Free Item Offer

Use a free item offer to gift an item to your members.

Examples

Free ice cream cone for your birthday
Show your appreciation, build loyalty and retain existing members by giving them an incentive to return to your business during their birthday month.
Free item with $100 or more purchase
Increase member spend by encouraging them to spend more to redeem the free item.
Free item with qualifying item purchase
Drive members to try new items or sell excess inventory to make room for new products.

Things to Know

The default setting is to discount the lowest valued item in the purchase. For example, if you have one $10 item and one $8 item, the $8 item will be discounted. You can configure this to be the highest valued qualifying item by turning off the Make Offer Lowest Value setting.
A Free Item offer requires an Item Group to be configured. In this case, the member must have at least 1 of the items from the group in their cart for the offer to be redeemed.
Your Item Group file must be formatted with the proper format for the offer to work properly. Learn to format your item group.

Format Your Item Group

Formatting Rules

Download the sample item group for reference.

Headers should always be present in row 1.
The item name (item_name) is required and must be exactly as they will appear in the receipts or how it will be passed through your 3rd-party point-of-sale (POS) or e-commerce integration.
The quantity (quantity) value is always “1”. If the quantity value is left empty, the value will be defaulted to “1”.
The adjusted cost (adjusted_cost) must be left blank

item_name	quantity	adjusted_cost
Meatball Sub	1
Roast Beef Sub	1
Grilled Portabello Sub	1

Create a Free Item Offer

Navigate to Campaigns / Create.
Choose your Automation and click Next Step.
Choose the Offer action.
Notes: some automation will automatically navigate you to the offer setup when no other action options are available.
Choose Free Item as your Offer Type.
Define your offer parameters.
See Offer Configuration Options for details on how to configure your offers.
Notes: the campaign builder will determine for you which fields are required and options for your offer type selection. Enter all required fields displayed.
1. When asked to select your Qualifying Items Group, select your prepared item group which includes the item they must purchase as their first item.
2. When asked to select your Rewards Items Group, select your prepared item group which includes the item they must have in their cart to redeem as the second free item.
Click Next Step.
Set your target audience.
Notes: the audience step is only relevant for Date & Time and Recurring automation types. All other automation types are triggered based on when the member meets the event criteria.
1. To target all members, leave the audience Segment OFF.
2. To target a specific audience, turn Segment ON. Select an existing audience or create a new audience within the builder.
Click Next Step.
Enter a unique Campaign Name for your internal reference.
Schedule your campaign Start Date and time.
(Optional) Schedule your campaign End Date and time. If this is not defined, you campaign will be ongoing with no end date.
Review your campaign details and click on Schedule to create your new campaign.

Free Item Offer Configurations

Below is a list of all the configurations available for a Free Item. See Offer Configuration Options for details on how to configure your offers.

Field	Type	Required	Description	Example / Notes
Offer Type	Dropdown	✅ Yes	Defines the type of offer being created.	Pre-selected as Free Item.
Available	Checkbox Group	✅ Yes	Determines if the offer is valid in-store, online, or both.	Supports dual environments.
Offer Name	Text Input	✅ Yes	Short internal name for the offer; must be concise.	Caution: longer names may not display in integrations.
Offer Description	Text Input	✅ Yes	A brief explanation of what the offer does.	Include any conditions or item restrictions.
Discount Code	Text Input	Optional	POS discount code, if applicable.	Used to map discounts with in-store or online systems.
Qualifying Rule	Radio Button	✅ Yes	Applies the rule to either the Basket or a specific Item.	Selection may vary by use case; only one can be selected.
Reward Item Group	Dropdown	✅ Yes	Defines which items will be given for free.	Based on configured item groups.
Single or Multiple Use	Radio Button	✅ Yes	Choose whether members can use the offer once or multiple times.	Select `Multiple use` to show additional limit fields.
Multiple Use Limits	Dropdown + Inputs	Optional	Restricts redemptions within a specific time frame.	Example: 1 use per 2 hours. Leave blank for unlimited.
→ Limit Type	Dropdown	✅ (if used)	Time unit for limits (e.g., by hour).	The only option is `By hour`.
→ Number of Uses	Integer	Optional	Max redemptions allowed in the selected window.	Example: `2` redemptions. Leave blank for unlimited.
→ Time Window (in hours)	Integer (1–24)	Optional	Time frame (in hours) for limiting redemptions.	Example: `3` hours.
Maximum Offer Uses Per Member	Integer	Optional	Total redemptions per member for the entire duration.	Leave blank for unlimited.
Minimum Purchase Value	Text Input (Currency)	Optional	The order must meet this value before the free item offer can be applied.	Example: Free item with minimum $10 purchase.
Day-part Limits	Time Range Selector	Optional	Restricts offer usage by time of day and day of week.	Example: `12:00 PM to 11:59 PM daily`.
Expiration	Dropdown	Optional	Controls how and when the offer expires.	See detailed options below ⬇
→ No expiration	Option	—	The offer will remain active indefinitely.	Useful for evergreen offers.
→ Expires on fixed date	Option + Date Picker	✅ if chosen	Sets a specific calendar date, time, and timezone when the offer expires.	Example: Expires on 12/31/2025 at 12:00 PM America/Los_Angeles.
→ Expires after earned	Option + Duration	✅ if chosen	Sets expiration based on the number of UTC days or hours after the offer is earned.	Example: Expires 7 days after earning.
→ Expires after first presented	Option + Duration	✅ if chosen	Sets expiration based on the number of UTC days after the offer is shown to the member.	Example: Expires 3 days after being shown.
Registered Member Use Only	Toggle	Optional	Restricts the offer to registered loyalty program members only.	ON = members only.
Participating Locations	Store Picker / CSV	✅ Yes	Select stores or upload list for offer availability.	Max 250 stores or all stores.

Advanced Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description	Help Link
Exclude Modifiers in Discount	Toggle	ON	Excludes item modifiers from the discount calculation entirely.	View Article
Apply Offer to Lowest Value Item	Toggle	ON	Applies the discount to the lowest-priced eligible reward item in the group.	View Article
Sum Parent & Modifiers for Discount	Toggle	ON	Combines the base item and its modifiers when determining eligibility or discount value.	View Article