Glossary
A page of Perkville definitions
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A page of Perkville definitions
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Was this helpful?
Points: The fundamental unit of value in the loyalty program. Customers earn points for eligible actions (like purchases, referrals, etc.) and spend them to redeem rewards. Perkville’s system is built around accumulating and redeeming points to motivate customer engagement.
Reward: Any benefit, item, or service that members can obtain by redeeming points or completing an activity.
Redemption: The act of spending loyalty points to claim a reward. A redemption deducts the specified points from the member’s balance and typically issues a voucher as proof of the reward claimed.
Voucher: A digital coupon or code that is generated when a reward is redeemed. The voucher serves as proof of the redeemed reward and contains details like the reward name, voucher status (e.g. Unused or Used), points deducted, expiration date, and any fine print. Customers can view their vouchers (e.g. under “My Vouchers”), and staff can verify and manage vouchers on the business’s dashboard.
Voucher Status: The state of a voucher, indicating whether it is unused (not yet redeemed by the customer), used (already redeemed), issued, expired, or pending. For example, an Initial Voucher Status setting may define if a newly redeemed reward’s voucher starts as “Unused” or automatically marked used, etc.
Gamification: The incorporation of game-like elements (points, levels, challenges, etc.) into the loyalty program to drive engagement. Perkville uses gamification elements to make the program fun and to encourage behaviors that contribute to business goals.
Integration: Integration: A connection between Perkville and a third-party system (such as a membership management platform, point-of-sale system, or CRM) that enables automatic data exchange. Integrations allow Perkville to receive customer activities (like purchases, check-ins, or class attendance) and award points without manual input. They also enable syncing of user profiles, memberships, and other operational data to automate the loyalty and rewards workflow.
Active (Customer): In reporting contexts, an Active customer refers to any customer who has registered for the loyalty program.
Pending (Customer): A customer who has been invited to join the loyalty program but has not yet completed registration.
Imported (Customer): A customer whose information was added/imported into the program (for example, uploaded from an existing list) but who has not been invited yet.
Active Reward Program Members: Customers who joined the loyalty program prior to a given reporting period. In reports, this term typically counts members with a Perkville registration date before the period being analyzed. This helps distinguish existing members from newly joined members in that time frame.
Total Active Users: A metric in reports meaning the total number of customers who were active in a given period by earning points. In other words, all customers who had point-earning activity during the reporting period (regardless of when they joined).
Staff Member (Business Staff): An employee or authorized user of the business who has access to the Perkville system to administer the loyalty program. Staff members can be added via the Staff Members settings and have roles with specific permissions (e.g. to add points, manage customer accounts, run reports). Staff accounts are typically prevented from earning or redeeming points in the program as customers (to avoid conflicts of interest). Perkville supports different staff roles such as Front Desk, Employee, and Admin, each with increasing levels of access (e.g. an Admin can do everything including program configuration, whereas Front Desk may only add/remove points and view customers).
Membership (Account Membership): In some integrations, a “membership” refers to an active subscription or membership status a customer has with the business (for example, a gym membership). Membership settings in Perkville allow the loyalty program to consider this status. Businesses can choose to only allow active members (paying members) to participate in the rewards program. They can also configure points to expire a certain number of days after a membership is canceled. This ensures that only customers with an active membership can earn/redeem points, aligning the loyalty program with the business’s membership rules.
Earning Rules: The configurable rules that determine how customers earn points in the loyalty program. Perkville allows businesses to set up a variety of earning rules tailored to different aspects of customer engagement. Each earning rule corresponds to an action or behavior (joining, making a purchase, referring a friend, etc.), rewarding the customer with a specified number of points when that action occurs. Earning rules are designed to align with business objectives – for example, driving visits, spending, or referrals. Below are common types of earning rules on Perkville:
Birthday: Awards points to a customer on their birthday.
Custom: A bespoke earning rule defined by the business for actions or events unique to that business. Custom rules allow flexibility – for example, awarding points for completing a survey, attending a special event, or any other action not covered by standard rules. The business specifies the action and the points awarded. Typically these earning rules need to automated via an integration.
Referral: Grants points when a member refers a new customer who then joins or makes a qualifying purchase. This rule incentivizes word-of-mouth growth by rewarding the referrer for bringing in new clients.
Activities: A special type of earning rule used to track certain customer activities without awarding points for them. Activities are logged in the system as 0-point transactions and can count toward other goals like Challenges or Referral completion. For instance, a gym might track class attendance or check-ins as Activities; these entries by themselves don’t give points, but they could fulfill a Challenge requirement or trigger a referral to be marked complete. This allows businesses to monitor and reward composite behaviors (like “attend 5 classes for a bonus”) using Challenges while not giving points for each single activity.
Promotions: Special bonus campaigns that provide additional point incentives for a limited time or under specific conditions. Promotions are powerful tools to boost engagement, drive sales, or reward loyalty on top of the regular earning rules Perkville offers three types of promotions to suit different objectives:
Frequency Bonus: A promotion that rewards customers for hitting a frequency of a certain activity within a given time frame (usually weekly or monthly). For example, a business can set a frequency bonus like “Attend 6 classes this month and get 50 extra points.” This encourages members to engage more regularly. Essentially, if the customer performs an action a specified number of times in a period, they receive bonus points. Frequency promotions help boost retention by incentivizing consistent participation.
Time Bonus: A time-based promotion that offers extra points or higher point multipliers during specific days or times – often to increase traffic during slow periods. For instance, a cafe might offer double points during weekday afternoons. By assigning, say, 2× points on certain off-peak days/hours, Time bonuses motivate customers to visit when it’s usually quiet, thereby balancing out customer flow and making better use of capacity.
Promotion Bonus : A broad promotion that adds bonus points or multipliers to existing earning rules for a certain duration. This type is often used for one-off campaigns or specific goals. For example, a gym could declare “Double Points on all Referrals in August” – which is a promotion that doubles the points on the referral earning rule for that month. Promotion bonuses allow businesses to strategically boost engagement for targeted actions (like referrals, first visits, retail purchases, etc.) by temporarily increasing their reward.
Challenges: A time-bound or goal-based activity that incentivizes members to complete specific requirements in order to earn a bonus reward. Businesses can create challenges to boost engagement over a defined period (for example, a month-long challenge) or for specific groups (such as a “New Member Challenge” for those in their first 30 days). Each challenge has one or more requirements that participants must meet, which could include actions like “Spend $100 in a month,” “Check in 8 times this month,” “Take 4 classes,” or “Refer a friend." If a customer meets all the requirements within the challenge period, they complete the challenge and typically earn a reward (which might be points or an instant reward). They are promoted via emails and the loyalty site, and Perkville will send challenge invitation and progress update emails to eligible customers automatically. This feature adds a gamified experience, motivating customers to engage more to “win” the challenge reward.
Redeeming Rules: The configurable rules that determine how customers can redeem their points for rewards. Perkville offers flexible redemption options by allowing different types of redeeming rules within a loyalty program These rules define the types of rewards available and how they are fulfilled. The main types of redeeming rules include:
Custom Rewards: Personalized rewards created by the business for their loyalty program. These can be any rewards that fit the business’s goals or customer preferences, such as a free product, a service upgrade, merchandise, or discount. Custom Rewards are fully defined by the business (name, point cost, etc.), allowing tailored incentives that resonate with the customer base.
External Rewards: Rewards provided via external partners or vendors. This means the business can offer something that isn’t directly from their own inventory, broadening the appeal of the program. For example, a fitness studio might offer a gift card from a nutrition shop as an external reward. External Rewards help add variety by giving customers access to perks beyond what the business itself offers.
Instant Rewards: Rewards that are granted at the moment a customer earns them, rather than the customer manually redeeming points later. Instant Rewards are set up such that when a specific condition is met (often tied to referrals or challenges), the reward/voucher is instantly issued to the customer. For example, completing a referral might instantly trigger a free class voucher for the referrer. These rewards are often used to motivate quick action, since customers get the benefit right away without a separate redemption step.
Referrals: A feature that enables businesses to acquire new customers through word-of-mouth by rewarding members for referrals. In Perkville, the referrals program lets existing members refer their friends, family, or colleagues and earn points when those referrals join the loyalty program and make qualifying purchases. This incentivized referral system helps grow the customer base organically while also building loyalty, essentially turning happy customers into advocates.
Referral Offer: A special incentive offered to the friend who is being referred, to encourage them to try out the business. The referral offer is typically a reward (for example, a discount, free service, or bonus points) that the new customer receives upon being referred. Perkville can automatically send a referral offer to the referred person on behalf of the business (often via email or text). When the friend accepts the referral and signs up, they get this offer as a voucher (with instructions on how to redeem it).
Completed Referral: A referral that has met the required conditions such that the referrer is eligible for their reward. In Perkville, a referral is marked “completed” when the referred customer (the referee) fulfills the action defined by the program. At that point, the referring member (the referrer) earns the designated referral points or reward.
Referrer / Referee: These terms distinguish the two parties in a referral. The referrer is the existing member who refers someone else to the business. The referee is the friend/new customer who was referred.
Levels: Status tiers that members can achieve by accumulating points, which confer additional rewards or privileges. Perkville’s Levels feature lets a business define milestones like Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum levels and the point thresholds to reach each. As customers earn points over time, they can advance to higher levels. Reaching a level can unlock rewards that are either point-based (a one-time redeemable perk, e.g. a free item for reaching Gold) or privilege-based (ongoing benefits like VIP status, special access, fee waivers, etc.). The allure of higher status and perks provides long-term motivation for members to keep engaging in the program beyond immediate point redemption.
Perkville Ad Platform: An advertising system within Perkville that allows agencies to place ads in loyalty program communications (such as reward emails) for businesses that opt in to this feature. The Ad Platform’s purpose is to let businesses monetize or enhance their loyalty emails with third-party ads, coordinated through approved advertising agencies. Ads are initially placed in the loyalty program emails once the business enables advertising and partners with an agency.
Agency: In Perkville, an Agency refers to a special type of account used by advertising agencies managing ads for multiple businesses.
Advertiser: In the context of the Ad Platform, an Advertiser is essentially a container (or folder) representing a particular advertising client or brand whose ads will be shown. Agencies create “Advertisers” in the system to organize all content related to that client. Each Advertiser entry holds its own creatives, images, and suppression list.
Creative: An individual advertisement unit – typically consisting of an image (or media), accompanying text, and a link – that can be inserted into loyalty emails. The Creatives section of the agency tools allows creating and managing these ads. For each creative, an agency defines the content (e.g. an image banner or text snippet) and the target URL (where the user goes when clicking the ad). Creatives are the building blocks of campaigns; they are the actual ads that will be displayed to loyalty program members.
Campaign: A set of one or more ad creatives grouped for a specific advertising campaign, with defined targeting and schedule. The Campaigns section lets agencies assemble creatives into a campaign and control when and to whom they are shown. For example, an agency could create a “Winter Promotion Campaign” that includes 3 creatives (ads) for a holiday sale, set it to run from December 1–31, and target it to members of certain businesses or locations. Within a campaign, the agency can set targeting criteria (which businesses’ loyalty emails will include the ads, or which member segments see them) and scheduling (start/end dates). Campaigns ensure that ads are delivered in a coordinated way and can rotate multiple creatives if needed.
Suppression List: A list of email addresses (or other identifiers) to which ads should not be shown. Perkville’s Ad Platform allows each advertiser to have a Suppression List that the agency can manage. If an email is on an advertiser’s suppression list, the system will prevent that advertiser’s ads from appearing to that user. This is typically used to honor opt-outs or to avoid showing ads to certain customers (for example, if a customer has already redeemed a similar offer, or to exclude staff/internal emails). Agencies can upload suppression lists in CSV format for each advertiser. Essentially, the Advertiser Suppression List is a compliance and targeting tool to ensure ads only reach appropriate recipients.