Easypromos' locations feature enables businesses, physical stores, and retail establishments to manage the promotional campaigns they organize for their customers and consumers, encouraging users to visit the physical locations of one or more participating brands in the campaign. 

These are the contents of this tutorial:

• 1. Introduction to the locations system and use cases

  • 1.1. Geolocation requirement

  • 1.2. Prize redemption and validation

  • 1.3. Distribute prize units across locations

  • 1.4. Display a map and location finder

  • 1.5. Validate purchases with dynamic QR codes

• 2. How to create locations in your promotion

• 3. How to create a map with all locations

• 4. Location-based participation requirement

• 5. Managing prize inventory by location 

1. Introduction and use cases

The Locations functionality allows you to create promotions linked to physical establishments, such as stores, restaurants, gyms, events, or any other point of sale. Thanks to this system, it is possible to validate that participants are at a specific location, distribute prize inventory among establishments, validate coupon redemptions, and publish a map with all participating locations.

This functionality is especially suitable for the following use cases:

1.1 Geolocation requirement

The tool allows you to control access to a promotion by validating the participant's location. To participate, the user must authorize access to their device location. The system will automatically check that they are within the defined radius of one of the participating locations and, once validated, they will be able to access the promotion.

If the participant is not located within a valid location, the promotion can display the nearest participating locations to make access easier.

This requirement allows participation to be linked to a physical point of sale, making it ideal for campaigns in stores, restaurants, gyms, fairs, or any other establishment where you want to encourage in-person visits.

1.2 Prize redemption and validation

The system allows you to deliver prizes in the form of digital coupons so that winning participants can redeem them at a physical establishment. To do so, participants only need to show the coupon on their mobile phone.

Each location has a specific tool, called the Vendor Portal, from which authorized staff can scan coupons to validate them, mark them as redeemed, or check whether they have already been used.

This system prevents coupon reuse fraud and allows precise tracking of the prizes delivered at each establishment.

Learn more about the options available for coupon redemption here, and about the Vendor Portal here.

1.3 Distribute prize units across locations

In promotions with multiple establishments, one of the main challenges is managing the distribution of prizes among the different locations. It is necessary to define how many units correspond to each establishment and ensure that more prizes than available are never awarded.

The locations functionality allows you to distribute the units of each prize among the different participating locations and maintain centralized inventory control throughout the promotion. During the promotion, inventory can be easily adjusted by transferring units between establishments or increasing stock when necessary.

At all times, the system displays the assigned inventory, delivered units, and available units for each location, providing complete control over prize distribution.

1.4 Display a map and location search tool

When a promotion takes place across multiple establishments, it is important to make it easy for participants to find the locations where they can participate.

The Location Map functionality allows you to publish a page with an interactive map and a list of all participating promotion locations. For each location, you can present information such as address, phone number, website, opening hours, or any other relevant data for the user to visit or contact the business.

The page includes a search engine and filters that allow users to easily find establishments by country, region, city, or other criteria, helping participants locate the nearest location.

1.5 Validate purchases with dynamic QR codes

Some promotions require consumers to make a purchase before they can participate. In these cases, the establishment generates a dynamic, single-use QR code for each purchase made. By scanning this code, the consumer gains direct access to the promotion.

The administrator configures the participating locations, and each establishment has access to the Vendor Portal, where authorized staff can generate a dynamic QR code for each purchase made.

Each QR code is generated individually and can only be used once, ensuring that each purchase can only be used once to access the promotion and preventing potential fraudulent use.

Discover more information about dynamic QR code validation here.

2. How to create locations in your promotion

To require users to validate their location in order to access the promotion, manage prize redemption at participating businesses, or generate dynamic QR codes from participating stores, you must first create all the locations from which users will interact with the promotion. 

To do this, go to the Promotion Editor > Prizes: Locations: 

Locations can be created manually, one by one, or by uploading a file containing all participating locations: 

• Create a location manually: Selecting this option opens a pop-up where you can enter the basic information for the location, including its name, physical address, and city. 

• Upload locations in bulk: Upload a file containing all the locations and points of sale participating in the promotion. When selecting the option to upload locations via a file, you will be able to access a downloadable template showing the required format. See here more information and step by step to prepare the file and upload all locations at once.

Once the locations have been created, you can access each one to verify that the information is correct or add additional details if necessary.

For each location, you can configure the following information:

1. Name: The name of the store, office, event, trade show, or physical point of sale that users can visit.
2. Description: Add a short description with additional information about the location, such as its opening hours. 
3. Logo: Add the brand logo or an image to distinguish the location from the other participants in the promotion.
4. Website: Add a direct link to the location's website so customers can find more information.
5. Phone Number: Add a phone number so interested users can easily get in touch. 
6. Reference: This information is visible only to the promotion administrator(s) and will be included when exporting campaign data, making it easier to identify each location.

Geolocation: 

7. Search for Geolocation: Use the search bar to easily find the location's coordinates.

8. Enable the Interactive Map to Change Coordinates: Allows you to select the location by clicking directly on the map. 

Alternatively, you can also complete the location information manually by entering the address, postal code, city, region, and country.

The search and export tools allow you to verify that all uploaded information is correct and that all participating locations have been created.

3. How to create a map with all Locations

Once you have created all the locations in the promotion, you can add page within your promotion landing, which will display a map and list of all participating physical locations. 

To do this, go to the "Location Map" section in the Editor, where you can customize the page with a cover image and introductory text, as well as choose which store information will be displayed:

Once you have saved your changes and customized the page, click Publish Page to make it publicly available.

In addition, from the promotion's welcome page you can enable the Show Link to the Locations Page option so visitors can easily find all participating stores.

4. Location-based participation requirement

One of the features available for Locations is the ability to require users to be at a specific location in order to participate in a promotion. This ensures that participants have physically visited the establishment before they are allowed to participate.

For example, access to a prize wheel can be granted exclusively to attendees of an event. To do so, participants must enable location services on their mobile devices, allowing the system to verify that they are physically present at the event location. 

Learn more about the geolocation participation requirement and how to configure it in your promotion here.

5. Managing prize inventory by location

Location-based prize inventory allows the units of the same prize to be distributed across multiple locations, with prizes assigned automatically according to the user's validated location through the location participation requirement. 

The system lets you create a single prize and define the number of units available at each location, making it easier to centrally manage inventory while ensuring a balanced distribution of prizes. This feature is especially recommended for promotions where administrators manage a large number of prizes that will be awarded to customers across multiple stores or businesses.

Click here to learn more about distributing prizes by location.