The loyalty program [loyalty_program] attribute allows setting up of member prices, member shipping, and loyalty points in your Merchant Center account. Adding the attribute helps Google to accurately represent the benefits of your loyalty program across Google properties.
On this page
When to use
Optional
Loyalty program [loyalty_program] is a group attribute that is optional for all products. It is used to specify loyalty pricing, loyalty points, and loyalty shipping for your product for members of the loyalty program you have setup in Merchant Center.
[loyalty_program] is available for US, AU and JP merchants. The attribute is only required if you want to display offer level loyalty benefits. For example, points, member pricing, and member shipping.Sub-attributes
Loyalty program [loyalty_program] has 7 sub-attributes:
- Program label
[program_label](required): This is the loyalty program label set in your loyalty program settings in Merchant Center. This sub-attribute allows Google to map your loyalty program to eligible offers. - Tier label
[tier_label](required): The tier label[tier_label]sub-attribute differentiates offer level benefits between each tier. This value is also set in your program settings in Merchant Center, and is required for feed changes even if your loyalty program only has 1 tier. - Loyalty points
[loyalty_points](optional): A custom attribute, loyalty points[loyalty_points]indicate the points that the members gain on purchasing the product on your website. This needs to be a whole number as fractions aren’t supported. The loyalty points[loyalty_points]sub-attribute can be specified at the tier level. - Cashback
[cashback_for_future_use](optional): Reserved for future use. - Price
[price](optional): This sub-attribute allows you to add member specific pricing to your feed. This will display alongside the non-member price to give shoppers an idea of the benefits of joining your program. - Member price effective date
[member_price_effective_date](optional): This sub-attribute allows merchants to specify when their member pricing benefit begins and ends. - Shipping label
[shipping_label](optional): This sub-attribute allows merchants to specify which offers are eligible for loyalty shipping. Choose your own definition for this value.
[price], [member_price_effective_date], and [shipping_label] sub-attributes are only available to US and AU merchants. To display loyalty shipping benefits, merchants also need to set up a loyalty shipping policy. Learn more about configuring shipping settings of your loyalty program.For JP merchants, the only applicable loyalty benefit is loyalty points. In Merchant Center , you can set a default point earning ratio when you set up your loyalty program. All offers will default to displaying with this loyalty benefit. If you have products with point earnings that don’t match the default earning ratio, you can use program label [program_label], tier label [tier_label], and loyalty points [loyalty_points] in your loyalty program [loyalty_program] attribute to override the default.
Format
Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure Google understands the data you're submitting. Learn more About submitting product data
| Type | String (Unicode characters. Recommended: ASCII only) |
| File format | Example value |
| Text feeds |
Format the attribute header by including the sub-attributes you’re submitting. Include loyalty program Example: Format the value by submitting the value of each sub-attribute listed in the same order as in the header and separated by a colon ( : ). Example:
Separate the values for different membership tiers by commas. Don’t add space after the comma. Example:
If only some of your products have sub-attributes values, you can use colons ( Attribute header: Possible value (Product with member price) Possible value (Product without member price): |
| XML feeds |
|
To format your data for Content API, see the Content API for Shopping.
Format the [member_price_effective_date] sub-attribute:
- Google sheets: Backslashes (“\") are needed in front of colons for the member price effective date
[member_price_effective_date]sub-attribute. - Tab-delimited (or tab-separated values) feeds: Quotes (“) are needed for the member price effective date sub-attribute.
- API or XML: Neither is needed.
Follow the formatting example if you’re using text feeds. The format is applicable to both primary and supplemental feeds.
Google Sheets
| Header | loyalty_program(program_label:tier_label:price:cashback_for_future_use:loyalty_points:member_price_effective_date:shipping_label) |
| Value | my_loyalty_program:silver:10 USD::10::,my_loyalty_program:gold:9 USD::20:2017-05-11T00\:01\:59-0800/2017-06-21T22\:13\:59-0800:loyalty_shipping_gold |
Tab delimited text file
| Header | loyalty_program(program_label:tier_label:price:cashback_for_future_use:loyalty_points:member_price_effective_date:shipping_label) |
| Value | my_loyalty_program:silver:10 USD::10::,my_loyalty_program:gold:9 USD::20:”2017-05-11T00:01:59-0800/2017-06-21T22:13:59-0800”:loyalty_shipping_gold |
Minimum requirements
These are the requirements you'll need to meet to show your loyalty program benefits on Google. If you don't follow these requirements, we'll disapprove your loyalty program and let you know in your Merchant Center account.
- Ensure adherence to Google’s editorial standards by reviewing the help center and making sure your benefits and program data meet requirements.
- Ensure that the currency of the price
[price]sub-attribute of the loyalty program[loyalty_program]attribute matches the currency of the price[price]attribute. - Ensure that the price
[price]sub-attribute of the loyalty program[loyalty_program]attribute is not higher than the price[price]attribute. - Ensure that the program label
[program_label]and tier label[tier_label]sub-attributes of the loyalty program[loyalty_program]attribute match one of the program labels and tier labels configured under your Merchant Center account. Keep in mind that the values you provide for the program label[program_label]and tier label[tier_label]sub-attributes are case sensitive. - Ensure the data provided to Google matches what’s showcased on your website. Google will check to make sure the benefits and program information submitted in Merchant Center aligns with the information displayed on your website.
- Ensure Member prices are clearly displayed on your website either in the PDP (as a $ value or percentage off), in your loyalty overview page, or a dedicated sales event page. Google periodically checks offers that have member prices to ensure the price submitted to Google matches what’s showcased on your website.
- Ensure Member price effective date sub-attribute is provided when the member price is effective only for a certain period. If this is not specified, Google would assume this is effective all the time and may show an incorrect price to the users when the price is no longer live.
- Use ISO 8601 standard to represent the effective dates for the Member price effective date
[member_price_effective_date]sub-attribute. - Ensure shipping label
[shipping_label]is included within the loyalty program[loyalty_program]group attribute for products that are eligible for loyalty shipping. This is different from the regular shipping label[shipping_label]. The shipping label[shipping_label]sub-attribute doesn’t need to be and shouldn’t be added to loyalty shipping policy.
Best practices
These best practices can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimize your loyalty program data for performance.
- Submit exact values for member pricing. For example, submit 1.01 USD instead of 1.0012 USD, otherwise we will round the submitted value.
- Leverage the price sub-attribute under the loyalty_program attribute and make feed updates for member pricing instead of setting up a feed rule (unless 100% of your products are eligible for flat rate discount member pricing). This will improve accuracy and decrease the chances of dropping off of eligibility to show loyalty prices.
- If you're selling products with minimum advertised pricing (MAP) agreements, submit the member price only when it’s compliant with MAP.