# Loyalty API

The Loyalty API enables Card Linked Loyalty, removing friction from traditional loyalty programs and automatically rewarding customers using their payment cards.

## Overview

The Loyalty API is a capability that enables a customers payment card/s to be linked to their loyalty profile.

At a high level, all loyalty programs work in a similar way. A customer needs to identify themselves in order to associate them with the sale to be rewarded or use rewards. In the physical world, that association is typically accomplished in a few different ways, including:

- The customer presents their loyalty card from their wallet (plastic or digital), or
- The staff manually look up the customer by their name, email or mobile.


These methods come with repetitiveness and friction, Tyro’s loyalty API solves this problem through Card Linked Loyalty.

Rather than having to check in each time a customer makes a purchase, the customer links their card to their loyalty program profile through a purchase made in store/online or by registering their payment card through an App developed by the loyalty partner.

Before loyalty activity can occur at a merchant’s location, the merchant must activate a loyalty program in the Tyro Merchant Portal. This connects the merchant’s locations to your system and enables loyalty tracking for transactions made at those locations.

Once registered, Tyro then monitors payments made in store or online, and every time that card is used, the loyalty partner is immediately notified about the details of the transaction (potentially with the sales data as well) so that the customer can be rewarded.

- Multiple cards can be linked to the same member profile.
- At any point if the customer wishes to unsubscribe from the program or deregister a particular card from their profile, we the loyalty API offers both of those functions as well.


## Prerequisites

### Backend system

- To support loyalty use cases, you need a backend system that maintains customer profiles, including card and customer identifiers, along with any additional information required for your use case, such as transaction history.


Since this involves collecting personal information, you must ensure compliance with applicable data privacy regulations.

- **Reward definition** 
For on-terminal loyalty, your loyalty program must define a reward per transaction.
- **Ecommerce integration (optional)** 
Although not required, being a Tyro eCommerce customer can enhance the effectiveness of the Loyalty API by enabling a unified customer profile across in-store and online experiences.


## On-terminal loyalty

> Note: This is only available for the Tyro Pro Series devices


### Converting in-store customers into sign ups

For partners and merchants integrating with the Loyalty API, Tyro provides the ability to extend their loyalty program to be a customer-facing experience designed to drive engagement and loyalty signups at the point of purchase, automatically.

Once integrated, the merchant can activate and configure the styling of their on-terminal loyalty experience in the Tyro merchant portal.

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On-terminal loyalty experience showing reward accumulation and QR sign-up
- **Unregistered customers** see the rewards earned on their first transaction and watch their balance grow with subsequent transactions with the merchant (even across different locations), increasing their incentive to register to the loyalty program.
  - Merchants can configure a reward limit for unregistered members in the Tyro merchant portal.
- **Claiming rewards** — If the unregistered member wants to claim their points, the terminals then displays a QR code linking directly to the loyalty signup flow to claim.
- **Point transfer** — When that unregistered member completes the sign up, Tyro can share their previously earned points so it can be in their initial balance post sign up.
- **For existing members**, they will see the rewards earned from their transaction immediately on the payment terminal, acting as a constant reminder that they're being rewarded.


This experience increases sign-ups by removing the need for staff to ask customers to join and letting customers sign up easily via QR code on their own device. It also gives them instant visibility into the value of joining as they see their rewards accumulate.

## How it works

1. **Activate** — Merchant activates your loyalty program for their location in the Tyro Merchant Portal
2. **Register** — Customer registers or is identified by their payment card
3. **Transaction** — Customer makes a purchase using their linked card
4. **Trigger** — Loyalty is automatically triggered when card is recognised
5. **Notify** — Partner receives event with transaction details


## Key concepts

Member
A customer registered in the loyalty program with one or more linked payment cards. Members can be registered through in-store/online purchases or via a partner app.

Transaction
A payment event that triggers loyalty tracking. When a registered card is used for payment, Tyro monitors and notifies the loyalty partner with transaction details.

Loyalty event
A notification sent to loyalty partners when a registered payment card is used, containing transaction details and potentially sales data for reward calculation.

## Behaviour during payment

Once a card is linked to a member profile and the merchant location is activated, Tyro monitors all payments made in-store and online. Every time that card is used, the loyalty partner is notified with the transaction details, enabling real-time reward calculation and point allocation.

For on-terminal loyalty experiences, customers see their earned rewards displayed directly on the Tyro Pro Series terminal during checkout, providing instant gratification and increasing engagement with the loyalty program.