March 14th, 2025
Issue:
Program administrators are invoiced monthly. There are many occasions where the emailed invoice gets lost and the admin requires references for things they are working on. To gain another copy, the admin would need to email our billing team at Ackroo to be sent another copy of their invoice. Not only is this inconvenient for the admin, but it also disrupts the operations behind the scenes at Ackroo.
Solution:
We implemented a new navigation to access issued invoices directly from the Ackroo Program Console. Currently, only program administrators can view this area.
To access:
1. If you are a program administrator, log in to your Ackroo Program Console.
2. On the top right of your console, you will see your name with a drop-down arrow, Click that. In our screenshot, the name is "Test Data".
3. Now, you will have the navigation option named "Billing" in your dropdown menu. Once clicked, it will lead to your invoices!
If you experience any issues please email billing@ackroo.com.
Issue:
Ackroo has a great feature that allows loyalty merchants the ability to create tiered rewards that accelerate earning for customers based on the $ spend annually. We also have a feature called memberships, where merchants can define a membership status and assign it to specific card numbers which also allows for special loyalty earning rates. There is a need to be able to report on these features to understand the logic behind transactions.
Solution:
We've added 2 new columns to the "Program Registered" & "Business Registered" cards, as well the "all members" petroleum-specific report that is available in the Ackroo management console canned reports section.
Note: If a cardholder does not qualify for either, "N/A" will be displayed in the respective field.
Port 'Program All Cards With Preferred Locations Report' to BigQuery to fix generation timeout
Issue:
The ‘Program All Cards with Preferred Locations’ report fails to generate for certain customers, regardless of the date range selected. The report never completes, timing out before results can be generated. This prevents users from accessing critical data. This issue mainly affected merchants with 100+ locations.
Solution:
We have fixed this issue by porting the report to BigQuery to optimize performance and prevent timeout issues.
Replace the Image Upload Tool in US Petro Clubs Form with Predefined Image Selection
Issue:
We updated the look and feel of the US Petro mobile app to include an enhanced club card experience for customers. Pervious to this change, merchants were able to upload a thumbnail image in the blob section that would show beside the punch area. With this new update, we need to streamline the design to keep a consistent design flow to ensure the app has a modern look and feel to maintain industry standards.
Solution:
There are now icons in the club card setup form that merchants can choose from to use as their club card graphic. These images were chosen based on the majority of currently running clubs. We have provided a generic star icon for any club that may not be represented by one of the images. This is now a mandatory field and is required to save a new club. All existing clubs have been updated with an icon, however, you can edit these if necessary.
Club Card Setup Form:
Mobile App View:
Associate Programs with a Program Segment in Settings
Issue:
Currently, you may be able to view features that are not relevant or usable for the subscription type you have.
Solution:
Our team is working on assigning certain features and reports to specific business types. You may notice a visual change to your Ackroo console over the next month.
Note: If you notice something missing that you used regularly, please email product@ackroo.com to discuss.
Integrate Instant Merch/Qty Discounts to work on Bulloch POS
Issue:
Ackroo has an advanced loyalty feature that was developed for the US Petro portfolio that allows instant discounting on merchandise/quantity items that are integrated directly with merchant POS systems. We wanted to bring these capabilities to our Canadian petroleum portfolio so that they could stay competitive in the marketplace.
Solution:
We developed an integration with Bulloch POS to allow for instant discounting on products managed in the merchant POS system. We are in pilot with several merchants at the moment, but will roll this to all Bulloch-integrated merchants once testing is completed. If eligible, a new menu navigation will appear named "advanced loyalty", where Canadian merchants can set up instant discounts and manage club punch card programs.
Sunset Discount Campaigns: Bring Discount Campaigns inside Discount Setup Form
Issue:
When creating a discount that was temporary or reoccuring over time, merchants would need to 1. create a discount and 2. navigate to a different section to set up a campaign for that discount created in step 1. This is inefficient and confusing.
Solution:
We decided to merge the two concepts into one user flow, making the process easier and more efficient. Now, merchants have the ability to create a discount campaign directly inside the discount setup form!
Step 1. Set up the discount
Step 2. Choose the scope of the campaign.
In this area, you will have the option to choose a start/end date for the campaign, set up a reoccurring frequency for the campaign, and include/exclude specific sites that the discount applies to.
Once the discount is saved, you can review your campaign settings on the discount summary page:
Password Response Needed- CAD Mobile app improvement
Issue:
A customer issue was identified where users were experiencing confusion when entering their password in the Canadian mobile app during program creation. The root cause was a lack of feedback when setting a password, leading to unsaved passwords and frustration during registration.
Without any response or error message, customers would enter a password, click the save button, and be redirected to sign in. However, upon attempting to log in, they would receive a generic error message with no indication of the actual issue. The problem stemmed from specific password requirements—if a user missed a required character or format, the password would not be saved, yet they could proceed without realizing it. This led to repeated failed login attempts and unnecessary frustration.
Solution:
We've added in password prompts to ensure customers enter a valid password. They now will not be able to proceed to saving their profile unless all criteria is met.
Example:
Please note: this enhancement is rolling out to all CAD mobile apps in the month of April.
Text To Enroll - No Response If Registered
Issue:
Loyalty members only received a response to text-to-enroll if they were not already registered. This caused confusion for existing members who were trying to download the new app and sign in, as they received no confirmation or guidance when attempting to enroll again.
Solution:
We've added a response text that is customizable. You can find this if you are an advanced loyalty merchant> Ackroo Console> Advanced Loyalty> Text-to-Enroll Settings.
New Mobile App Design Rollout for US Petro Apps
Issue:
The existing US Petro mobile app was created before Ackroo acquired the SimpliConnect product. The look, feel and capabilities were stuck in the past and the app was not feeling modern to compete with industry standards.
Solution:
We've designed a new skin, as well updated some existing features. The update includes: