Popular business questions

Section 1. General and commercial issues

Section 2. Implementation issues (How do I…)

Section 1. General and commercial issues

Do you have a global loyalty program with a large number of members?
No. The principle of our platform is simple. Every business has its points of sale and a loyalty program. If there are several business networks (such as groceries and gas stations), then you can create a common loyalty program or two (or more) different loyalty programs with different rules. In this case, customer’s bonus points which are received in one loyalty program will be valid for both programs.

I want my own loyalty program in which inCust will not be mentioned
Although using the common inCust brand has significant advantages (the common customer app, recognition of inCust as a brand), we understand your wishes. That is why we offer our services of customization and personalization (white-labeling) of the software and launching of loyalty programs under your brand name and on your equipment. Please check https://incust.com/en/white-label/ page for details.

Where is my loyalty program database stored?
All data are stored on the servers located in Canada and managed by inCust Inc. employees. If you want to keep the data under your own control, we can offer software customization service, which provides such possibility. Please check https://incust.com/en/white-label/ page for details.

Do you transmit transaction data to third parties and government institutions?
No, we do not cooperate with state bodies and don’t share information about clients and inCust loyalty program customers. It should be noted that inCust Inc. may not violate the law and deny the lawful requests of the authorities if they have a court warrant or powers sufficient to require disclosure of certain data. If you do not like this limitation, you can order the software customization service and store the data under your control. Please check https://incust.com/en/white-label/ page for details.

I already have a loyalty program. Can you offer me something better?
You can migrate to the loyalty program based on inCust and continue to support existing customer IDs (card numbers or credit cards). If you do not want to abandon your current loyalty program, you can still take advantage of certain inCust functionality such as coupons and gift cards, as well as authorization and authentication via mobile phones and the mobile app.

Can I have access to all customers that are members of the loyalty programs based on inCust?
You get access to the information about customers who signed up for your loyalty program and can send them a message (via SMS or to the mobile app). Access to the information about customers who are members of other loyalty programs or sending them messages is impossible if the customer is not registered in your program.

Is inCust integrated with the {your name here} POS system?
The question of integration is complicated because it depends on the capacity and willingness of the authors of a POS system. Please contact our sales department (for example, e-mail sales@incust.com), and we will try to help with integration.
In any case, right now, you have an opportunity to use the inCust Terminal app in “manual mode”, transferring the purchase amount and the estimated discount or bonus points manually from the POS system into inCust Terminal and vice versa. So, the lack of integration is not a showstopper in using inCust.

What is “Analytics” and how to order it?

At this moment, analytical functions on your account are not configured and are not provided. Below you will find a short description of this function.
Almost all tariff plans include statistical information. You can see it in your Business Panel: the number of shops, bonus points on hands and other statistical information.
But sometimes, you need to get complex calculations in real time, use these calculations to create various graphs or make complex selections.
An example of such reports: a graph of “active” or “sleeping” customers, or cost calculation of the Loyalty Program.
To build such reports, we create a special analytical database. All indicators in different sections are calculated daily into this database and saved for future use.
This allows you to build analytical reports quickly in the Business Panel or in external analytical systems such as PowerBI, QlikView, Oracle Business Analytics and others. You need to send large calculated amounts of data quickly and store hundreds of values already calculated for each day.
You can find in the instructions for the Business Panel for our typical analytical reports:

Also, we are ready to calculate almost any data for you.
If you don’t have an analytical system, we can prepare a set of reports with various parameters, such as: customer’s preferences, analytics of the promotion offers and others, as well as provide access via a link or in the application.
Example of such set of reports by the link.
For your company, we are ready to build any reports with the calculation and storage of analytical data.
The cost of this system is individual and depends on the number of operations (they are directly related to the results of the database that needs to be processed and stored).
If you are interested, please contact us and tell us which reports you need (standard in the Business Panel or individual), we will study your receipts for the last months and offer a best solution.
Best regards, InCust team.

API terminal diagnostics without authorization

In order to check the availability of the API terminal of your device/ computer, you need to open the link in any browther:

https://api.incust.com/v1/settings/platform/params

If your device has access to API, you will see the next:

If you do not see this code, contact your system administrator for resolving the issues.
The most common reasons for lack of access:

  • Firewall blocks access;
  • Outdated software (operating system) that doesn’t support https protocols (modern security certificates).

Please contact inCust only after checking and eliminating the reasons above for lack of access to the API terminal.

Section 2. Implementation issues (How do I…)

How can I credit bonus points to the customer?
You can set up automatical crediting of bonus points in “Loyalty Rules”. See details in video tutorial https://incust.com/en/knowledgebase/tutorials/first-steps-customer-registration-crediting-redeeming-bonus-points-communication-customers/

You can also credit bonus points “manually”. To credit bonus points go to “Customers”. If you are going to credit bonus points to all customers, go directly to crediting. If not – select one or more customers by putting a checkmark in the appropriate row or form a group of customers using the set of criteria. Click “Actions” and “Credit bonus points to customers.” Enter bonus point amount and select the Terminal through which the transaction will be done. In the Message field, you can enter any text, which informs the customers about crediting of bonus points. If you leave the field blank, it sends the system message with this text: “{business name} – bonus points earned: X, on-hand: Y”.

How can I “manually” redeem bonus points?
For redeeming of bonus points, you need to do the operation using the phone number of the customer on a number of bonus points that should be redeemed using payment with bonus points as a payment option. One-time password for redeeming of bonus points can be seen in the sent message in the “Messages” section.
If you do not want to annoy customers with redundant messages, you can disable this option and do the operation of redeeming bonus points without sending the confirmation password via SMS. You can also configure the way customers are alerted about the ongoing transaction ( “Loyalty Programs”, “ADDITIONAL SETTINGS”, “The limit of redemption of bonus points without an SMS confirmation” “Notify customers by”, “transaction”, “Do not notify “). When using this option, please note that these settings work with a loyalty program in whole, so this operation should better be conducted in after-hours of the point of sale. After correcting the balance of the customer, return the regular payment settings of limiting payments with bonus points without confirmation and of notification of customers about transactions.

How can I configure low balance alerts?
In the right upper corner of the Control Panel, you will find the name and the ID of the account. Click on it and select “My Account”. Go to “Notifications” and specify the minimal balance and in what way (SMS, push or E-mail) you want to receive notifications.

What to do if the salesperson has made a mistake and entered too large transaction amount?
We suggest to prevent possible mistakes of the salesperson by setting the prices of goods in the Business Control Panel. Then the salesperson will just choose goods from inCust Terminal and indicate their amount.

My salesperson has made a mistake. How could they cancel the transaction?
inCust Terminal has an opportunity to view the history of transactions and cancel some of them. A transaction cannot be edited because when you change the amount or product names in the check, discounts, bonus points, and gifts can also be changed. You can cancel the transaction and make a new one.
Sign in to the inCust Terminal, which was used to perform the wrong transaction. Click “History” (at the top of the screen), where you can select a specific period to search for the desired operation. The “Cancel” button for each transaction can be found in the far right column.

If the transaction was canceled, was the transaction fee charged anyway?
As the service was provided by a system (the transaction was conducted), it is being paid for.

My customer has been credited with 100 points for the purchase. He has spent those bonus points for a reward and then decided to make a return on the initial purchase. In fact, he will get a free reward. Will the system allow such operation?
In the case of cancellation of the transaction, inCust returns everything to the original state. So, the customer gets their money back, and all credited bonus points or other valuables for that transaction are redeemed from their account.
If the customer does not have enough benefits on the customer account, for example, when they have already spent bonus points, the transaction will not be canceled. You need to decide with the customer individually; if needed, credit the required amount of bonus points or the necessary amount of funds to the customer account to cancel the transaction (to return everything to its original state).

If the customer decides to return the goods, how to return it?
You can cancel the operation in the Log of transactions – https://b.incust.com/transactions
Purchase transactions, inCust returns the status of bonuses and customer accounts, and all benefits that were accrued on this transaction evenly in this value, which was before the transaction.
For example: when buying, bonuses were accrued to use the services or bonuses provided in the purchase.

What to do when the customer has spent bonuses and decided to return the goods?
If the customer who bought the product from you, decided to return it, and the bonuses have already been spent. Then in this case the inCust system will not allow to cancel operation.
In this case, you need to decide individually with the customer
-Calculate the required amount of bonuses.
-Make a new purchase to replenish the bonus account, reimburse spent bonuses to cancel the transaction, etc.
-Cancel the agreement.

If necessary, manually adjust the value of the bonus account or the customer account after approval.
To avoid the procedure of returning the goods with the recalculation of bonuses, we recommend accruing temporary bonuses that will take effect after a certain period (for example, 14 days).

What to do if there were several goods in the check and only one needs to be returned?
It is impossible to partially cancel the operation, only complete cancellation.
Due to the fact that the customer benefits may be temporary, depending on the status of the customer account, the amount of purchases, the number of goods in the check, the time of the transaction, etc.That is, all the rules of the program work together, and the inCust system can not predict how the cusotmer remuneration would have changed in the past.
There are two options for returning such transactions:

1.Cancel the old transaction and make a new one with the required number of goods.
It is worth noting that the new sale will come under the current rules of the loyalty program, which may not coincide with the old ones.
2.Decide at the level of your accounting system.
For example, some of our customers do the following: If there was a benefit accrual in the transaction, they calculate the amount of the accrued benefit proportionally by points in the check, and in case of return write off from the buyer only the relevant part of the benefit for individual transactions, without canceling transactions in inCust.

How can I change the business name specified in the SMS message?
The SMS will contain the name, which you specify in the public description of the loyalty program. Go to “Loyalty Programs”, then click “Change loyalty program “, scroll down, and you will see the “Public name” field. Be sure to include the name in all desired languages.

The customer does not receive SMS messages or complains about the delay in receiving. What should I answer?
Most often the reason is the lack of the network signal in the moment of receiving a message. It happens in the stores located underground or when there’s insufficient network coverage in the area.
A mobile operator is free to decide when to retry the delivery, and inCust has no influence on this decision.
SMS messages cannot be received if the phone memory is full and the phone does not accept any new messages. Usually, we recommend cleaning the memory and rebooting the phone.
In general, we recommend sending SMS messages for information, encouraging the customer to install the mobile app on a smartphone. When using the mobile app there are no problems in receiving SMS messages –customers can authenticate themselves with the QR code shown in the mobile app.
You can use inCust Kiosk app on the Android-powered tablet as a scanner for QR code.

How can I find out if the customer has received my message?
You can see the status of each message sent to customer in the ‘Messages’ in the Control Panel.

Can I disable sending of SMS messages to customers during the first transaction (“Welcome to inCust. Rules …”)?
As required by law in many countries, the customer must be given an opportunity to read the public agreement, unsubscribe from messages, and refuse to participate in loyalty programs, so customers must be informed about how and where to do this.

I have sent mass SMS, some messages have “rejected” status, why?
We are against spam, so we have some restrictions on sending of SMS messages. You can send messages only to those customers who have confirmed their participation in the loyalty program. This confirmation can come as redeeming of bonus points, customer authentication in the inCust mobile app for customers or in Customer Control Panel at my.incust.com. If the customer has not confirmed their participation in any way, the customer will not receive your SMS newsletter. Such messages will be marked rejected, they are not sent and will not affect your balance.

How to change customer’s profile data?
The basic information about the customer (name, gender, birth date, phone number, and e-mail address) belongs to the customer and is shared across all businesses (both those, where the customer is registered, and other, where the customer can be registered in the future). In the inCust service, the manager of these data is inCust Ltd., and according to various rules and regulations, only inCust or the customer may modify the data. A business can provide information about a customer only when such customer is not present in the system.

In a separate (dedicated) copy of the inCust platform, a business can become the manager of the data, and then it has the possibility to change the data.

If I add a field in the customer form, where it appears?
Added fields appear in your Terminal (salesperson`s workplace – https://pos.incust.com). You can collect additional information about customers by filling these fields when you register the purchase.

Can I make a questionnaire field in the customer form?
You can add a field in the questionnaire and set specific data type in which you can enter a list of options. In inCust Terminal you can choose one of the options for answers from the drop down menu.

How can I import my existing customers’ data to the system?
To import, prepare a file in CSV format (you can save Excel file in CSV format). In the file, there must be one customer per line, and telephone numbers must be in international format (the number must be started with +). Note, that you can import only two types of data by default: telephone number and additional card number (if some of the customers use plastic cards). If you want to import additional data, create appropriate fields in the customer questionnaire.
When everything is ready, go to “Import customer”, select the separator that you used when creating the CSV file, select a loyalty program in which you are going to import the data and upload your data file. Next, you need to put down a match between the information types and file columns. In the column, where you can find phone numbers, select “Phone” in drop-down menu; for numbers with additional cards, choose “Additional cards”. Then click “Import”.

If I create several rules in the loyalty program, how do I adjust their interactions?
To do this, you have to define rule priority. The rule, which must be applied first, has the priority of 0, the second is – 1, etc. Also, you need to define whether rules should be combined or not.

Example: you need to credit 20% of bonus points from the check in the morning, and the rest of the time give just 10%.
Set up the first rule: it is applied from 9.00 am to 11.00 am, credit amount is 20%, ??priority is 0, not combined with other rules. (This rule is applied first and if the condition is met and time is really morning – 20% will be credited, the second rule is not applicable). The second rule: credit amount is 10%, priority is 1, not combined with other rules. If the conditions of the first rule are not fulfilled (e.g. current time is afternoon), the first rule will not be applied and the system will automatically apply the second rule.

How do I amend my client details when rendering the Certificate of acceptance of provided services?
You can add details in “My Profile” section of the Control Panel (you will find the name and profile ID in the upper-right corner, click on it and select “My Account”), in “Financial Information”. All information that you insert there automatically appears in the “Certificate of acceptance of provided services.”

I have added a product in the “Goods and services” list, and it is not visible in inCust Terminal Online App
Check if you have set the price of the product, if not – set the price, then the product will appear in the Terminal. If the price of your product is not fixed, then choose ‘Variable price’ in the description of the goods (listed price is used as the base, but you can change it in the inCust Terminal at the time of the sale).

What does the “Beta” note in additional settings of the Loyalty Program mean?
It means that some functionality is in beta testing. If you are interested in implementing it and do not want to wait until it becomes publicly available, contact us and we will discuss the options for implementing it in your loyalty program.

I see mean that I have an unread message, but I can’t find it within all messages.
Go to “Messages” section, select the desired time period, check “Unread” option and click “Show messages”.
In the detailed report, I see that the fee was charged for such SMS messages «SMS sending services», what kind of SMS is this?
This phrase “SMS sending services” you may find in the section of your business panel “My Account” ⇒ “Accounts and Finances”. InCust is not a mobile operator, so we may use only this wording in the reporting documents, this wording indicates that we provide you with an SMS sending service as an intermediary and this service includes sending all types of SMS (information, authorization, and welcome messages).
How to disable SMS?
SMS (notification) may be four types: Informational, Authorization, Legal, Marketing
To minimize the cost of notifying the customers, you need to check the settings of all these types of SMS.

Recommendation: If the customer has a mobile application, information messages for your business will be free of charge. Also, the customer can show a digital card at the checkout in a mobile application, and authorization SMS is not needed. When the customer installs the application, he ticks that he is familiar with the rules. According to this, welcome SMS is not sent. And marketing offers you can send by PUSH notification at the lowest prices.

Information SMS (in our documentation you can see them as “Transactional”) – these are automatic SMS messages that are sent by the system when the customer’s wallet is changed – crediting and redeeming of bonus points, crediting and using coupons, certificates, tickets, burning promotional bonuses and other values. You may choose to send SMS or no, it depends on your settings.
To change the settings, go to the business panel section
«SETTINGS» ⇒ «LOYALTY PROGRAMS» ⇒ «ADDITIONAL SETTINGS» ⇒ «NOTIFY CUSTOMERS WITH»
Set up a message channel for each type of event.
Channels marked SMART (smart sending) work in this way: trying to send in an order. For example, the “Push-SMS (Smart)” means that the system will try to send for free an informational message via PUSH channel to the mobile application, and if the application is not installed, then – SMS. So, if you want to configure only free informational messages – choose PUSH, and don’t forget to encourage the customer to install a mobile application.

  • Transaction notification.
    Select the notification chain you need. For example, if you don’t want SMS, then instead of the PUSH-SMS chain, select just PUSH.
    Also here you can set the minimum amount at which the customer’s notification is sent. For example, you can set notification using SMS only if the amount is above 10000 (editing this option does not work in the MINI tariff plan)
  • Notification about promotion bonuses activation
  • About the expiration of promotional bonuses

Important: Please note, if you want to use Viber to send messages, contact your manager for details on connecting the Viber channel for your account.
Authorization – this is an SMS with a pin, which you can use to confirm the customer’s phone. It depends on your settings.
If the customer showed a digital card in the application, then we are already confident in the identity of the customer and no further action is necessary. Then no need in any SMS to check the phone. If you set up a loyalty program that works by the phone number that the customer dictates to the seller, then the methods for checking the customer’s phone can be configured. By default, they are turned on for bonus points and off for discounts, but you can change them.
Check two options: check when redeeming bonus points by phone number and when issuing a discount.
When redeeming bonus points:
«SETTINGS» ⇒ «LOYALTY PROGRAMS» ⇒ «ADDITIONAL SETTINGS» ⇒ «REDEMPTION=>«Limit of redemption of bonus points without SMS confirmation»

Enter the maximum amount up to which we “trust” the customers. The default is “0”, i.e. don’t believe.
ATTENTION! If the number is greater than 0 – this could potentially lead to the redeeming of bonus points by mistake or intentionally from another customer. Use this option very thoughtfully, only if your customer is identified in your POS, or the cost of losses is insignificant, or the customer is asked an additional security question.
If you set 1000, for example, then when redeeming an amount greater than 1000, SMS will be sent, if less – no.

We also want to remind you that if the customer showed a digital card in a mobile application, then this option is not used, as we are confident in the identity of the customer.

When crediting a discount:
«SETTINGS» ⇒ «LOYALTY PROGRAMSИ» ⇒ «ADDITIONAL SETTINGS» ⇒ «REDEMPTION⇒«Limit of redemption of bonus points without SMS confirmation»

Enter the maximum discount to which we “trust” customers. The default is a large number – i.e. We trust the customer. If you want to check the customer at every discount – put “0”.
ATTENTION! If the number is greater than 0 – this could potentially lead to the redeeming of bonus points by mistake or intentionally from another customer. Use this option very thoughtfully, only if your customer is identified in your POS, or the cost of losses is insignificant, or the customer is asked an additional security question.
We also want to remind you that if the customer showed a digital card in a mobile application, then this option is not used, as we are confident in the identity of the customer.

Legal (in our documentation you can meet them as “Welcome”) – familiarize the customer with the rules for using the InCust Platform.
If you bought a platform – then you can customize the platform up to your preference. If you use the inCust public service, the customer signs a public offer agreement with inCust, and we must familiarize the customer with the rules.
If the customer is registered in the mobile application, or on the website, he is familiar with the rules and confirms acquaintance. Then no SMS is sent. But if the seller has registered the customer at the checkout, the welcome SMS is sent on a mandatory basis, this cannot be changed.
Advice: encourage customers to install a mobile application, and you will not have the cost of this type of SMS.

Мarketing – this is your newsletter on the selected communication channels.
At the time of distribution, you yourself choose a communication channel.
Implemented through the menu item – “Customers”.
If you purchase a copy of the inCust platform, you can manage the data of your customers according to your own rules, for example, give the seller the opportunity to change the data.

We having problems to edit customers, a lot of our customers only listed by telephone number and first name, we are trying to add their surnames, every time we do it the data is not saved.
If you choose the service in the cloud, one customer can be served by different businesses. According to this, every customer has one name, gender, date of birth (customer profile), which is provided to all businesses, with which this customer chose to interact. We give the opportunity to any business to fill out these data instead of the customer if the customer is added to the platform by this business. After that, the service doesn’t let customer data be modified by businesses . Customers can change their data at any time:

1) In the installed inCust mobile application (or in your branded application)

2) On the my.incust.com web page

3) In the inCust chatbot or your private chatbot.

Important: there is a special field in the customer’s profile – Date of birth. To avoid fraud with multiple gifts and valuables for the birthday, changing this field after the value is set is not possible even for customers. Customers can change this field by contacting the administrator of the platform.

The business can also define additional questions for a questionnaire, which will be private to this business and will not be shared with other businesses. This information will be available only to the personnel of this business.

You can create and manage additional fields as you need. For example, you can ask for a car plate number or number of children.

Instructions for creating and managing data are present at:

https://incust.com/en/knowledgebase/business-user-manual/extended-customer-questionnaire/