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Ways to Reserve and Redeem Vouchers
On most commerce and shopping sites, members redeem vouchers either when adding products to the cart or when checking out a cart during payment. Often, customers abandon their carts or their orders aren't successfully placed. In these scenarios, you can lock the vouchers that customers want to redeem until customers have successfully placed their order. In retail scenarios, vouchers can be reserved until orders are fulfilled or until the order return period is over.
Required Editions
| Available in: Lightning Experience |
| Available in: Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions with Loyalty Management |
How Voucher Status Changes During Redemption
Contacts and loyalty program members can redeem vouchers that are assigned to them and are in Issued status. As part of the company's loyalty program strategy, loyalty program managers can decide whether they want to reserve vouchers during redemption.
Here's the typical lifecycle of different vouchers during redemption:
| Business Scenario | Single-Use Vouchers Without Reservation | Single-Use Vouchers with Reservation | Partially Redeemable Vouchers Without Reservation | Partially Redeemable Vouchers with Reservation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contact or member is issued to a voucher | The voucher is issued with Issued status. | |||
| Contact or member uses a voucher for their cart | The voucher status is changed to Redeemed. | The voucher status is changed to Reserved. | The voucher status remains as Issued. | The voucher status is changed to Reserved. |
| Contact or member successfully places their order | The voucher status remains as Redeemed. | The voucher status is changed to Redeemed. | The voucher status changes to Issued and the amount that’s redeemed is updated in the Redeemed Value field. The value that's yet to be redeemed is automatically calculated and added in the Remaining Value field. | The voucher status remains as Issued and the amount that’s redeemed is updated in the Redeemed Value field. The value that's yet to be redeemed is automatically calculated and added in the Remaining Value field. |
| Contact or member order isn't placed or the cart is abandoned | The voucher status remains as Redeemed. | The voucher status is reinstated to Issued. In case the voucher is past its expiration date or date time, the voucher is automatically moved to the Expired status. |
The voucher status remains as Redeemed. | The voucher status is reinstated to Issued. In case the voucher is past its expiration date or date time, the voucher is automatically moved to the Expired status. |
| Contact or member uses the complete value of a partially redeemable voucher in a subsequent voucher | N/A | The voucher status changes to Redeemed. The Redeemed Value stores the cumulative value that’s redeemed across all the orders that the voucher is redeemed for. | ||
To learn about how partially redeemed vouchers and unused vouchers are expired, see Automated Voucher Expiration.
How Automated Processes Manage Voucher Statuses During Redemption
There are two ways in which you can automate the process of managing vouchers during member redemptions. Program managers can use the Redeem Voucher action in Promotion Setup to manage voucher reservation and redemption. System integrators can integrate the company's point-of-sale (POS) system or commerce site with the Redeem Voucher business API to reserve or redeem vouchers that customers redeem for their orders.
The Action Type parameter in the Redeem Voucher action and the action parameter in the Redeem Voucher business API enables program managers and systems integrators to easily change the status of vouchers.
- When members redeem vouchers without reservation:
Business Scenario Action Type Result Member uses a voucher for their order Redeem Voucher status changes to Redeemed. Member cancels an order for which they redeemed the voucher Reinstate Voucher status changes to Issued.
If the reinstated voucher is past its expiration date or date time, the voucher is moved to the Expired status instead.
Vouchers aren't automatically reinstated when a transaction journal for which the voucher was issued is canceled. To reinstate vouchers for canceled orders, you can create a custom process based on your requirements.
- When members redeem single-use vouchers with reservation:
Business Scenario Action Type Optional Security Option Result Member uses a voucher for their cart and proceeds to payment Reserve Add a reservation key. The key is used to redeem the voucher after reservation. Voucher status is changed from Issued to Reserved. Member places their order successfully Redeem After Reservation If a reservation key is specified during reservation, use the same key to move the voucher to redeemed after reservation. Voucher status is changed from Reserved to Redeemed. Member doesn't complete their order payment or the cart is abandoned Reinstate If a reservation key is specified during reservation, use the same key to move the voucher to redeemed after reservation. Voucher status changed to Issued.
If the reinstated voucher is past its expiration date or date time, the voucher is moved to the Expired status instead.
Vouchers aren't automatically reinstated when a transaction journal for which a voucher was issued is canceled. To reinstate vouchers for canceled orders, create a custom process based on your requirements.
- When members redeem partially redeemable vouchers with reservation:
Business Scenario Action Type Optional Security Option Result Member uses a voucher for their cart and proceeds to payment Reserve Add a reservation key. The key is used to redeem the voucher after reservation. Voucher status is changed from Issued to Reserved. Member places their order successfully Redeem After Reservation If a reservation key is specified during reservation, use the same key to move the voucher to redeemed after reservation. - Member has used the full value of the voucher— Voucher status is changed from Reserved to Redeemed
- Member has used partial value of the voucher— Voucher status is changed from Reserved to Issued
Member doesn't complete their order payment or the cart is abandoned Reinstate If a reservation key is specified during reservation, use the same key to move the voucher to redeemed after reservation. Voucher status changed to Issued.
If the reinstated voucher is past its expiration date or date time, the voucher is moved to the Expired status instead.
Vouchers aren't automatically reinstated when a transaction journal for which the voucher was issued is canceled. To reinstate vouchers for canceled orders, you can create a custom process based on your requirements.
Things to Keep in Mind During Voucher Redemption
| Action | Things to Keep in Mind |
|---|---|
| Redeem | You must specify:
|
| Reserve | You must specify:
You can also specify a reservation key that must be used to reinstate reserved vouchers to issued or to move reserved vouchers to redeemed. |
| Redeem after Reservation | You must specify the code or number of the voucher that's redeemed. If the voucher was reserved with a reservation key, specify the reservation key as well. |
| Reinstate | You must specify the code or number of the voucher that's reinstated. If the voucher was reserved with a reservation key, specify the reservation key as well. |
If your company uses person accounts to manage customers, you can redeem vouchers for person accounts by specifying the contact associated with the person account.
