Program Rules

Overview

The Program Rules section in the Punchh Platform gives your admin team controlled access to view — and in some cases edit — key loyalty program configurations directly from the dashboard. Your team can review settings such as earning rules, redemption limits, and gift card thresholds without needing to go through your Punchh representative for every inquiry.

Access to Program Rules is controlled through two permission levels, so you can decide who on your team can view configurations and who can make changes.

Prerequisites

• You must be assigned either the Program Rules – Restricted Access or Program Rules – Full Access permission to see the Program Rules section in the dashboard.
• Superadmins can access Program Rules with the same view as other business admins.

Permissions

Two permissions control access to Program Rules:

Permission	Access Level
Program Rules – Restricted Access	View-only. You can see all loyalty program configurations on the page but cannot make changes.
Program Rules – Full Access	Edit access. You can update select configurations. Some fields remain locked and cannot be edited by anyone.

About Locked Fields

Some fields are permanently view-only for all users, regardless of permission level. These settings are locked because changes to them would require a broader restructure of your loyalty program. If you need to update a locked field, contact your Punchh representative to discuss next steps.

Accessing Program Rules

1. Log in to the Punchh Platform.
2. In the navigation menu, select Administration.
3. Select Program Rules.

The Program Rules page displays your configurations organized across the following sections: Earnings, Redemptions, Gift Cards, Points & Tiers Expiry, Currency Expiry, and Miscellaneous.

Program Rules Settings

The tables below describe each field available in Program Rules, along with whether it can be edited by admins with the Full Access permission.

Earnings

The Earnings section contains settings that control how your loyalty program calculates and awards points or rewards for eligible check-ins.

Field	Description	Editable with Full Access
Loyalty Program Type	Defines the type of loyalty program configured for your brand.	No
Points Convert To	Defines how points are converted once a threshold is reached (for example, to currency, to a reward, or to a staged structure). Applies to points-based program types only.	No
Base Conversion Rate to Points	The number of points accrued for every dollar spent. For example, a value of 10 means a guest earns 10 points per $1 spent.	No
Earning Strategy	Defines how loyalty points or rewards are calculated and awarded for each eligible check-in.	No
Earning Qualifiers	The conditions a check-in must meet to qualify for loyalty earning. Select this field to view the full list of qualifiers configured for your program.	No
Rounding Rule	Determines how fractional point values are rounded during loyalty earning calculations. The three options are: Round — rounds up if the value is 0.5 or higher; rounds down if below 0.5. Ceil — always rounds up to the nearest whole number. Floor — always rounds down to the nearest whole number.	Yes
When to Round	Determines whether the rounding rule is applied before or after earning multipliers. See Rounding Examples below.	Yes
Pending Checkin Strategy	Defines how and when check-ins are processed and points are awarded. See Pending Checkin Strategy below for details.	Yes
Receipt Update Delay Minutes	The number of minutes to wait before a receipt is updated with its final amounts. Set this to roughly match your average visit duration. Applies when guests may scan a receipt before payment or discounts are finalized, such as in table-service restaurants.	Yes
Pending Checkin Channel(s)	The channel(s) through which check-ins will be placed into a pending state. Available channels include OnlineOrder, POS, Web, Mobile, Dashboard, and Chatbot. If no channel is selected, the Pending Checkin Strategy will not take effect.	Yes
Minimum Checkin Amount	The minimum receipt amount required for a check-in to be eligible for loyalty earning.	Yes
Receipt Age	The maximum age of a receipt (in days) that will be accepted for loyalty earning. Receipts older than this value are rejected.	Yes
Visit Period	The duration of a single visit (in hours) used to enforce the Scanning Rate Limit. For example, if the Visit Period is 8 hours and the Scanning Rate Limit is 4, a guest can check in up to 4 times within any 8-hour window.	Yes
Scanning Rate Limit	The maximum number of loyalty check-ins a guest can perform within the Visit Period defined above. This applies to receipt scans, QR code check-ins, mobile app check-ins, and other loyalty check-in actions.	Yes
Checkin Rate Limit	The maximum number of loyalty check-ins allowed within a period, based on the receipt’s purchase timestamp rather than the scan time. For example, a maximum of 3 check-ins per day.	Yes
High Spend Threshold	Sets a notification threshold. Admins in your business receive an email when a guest spends above this amount on a single visit.	Yes

Rounding Examples

The When to Round setting determines the order in which the rounding rule and earning multipliers are applied:

• Round Before — the rounding rule is applied to the receipt amount first, then the multiplier is applied.
  Example (multiplier ×2): $1.40 → rounded to $1 × 2 = 2 points. $1.60 → rounded to $2 × 2 = 4 points.
• Round After — the multiplier is applied first, then the rounding rule is applied.
  Example (multiplier ×2): $1.40 × 2 = 2.80 → 3 points. $1.60 × 2 = 3.20 → 3 points.

Pending Checkin Strategy

For some brands, a receipt may be updated or finalized after it is first presented to the guest. Awarding loyalty points before a receipt is complete can result in incorrect or premature points or rewards. The Pending Checkin Strategy lets you configure a delay so that points are not credited until the receipt is confirmed.

The following options are available:

• No Pending Check-ins — Check-ins are processed immediately and loyalty points or visits are awarded without delay.
• Explicit API — Check-ins are held in a pending state until an explicit API call is triggered by the POS or a third-party system.
• Automatic — Check-ins remain pending and loyalty points or visits are awarded after a specified delay or the next POS closing time, whichever comes first. Use the Receipt Update Delay Minutes field to configure the delay.

Redemptions

The Redemptions section contains settings that control how and when guests can redeem rewards.

Field	Description	Editable with Full Access
Max Redemption	The maximum amount that can be redeemed in a single transaction.	Yes
Redemption Wait Period	The number of hours after the last check-in on a visit-based program before a guest can make a redemption. Typically set equal to the visit duration (for example, 4 hours). This prevents a guest from receiving a redemption immediately after check-in and using it in the same visit.	Yes
Prevent Multiple Redemptions in One Visit	When enabled, a guest can only redeem once per visit, regardless of the number of check-ins made during that visit.	Yes
High Redemption Threshold	Sets a notification threshold. Admins in your business receive an email when a guest redeems above this amount.	Yes
Web Redemption Expiry	The number of hours a web-based redemption code remains valid before it expires.	Yes
Redeemable Attributes	The attributes associated with and applicable to a redeemable item.	No

Gift Cards

The Gift Cards section contains settings that control gift card transaction limits and purchase throttling.

Field	Description	Editable with Full Access
Min Transaction Amount	The minimum amount allowed for a gift card purchase, reload, or gift transaction.	Yes
Maximum Amount on Gift Card	The maximum amount allowed on a gift card. Enter 0 to set no maximum.	Yes
Last N Days for Throttling	Defines the number of days used to enforce throttling on gift card purchases and reloads. Purchases and reloads will be blocked once the limits below are reached within this window.	Yes
Maximum Gift Cards Purchased	The maximum number of gift cards that can be purchased within the throttling window defined above.	Yes
Maximum Amount Added	The maximum total amount that can be added via gift card purchases and reloads within the throttling window defined above.	Yes

Points & Tiers Expiry

The Points & Tiers Expiry section contains settings that control when check-ins and related points expire, and when guests receive expiry notifications. All fields in this section are view-only for all users, regardless of permission level.

Field	Description	Editable with Full Access
Expires After	The number of days after which a check-in expires. Expired check-ins cannot be redeemed. Leave this field blank if you do not want check-ins to expire.	No
Expiry Date Strategy	Defines when check-ins and their related points expire. The two options are: Exact Days: Check-ins and related points expire exactly after the number of days configured in Expires After. For example, if set to 180 days, a check-in on January 2 expires on July 1. Beginning of Subsequent Month: Check-ins and related points expire on the 1st of the month following the Exact Days calculation date. For example, if set to 180 days, a check-in on January 2 expires on August 1 (because 180 days from January 2 lands on July 1, and the subsequent month begins August 1).	No
Expiry Warning Days	The number of days before expiry when a warning notification is sent to the guest.	No
Final Expiry Warning Days	The number of days before expiry when a final warning notification is sent to the guest.	No
Account Re-evaluation Strategy	Defines when account re-evaluation occurs to expire check-ins, visits, and points, and to reset membership levels.	No
Decouple Checkin and Membership Expiry	Feature to decouple points and tiers expiry - see Membership Tier Reset Strategies for more details.	No

Currency Expiry

The Currency Expiry section contains settings that control when unused banked currency expires and when guests are notified of upcoming expiration.

Field	Description	Editable with Full Access
Currency Expiry Strategy	Defines when a guest’s unused banked currency expires. The following options are available: None — banked currency never expires. Scheduled End of Week — banked currency expires on the next Sunday, calculated based on the configured Currency Expiry (in days) value. Exact Days — banked currency expires exactly after the number of days configured in Currency Expiry (in days). Annual Expiry with Grace Period — currency earned within a calendar year expires on the last day of the configured number of months in the following year. For example, if the grace period is set to 3 months, all unused currency earned between Jan 1, 2018 and Dec 31, 2018 expires on Mar 31, 2019.	No
Currency Expiry (in days)	The number of days after which currency expires from the date it is credited, based on the selected Currency Expiry Strategy. Once configured, an expiration date is automatically assigned to all new currency. Leave this blank if you do not want currency to expire.	No
Currency Expiry Threshold	The minimum expiring balance required to trigger expiry notifications. Notifications are only sent if the guest’s expiring balance exceeds this value. For example, if this is set to $1.00, a guest with $0.38 in expiring banked currency will not receive a notification.	Yes
First Currency Expiry Warning (days)	The number of days before expiry when the first reminder notification is sent to the guest. Leave blank to skip the first warning.	Yes
Second Currency Expiry Warning (days)	The number of days before expiry when the second reminder notification is sent to the guest. Leave blank to skip the second warning.	Yes
Final Currency Expiry Warning (days)	The number of days before expiry when the final reminder notification is sent to the guest. Leave blank to skip the final warning.	Yes

Miscellaneous

The Miscellaneous section contains additional program-level settings.

Field	Description	Editable with Full Access
Business Key	A unique identifier used by APIs to authenticate your business. Keep this key confidential and do not share it publicly.	No
Guests Per Device	The maximum number of guest sign-ups allowed per device. Once the limit is reached, that device is not eligible for further sign-ups. This applies to sign-ups only, not logins. Enter 0 to disable this validation.	Yes