When a return, technical error, or goodwill claim occurs, you'll want to ensure the customer retains their reward/point value in Engage. To do this you can reactivate a redeemed reward voucher, return points to the customer's account, or follow another approach depending on your strategy. The guide covers both manual handling via the Engage UI and automation, and via the API.

When might you need to restore value for a customer?

Value might need to be restored when:

• A customer returns a purchase where a reward voucher was used.
• A technical error caused the voucher to be marked as redeemed, but it wasn’t properly used.
• Only part of the purchase is returned (partial refund).

Requirements for reactivating a reward voucher

The following conditions must be met in order to reactivate a reward voucher:

• The voucher has the status Redeemed.
• The voucher has not expired (expiresOn date must be in the future).
• The voucher has not exceeded the allowed number of reactivations. By default, a reward voucher can be reactivated up to 3 times. This limit can be adjusted according to your preferences as part of your Engage setup.

Reactivating manually (primarily for customer service)

Customer service can manually reactivate reward vouchers via the Payout in the Promotions list (not from the contact card).

1. Go to Loyalty → Promotions → Active
2. Search for the relevant payout.
3. Go to the Redeemed promotion tab.
4. Search for the voucher that you want to reactivate and select it.
5. Click Reactivate.

Reactivate via API

In order to reactivate a voucher from a POS, e-com checkout or other system, you can use our API endpoint. More information about how, read our technical documentation: https://developer.voyado.com/en/points-and-vouchers/reactivate-a-voucher.html

Alternative Options When Not Reactivating

If reactivating a reward voucher isn’t suitable or possible—whether due to expiry, policy, or customer service decisions—there are still several ways to restore value and retain customer trust. Here are common alternatives:

1. Return points

Instead of reactivating the voucher, you may choose to return points to the customer’s point balance. This option works regardless of whether the voucher has expired. The value must be calculated by you as a retailer—typically based on the points originally used to generate the voucher or or a proportion of those points if only part of the voucher was effectively used (e.g., in the case of a partial return). Here you find documentation of the endpoint where you can add points: 

https://developer.voyado.com/en/points-and-vouchers/the-points-api.html#UUID-ceb6a7a4-72a6-9427-95e5-aaa1801387a2_section-idm234630096474269

2. Offer a manual compensation

Depending on the situation, you might issue a store credit, a gift card etc. These can be created and tracked outside of Engage, but still serve the purpose of honoring the customer’s experience.

3. Treat vouchers as final once redeemed

In some cases, your policy may be to treat reward vouchers as consumed once they’re redeemed, regardless of how much value was used or if the purchase was returned. In such setups, no further compensation is typically given. Be sure to communicate this policy clearly in member terms.

These approaches can be tailored to match your loyalty strategy, return policies, and customer expectations. The key is to stay consistent, fair, and transparent in how value is handled, ensuring that customers feel seen and supported even when their voucher can’t be reactivated. 

Article last reviewed 06 October 2025 07:20