Your customer just bought their third order. They've been loyal. They've earned points. But unless they open your store, check their email, or happen to visit your loyalty page — they'll never know.
That's the gap most loyalty programs live in. Rewards pile up in silence. Tier upgrades go unnoticed. Expiration dates pass without a whisper. The program exists, but it doesn't communicate.
Until now.
Your wallet pass just learned to talk
If you're already using Joy's Apple and Google Wallet passes, your customers carry your loyalty program in their pocket. It's right there — between their boarding pass and their coffee card. No app to download. No account to remember. Just a tap away on their phone.
That was already powerful. But a wallet pass that just sits there is like a billboard in a dark room. You need it to light up.
Now it does. Joy can push real-time notifications directly to your customers' lock screen through their wallet pass. Not through email. Not through SMS. Through the pass itself — the thing they already have.
Five moments that now reach your customer instantly
We didn't build a generic notification pipe. We identified the five loyalty moments that matter most — the ones where timing is everything:
Points earned. A customer completes a purchase and their phone lights up: "You just earned 150 points at [Your Store]." That's instant reinforcement. That's the dopamine hit that builds habits.
Points redeemed. When they spend points on a reward, they see the confirmation on their lock screen. No ambiguity. No wondering if it worked.
Tier up. "Congratulations — you've reached Gold status." Imagine that notification appearing right after checkout. That's not a loyalty program feature. That's a moment.
Tier down. Nobody likes delivering this news, but transparency builds trust. A gentle nudge — "Your VIP status expires in 30 days" — gives customers a reason to come back before it's too late.
Reward expiry. That $10 reward they earned last month? It's about to vanish. A lock screen notification turns a forgotten perk into a reason to visit your store today.
How it works — and what you need to know
Here's the beautiful part: if your customers already have your Joy wallet pass installed, they start receiving notifications immediately. There's no opt-in flow. No second step. The pass they already carry becomes a live communication channel.
For Apple Wallet, notifications appear on the lock screen just like any other pass update. For Google Wallet, they show as standard wallet notifications. Both platforms handle delivery natively — which means near-100% visibility. No spam folders. No promotions tab. No algorithm deciding whether your message is worthy.
You configure which notification types to enable from your Joy dashboard. Each type can be toggled independently — maybe you want to celebrate tier-ups but handle reward expiry through email instead. Your call.
A few things to note: Wallet pass notifications are available on Joy's Advanced and Enterprise plans. The notifications work with existing passes — no need to ask customers to re-add anything. And because they're delivered through the wallet platform itself, there's no additional cost per notification. No per-message pricing. No credits to manage.
Why this changes the game
Think about the channels brands use today to communicate loyalty: Email (8-15% open rates on a good day). SMS (effective but expensive and increasingly regulated). Push notifications (requires a native app that 95% of Shopify brands don't have). In-store signage (only works if they're already there).
Wallet pass notifications sit in a category of their own. They're free to send. They appear on the lock screen. They're contextual — tied to a specific, branded pass the customer chose to save. And they don't require an app.
This means your loyalty program can now do something it never could before: show up at exactly the right moment, in exactly the right place, without asking your customer to do anything.
A customer earns enough points for a free product? They know instantly. A reward is about to expire? They find out before it's too late — not in a weekly digest they'll never read.
The ambient loyalty program
We believe the future of loyalty isn't louder. It's more present.
The best loyalty programs won't be the ones that send the most emails or offer the steepest discounts. They'll be the ones that feel like they're always there — quietly working, surfacing at the right moment, then stepping back.
Wallet pass notifications are a step toward that future. Your loyalty program, living in your customer's pocket, speaking up only when it matters. No app. No inbox. No noise. Just the right message, at the right time, on the screen your customer checks 96 times a day.
This is what ambient loyalty looks like. And we're just getting started.
