> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.loyaltylion.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Custom

## Before you start

In order for an integration with LoyaltyLion to be possible, there are a few key concepts and behaviors that your ecommerce store must support.

## Customer identity

You must have a customer account system with a single notion of customer identity.

<Note>
  Customers don't sign up for a separate "loyalty account" with the loyalty
  program - your store is responsible for their account membership status, and
  having an account with your store is equivalent to being enrolled in the
  loyalty program.
</Note>

A good choice for this identity is the row ID associated with a customer's record in your database, but it can be anything - **as long as it's unique per customer and doesn't change**.

You'll use this throughout as the `customer_id` field for the customer - for example, when [submitting orders](/api-reference/v2/resources/orders/list-orders). This is how we reconcile all their activity with a single loyalty program membership.

## Discount vouchers

**Your checkout must support single-use fixed discount voucher codes** (for example, \$5 off), as these form the basic rewards available from your loyalty program.

You must be able to bulk pre-generate these voucher codes for import into LoyaltyLion (so we can issue them to your customers).

When a customer claims a reward in exchange for points, we issue one of these pre-generated voucher codes for use in your checkout. We don't implement the behaviour of those codes - that's fully up to your store or ecommerce platform's checkout.

## Integration points

To complete the integration with LoyaltyLion, complete the following steps:

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Tell us when customers create an account with your store">
    When a customer signs up for an account with your store, you should submit a
    `$signup` event via the LoyaltyLion API. This tells us that the customer has
    upgraded from a guest account to a full membership, and it lets us give them
    points for signing up if you have that rule enabled. See the [activities
    endpoint](/api-reference/v2/resources/activities/create-activity) for exact details on
    the payload to submit.

    <Note>
      If a customer requests to leave your loyalty program, you can submit a
      request to [our support team](mailto:support@loyaltylion.com) to delete
      their account and personal information in line with GDPR.
    </Note>
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Tell us when orders are placed, paid, refunded and cancelled">
    When an order is placed, edited, paid, refunded, or cancelled, you should tell us via the [orders endpoints](/api-reference/v2/resources/orders/update-order).

    * The `merchant_id` field is the ID of the order within your system
    * The `customer_id` field is your [customer identity](#customer-identity)
    * The `discount_codes` field should contain all discount codes used with this order. Vouchers previously [issued as rewards](#create-rewards-and-import-voucher-codes) are marked as used within our system, and any unknown vouchers are ignored.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Load the LoyaltyLion SDK and customer UI">
    The LoyaltyLion SDK gives you tools to display a loyalty program UI to your customers.

    To use it:

    1. [Install the SDK snippet](/sdk/installation) on all pages on your store
    2. [Authenticate your customers](/sdk/customer-authentication/) with a server-side generated HMAC based on your [customer identity](#customer-identity)
    3. [Initialize the SDK](/sdk/initialize-sdk/), using that HMAC when a customer is logged in

    Once the core SDK is installed and customers are authenticated, you can add UI components, like [the loyalty page](/sdk/embeddable-components/loyalty-page/) to your store.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Create rewards and import voucher codes">
    The last step is to set up some rewards for your customers to claim:

    1. [Create a new reward](https://help.loyaltylion.com/en/articles/2585614-use-rewards-to-improve-customer-engagement/)
    2. In your store backend, create at least 500 unique voucher codes for use with that reward & import them into the reward you've created in LoyaltyLion
    3. Validate that you've created working codes on your store by [claiming a reward yourself](https://help.loyaltylion.com/en/articles/2370834-how-to-claim-and-redeem-rewards/) and attempting to use it in your checkout.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

On top of this, you can offer extra loyalty program features with:

* [Referrals](/docs/features/referrals)
* [Custom rewards](/docs/features/custom-rewards)
* [Custom rules](/api-reference/v2/resources/activities/create-activity)
* More advanced UI [customisation](/sdk/#customisation)