The Photo Challenge rule rewards customers for uploading a photo that you review and approve. Use it for anything you want proof of, for example a screenshot of a Google review, a photo of your product in use, or an unboxing shot. You can run several challenges at once, each with its own instructions and reward.
Photo Challenges are available on the Growth plan and above.
How to add a photo challenge
From your Shopify admin, open the Mage Loyalty app and click Loyalty.
In the Earning Points section, click Add Earning Rule and choose Photo Challenge.
Fill in the settings below.
Click Save Changes.
Settings
Setting | What it does |
Title | The name customers see, for example "Share your Google review". |
Instructions | Shown in the upload window. Say exactly what needs to be in the photo, for example "Upload a screenshot showing your star rating and review text". |
Amount to award | The default reward for an approved photo. You can change it for any individual submission when you approve it. |
How often can a customer earn this? | One off: once per customer. Custom: repeatedly, with a set number of Days between uploads, for example 7 for one per week. |
Email reminders | Under Advanced settings. Sends you a weekly summary of photos waiting for review. |
Custom icon | An image shown next to the challenge on your storefront. A camera icon is used if you do not upload one. |
Status | Turns the challenge on or off for customers. |
How it works
The customer opens the challenge in your Rewards Widget, Account Sidebar or Loyalty Pages, reads your instructions and uploads a photo.
The photo shows as under review for the customer and appears in your queue.
You approve it, adjusting the amount if you want, or reject it with a reason.
On approval the reward is added to the customer's balance. On rejection the customer sees your reason and can try again.
The wait between uploads counts every upload, whether approved, rejected or pending, so customers cannot send many photos at once. A rejected one off challenge can be retried the next day.
Reviewing submissions
Open the challenge from the Earning Points section and click Submissions.
Filter by status, challenge or customer email, then click a submission to open it.
Click Approve, confirming or changing the amount, or click Reject and enter a reason. The reason is shown to the customer.
Emails and marketing events
Customers can receive a Photo Challenge Approved or Photo Challenge Rejected email. Both are off by default. Turn them on under Email Templates if you want customers notified.
An approval also sends a Photo Challenge Approved event to Klaviyo, Omnisend, Postscript and Attentive, including the challenge name, so you can build flows or segments from it.
Common mistakes to avoid
Vague instructions. If customers are not told exactly what to photograph, you will spend your time rejecting off-topic photos.
Letting the queue build up. Customers are waiting on their reward. Keep the weekly reminder on and review regularly.
Expecting customers to be emailed on approval. They receive the reward either way, but no email is sent unless the template is turned on.
Troubleshooting
The challenge is not showing on my storefront
Check the challenge status is on and Program Status is Enabled on the Loyalty page.
A customer says they cannot upload again
A one off challenge is complete after one approved photo.
A custom challenge has a wait between uploads that counts pending and rejected photos too. The wait is in calendar days in your store's timezone.
A customer did not get an email after approval
Check the Photo Challenge Approved template is enabled under Email Templates.