Outpost Tribe loyalty system update

Well, that didn't go quite how we planned!

I was stoked to finally announce the launch of our new Outpost Tribe loyalty system the other day,  However, the transition from the old system to the new has been full of technical challenges.

Long story short, when we switched over from the old loyalty system to the new system, two things went wrong;

1. The new system automatically rounded down the points.
2. When calculating a conversion ratio to convert from the old loyalty dollars to the new loyalty points, my calculations were slightly off.

These two factors combined meant that most people's points (and therefore the rewards they could access with their loyalty points) were significantly less than they should have been.  Which meant they had lesser rewards available to them in the new system compared to the old.  We had a few customers understandably upset about this and we have been working around the clock to correct every customers loyalty points.

For the past month, I have literally had my head buried in and brain befuddled by multiple spreadsheets each containing 15,000 or so customers. 

But, I think I have just about finally resolved this issue!  Hopefully in the next 48 hours I will be able to finally be able to adjust everybody's points so the rewards they offer are more in line with the rewards you had access to previously.  

I will continue to update this blog post with more info as and when we make updates/learn more so do stay tuned.

A couple of notes re the new loyalty system.

• The new Outpost Tribe loyalty system allows you to earn points, not dollars.  Once you hit certain levels of points you can claim certain vouchers with a dollar value.  You earn 1 loyalty point for every dollar you spend.  The rewards and points needed to earn them currently are;  200 points = $10 voucher, 500 points =. $25 voucher, 1000 points = $50 voucher.  (We will probably add new rewards over time).
• With the old loyalty system, you could only use your loyalty dollars when you hit $15 of loyalty.  With the new system, you can spend loyalty rewards as soon as you have enough points for a $10 voucher.  This means that with the new system more customers will have access to a loyalty reward sooner.
• The old loyalty system did not work on our website, only in-store.  The new loyalty system syncs with both so regardless of whether you shop with us in-store or online you can always earn/redeem loyalty rewards and your loyalty points always stay in sync.
• You can only use one voucher per purchase.
• If you have more points than required for a certain voucher, you can claim it and keep the balance of your points to start saving for your next reward.
• Because the new loyalty system works off points not dollars and there are set rewards available at set points levels, the new loyalty system may show that you have a lesser reward available to you but the points will be equivalent to your old Vend loyalty dollars.  Eg if you had $15 loyalty dollars available to you in the old system, this will translate to 300 points in the new system which will enable you to redeem a $10 voucher and have 100 points left, OR wait until you earn another 200 points and then access a $25 voucher.

Read on if you're a details person like me...(ignore if you're not).

Even if you have already signed up to our loyalty program and have a bunch of points, the first time you want to earn or spend loyalty points on our Outpostnz.com ecommerce store you will need to use the "forgot password" button to create your new password.

The final challenge I have to overcome before I can update everybody's points to the correct level is that we have literally thousands of customers in our loyalty program with no email address entered.  Now, I can enter a temporary email address for all of these customers but they will need access to this email to set their new password.  I am in communication with Marsello support and will hopefully have resolved in the next 48 hours.  I won't update everybody's points until I have a solution to this. 

If you have any questions or suggestions re the new loyalty system, please email me at tribe@outpostnz.com.

Cheers, Patrick