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Birthday rewards setup

Article 14 introduced birthday rewards as a subtype — any discount, free treatment, or gift reward can be set to birthday mode, which locks it to the patient's birth month. This article goes deeper: how to set one up properly, what the patient sees at each stage, how date of birth is collected during onboarding, and what you need to check across your existing patient base before you go live.

Why date of birth is the foundation​

Birthday rewards are powered entirely by the patient's date of birth on their Glovora profile. The system checks the patient's birth month each time they try to redeem a birthday reward. If the current month matches their birth month, the reward unlocks. If it does not — or if no date of birth is on record — the reward stays locked.

This means the birthday reward is only as effective as your DOB coverage. If half your patient base has no date of birth stored, half of them will never be able to redeem it. Before you create and publish a birthday reward, it is worth understanding how DOB gets captured and what gaps you might have.

How date of birth is collected from patients​

Every new patient who onboards through the Glovora app is asked for their date of birth as a mandatory step during registration. The app will not let them proceed without entering a valid date.

What the patient sees​

During onboarding, a dedicated screen appears with the heading:

"When's your birthday?"

Below the heading, explanatory copy reads:

"We use this to verify your age and send you a special gift on your birthday!"

A date picker appears for the patient to select their date of birth. The Continue button remains inactive until a valid date has been selected.

Age verification​

Glovora enforces a minimum age of 18 for all patients. If the date selected results in an age under 18, the app shows the message:

"You must be 18 or older to join."

The patient cannot continue until a date that meets the age requirement is entered.

tip

Because DOB is mandatory during onboarding and age-verified at 18+, every patient who registered through the app will have a valid date of birth on their profile. The coverage gap you are more likely to encounter is with patients who were added to Glovora manually by staff, or who registered via a legacy import before the onboarding flow was in place.

Checking DOB coverage before you launch​

Before publishing a birthday reward, use the Missing DOB filter on the Client Profiles page to see exactly which patients have no date of birth on record.

  1. Click Client Profiles in the left-hand menu under Core.
  2. Click the Missing DOB button to the right of the search bar. It toggles on and filters the list to show only patients with no date of birth stored.
  3. The patient count updates to show how many patients are affected — for example, "4 of 23".
  4. Make a note of which patients are missing a date of birth. You can search within the filter to find specific patients by name, email, or phone.
  5. Click Missing DOB again to clear the filter and return to the full list.

Once you know which patients are missing a date of birth, contact them — by email, SMS, or your existing communication channel — and ask them to log in to the Glovora app and confirm their profile details. Patients can view and update their own date of birth from the Profile section of the app.

You might frame this as: "We're launching birthday rewards — log in to the app and make sure your date of birth is saved so we can celebrate with you!" This framing turns the data collection into a positive patient communication rather than a housekeeping request.

warning

Run the Missing DOB filter before publishing your birthday reward. Send any affected patients a message asking them to update their profile in the app, then give it at least a fortnight before switching the reward to published. A birthday reward that silently fails for a portion of your patients — showing them the card but blocking redemption — creates a negative impression at exactly the moment you want them to feel valued.

Step-by-step: creating a birthday reward​

  1. Click App Builder in the left-hand menu under Tools.
  2. Click the Rewards tab.
  3. Click Add Reward.
  4. Upload an image for the reward. A warm, celebratory image works well — think candles, flowers, or something that feels like a gift.
  5. Enter a Reward Name — for example, "Happy Birthday — £15 Off" or "Your Birthday Gift".
  6. Enter a Description — for example, "A little something from us to celebrate your birthday. Redeem against any treatment this month."
  7. Set the Points Required. For birthday rewards, most clinics set this to 0 so that all patients with a profile can access the reward regardless of their points balance. See Points threshold recommendations below.
  8. Select the Reward Type — most birthday rewards use Discount or Free Treatment, though Gift also works if you want to offer a physical item.
  9. If you selected Discount, choose Fixed amount or Percentage from the Discount Type dropdown, then enter the value.
  10. If you selected Free Treatment, choose the specific treatment from the Specific Treatment dropdown.
  11. In the Reward Subtype dropdown, select Birthday. This is the step that activates all birthday-specific behaviour — the monthly lock, the "Your Birthday Month" badge, and the DOB check at redemption.
  12. Leave Published switched off for now.
  13. Click Save.
  14. Review the reward details. When you are satisfied, open the reward again, switch Published on, and click Save.
tip

Create the birthday reward and leave it unpublished while you run your patient communication campaign. Use the Missing DOB filter to identify which patients need to update their profile, send your message, and give them a couple of weeks to respond. Switch the reward to published once the filter returns a low or zero count.

Points threshold and value recommendations​

Points threshold

Setting the Points Required to 0 is the most common approach for birthday rewards. The logic is straightforward: a birthday reward is a gesture, not something a patient should have to earn on top of everything else. Setting a threshold of 0 means every patient with a verified profile — regardless of whether they have been accumulating points — can redeem it.

If you do set a points threshold, keep it low. A threshold of 50–100 points is reachable for most active patients but would still exclude very new patients who have only just registered. A threshold above 200 is likely to frustrate patients who feel they are being denied a birthday gesture because they have not spent enough.

Reward value

Birthday rewards work best when the value feels meaningful without being financially risky for the clinic. Common approaches:

  • A fixed discount of £10–£20 — straightforward, easy to understand, and low-risk
  • A percentage discount of 15–20% — scales with treatment price, so a patient booking a larger treatment feels the benefit more
  • A free add-on treatment — for example, a free lip gloss or dermaplane upgrade — adds an experiential feel without discounting a core treatment

Avoid making the birthday reward your largest or most generous reward in the catalogue. If a patient's best reward is the birthday one, they have little incentive to accumulate points throughout the year.

What the patient sees​

The reward card​

In the Rewards section of the patient app, the birthday reward card displays:

  • The reward image and name
  • The description
  • Instead of a points cost badge, the badge reads "Your Birthday Month"

Outside the patient's birth month, the card appears with a Locked button. The patient can see the reward exists but cannot redeem it.

In the patient's birth month, the card unlocks and the Redeem button becomes active. The reward remains unlocked for the entire calendar month — from the first to the last day.

Redemption​

The redemption follows the standard two-tap flow: the patient taps the reward card to expand it, then taps Confirm Redeem. Points (if any threshold was set) are deducted and the reward is recorded on their account.

A birthday reward can only be redeemed once. After redemption, the record is stored permanently. The reward will not unlock again the following year unless the redemption record is cleared.

If the patient has no date of birth​

If a patient attempts to redeem the birthday reward without a date of birth on their profile, the app shows:

"Date of birth is required to redeem this reward."

The patient must go to their Profile in the app, add their date of birth, and then return to the Rewards screen. You can verify whether a patient has a DOB on file by opening their profile in Client Profiles — the date of birth appears in the Contact section with a cake icon.

If the patient tries outside their birthday month​

If a patient attempts to redeem outside their birthday month, the app shows:

"This reward can only be redeemed during your birthday month."

What each field means​

Reward Name The title patients see on the reward card. For birthday rewards, make it warm and personal — for example, "Happy Birthday from [Clinic Name]" or "Your Birthday Treat".

Description The subtitle on the reward card. Use this to tell the patient what they receive and when they can use it — for example, "Redeem during your birthday month against any treatment."

Points Required The points threshold. Setting this to 0 makes the reward available to all patients regardless of their balance. This is the recommended setting for birthday rewards.

Reward Type The type of benefit the patient receives — Discount, Free Treatment, Upgrade, or Gift. The birthday subtype works with all four.

Reward Subtype — Birthday Selecting Birthday from the Reward Subtype dropdown activates all birthday-specific behaviour:

  • The reward is locked to the patient's birth month
  • The badge on the card reads "Your Birthday Month" instead of a points cost
  • The system checks the patient's DOB at the point of redemption
  • The reward can only be redeemed once

Discount Type (Discount rewards only) Fixed amount or Percentage. Fixed amount is simpler to communicate to patients; percentage scales better if your treatment prices vary widely.

Discount Value (Discount rewards only) The pound amount or percentage to deduct. Enter the number only — for example, 15 for £15 off, or 20 for 20% off.

Specific Treatment (Free Treatment rewards only) The treatment this reward covers. The treatment must already exist in your catalogue. When redeemed, this specific treatment is set to £0 in the patient's cart.

Published Controls whether patients can see the reward in the app. New rewards default to unpublished. Switch on when you are ready to go live.

Common mistakes​

Publishing the birthday reward before running the Missing DOB filter. Before publishing, open Client Profiles and click the Missing DOB filter to see which patients have no date of birth on record. Send those patients a message asking them to update their profile in the app, then wait at least a fortnight before switching the reward to published. A birthday reward that silently fails for a portion of your patients — showing them the card but blocking redemption — creates a negative impression at exactly the moment you want them to feel valued.

Setting the Points Required too high. A birthday reward with a 300-point threshold excludes patients who have just joined or who visit infrequently. The whole point of a birthday reward is that every patient feels remembered — not just your most active ones. Set the threshold to 0 unless you have a specific reason to restrict it.

Creating a birthday reward but not telling patients it exists. A birthday reward that patients do not know about earns you no goodwill. Mention it in your onboarding communications, in the clinic, and in any patient newsletter or social media. "Did you know you have a birthday reward waiting for you in the app?" is a simple message that drives app opens and makes patients feel valued before they even redeem.

Assuming the reward resets automatically each year. A redeemed birthday reward stays redeemed. The system records each redemption permanently and does not reset it the following year. If you want to allow patients to redeem a birthday reward every year, this would require a manual process or a configuration change. Be aware of this limitation when setting up the reward and setting patient expectations.

Not having the correct treatment published before creating a Free Treatment birthday reward. The Specific Treatment dropdown only lists treatments that already exist in your catalogue. If you want the birthday reward to cover a new treatment you are about to launch, add and publish the treatment first, then create the birthday reward. Trying to create the reward before the treatment exists will leave the dropdown empty and you will not be able to complete the setup.