Loyalty terms

As you set up a loyalty or membership programme in Vista, you'll run across the following terms. You'll likely have used these or similar terms in any previous membership programme you've created, but here's how they're used in Vista:

• Balance type: A balance type is an account that tracks a member's spending or activity. The units of a member's balance type account can measure one of several quantities, such as the member's number of visits, the amount of money spent, or the number of points earned.
  • Accumulate to Balance Type: The Accumulate to Balance Type option transfers the points from one balance type (the "child" balance type) into another balance type (the "parent" balance type). With this behavior, you can configure different earning rates and earning limits for specific items or ticket types, while collecting the earned points from all sources into a common pool.
  • Balance Type Override: The Balance Type Override option lets you set earning and redemption rates for specific cinema types or items. For example, you can have premium tickets earn or cost more loyalty points than other tickets.
  • Can Redeem for Item Tax: The Can Redeem for Item Tax option is selected by default when you create a balance type. Clear this check box if you don't wan the balance type to be used to pay for item tax.
  • Format Class: Format Classes group multiple movie formats together so that you can set balance type rules accordingly. For example, members might earn more points for purchasing tickets to a 3D film than to a standard film.
• Card: A card is a physical item that provides a connection to the stored details of a customer's membership in a club. When integrated with POS procedures, scan- or swipe-cards allow customers' purchases, points earnings, and recognitions to be tracked automatically.
• Club: A club is a loyalty scheme that members join to gain rewards. Each club has its own balance types, rewards, renewal period, and, in some cases, membership levels.
• Group: A group is a subset of memberships, defined by a model or rule that identifies membership criteria.
• Membership: A membership is an entity that represents a person's enrolment in a club. A membership allows a customer to be issued with a card and to begin earning points and rewards for the associated club.
• Model: A model is a collection of rules, linked by logical operators. Models provide more intricate selection and grouping criteria than can be achieved with a single rule.
  

  Example: A rule might identify memberships that like horror films, or that like comedy films. A model might identify memberships that like both horror and comedy films, or that like either horror or comedy films.

• Person: A person represents an individual within your loyalty or membership programme. A person  can be associated with one or more users, and a person might have multiple memberships in different clubs.
• Points promotion: A points promotion is an offer of bonus points to a balance type or a temporary increase of the rate at which point are earned toward a particular balance type. Points promotions are valid during a specific date range, and they affect the specific memberships described by a rule or model.
• Recognition: A recognition is a message, special offer, or reward that is made available to a group.
  Recognitions may be limited to specific times, dates, or sites.
  • Format Class: Format Classes group multiple movie formats together so that you can set recognition rules accordingly. For example, members might earn a recognition that can be redeemed with the purchase of tickets to an IMAX film but not any other movie format session.
  • Recognition Types: Recognition Types group individual recognitions into categories, such as "discounted admission" or "free popcorn".
• Rule: A rule is a filter that identifies a subset of memberships in your loyalty or membership programme. You define the criteria of a rule. For example, you might use a rule to select memberships based on demographic information, preferences, or transaction history. Rules are used throughout Loyalty, including to define models, groups, or eligibility for points promotions.
  • At Purchase Rule: At Purchase rules are processed at the time of a transaction. (Standard rules are processed in a batch job at regular intervals.) At Purchase rules let members see immediately whether they received points or became eligible for recognitions as a result of the transaction.
• Site: A site represents a building or complex that contains one or more cinemas, such as a standard cinema and a gold class cinema. You can use sites to restrict the availability of recognitions.
• Visit: A visit is the purchase of one or more tickets to a specific session. For example, a member who buys single tickets to two different sessions in a single transaction has made two visits. A member who buys two tickets to a single session in one transaction has visited only once.