a membership benefit. Think of a program where there is a base benefit that the member always gets a 99 cent fountain drink and the fountain drinks might range in cost from $1.29 to $2.99 in price. The member always has this reward and when they are consumed, the wallet is automatically redeemed and reloaded.	“99 cent fountain drink” - redeem price down to 99 cents. “10 cents of gas” - this is a popular program for convenience stores with gas stations.

Where can I find my available wallets?

To view your current wallets, navigate to the menu on the left and select More.

Next, expand Program Administration and select View Loadmap.

Program Administration screen then select View Loadmap

This will open the View Loadmap screen which will display a table of available Wallets for your review.

What are Rules?

Rules determine what happens behind the scenes of each guest's transaction. Does your program offer guests a free coffee after they've purchased 10 coffees? Wallets keep track of how many coffees a guest has purchased; rules make sure that when a guest buys 10 coffees, a free coffee is loaded onto their card (or into their account), and that the number of coffees bought resets back to 0. Did a guest just pay with a gift card? Rules allow the POS to recognize the balance on the card (that there's enough to pay), to process payment, and print the remaining gift card balance on the guest's receipt. Did a guest just pass a dollars spent or number of visits threshold, allowing them to move up to VIP status? Rules can also move a guest's account from one tier to another based on their activity.

What is the Rules Engine?

In conversations with your Paytronix contact, you may hear the term “rules engine.” The job of the rules engine is to ensure that rules run in the correct sequence, and apply to the correct tiers and/or wallets. Should points be added first? Rewards issued first? If the guest has a birthday reward of a free dessert and two desserts were ordered, which one comes off the check? Should the total be charged against the gift card balance, or should the POS determine the gift card balance first before running the charge? All of that is determined by the rules engine.

How do Rules and Wallets work together?

Let's say you have a loyalty program; guests receive a $5 reward every time they spend $100. The diagram below shows what happens when a guest spends $30. The gray squares are wallets; everything else is either a rule or part of the rules engine.

Diagram of how rules and wallets behave during a transaction.

If you have any questions, please contact your solutions consultant, customer success manager or email Paytronix Support at [email protected].

What Reports are available in the Report Center?

Transaction Types

How do I Adjust a Wallet and Add a Reward?

What is Wallet Manager?

How do Subscriptions work and what is needed to setup?