Would you like customers who check out as guests to get credit for their orders when they join your rewards program? Most WooCommerce stores allow customers to check out without creating an account. That means many of your customers start as guests. RewardsWP tracks these guest purchases and automatically links them to a member account when the customer signs up.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through what guests see in the rewards widget. We also explain how their purchases are tracked behind the scenes and how order linking works when they become members.
- What Do Guests See in the Rewards Widget?
- How Are Guest Purchases Tracked?
- Guest member creation
- Converting from guest to member
- How Does Order Linking Work?
- Email matching
- Token matching
- What gets linked
- What store owners should know
- Frequently asked questions
Before you get started, make sure RewardsWP is installed and activated on your WordPress site.
What Do Guests See in the Rewards Widget?
When a customer who hasn’t joined your rewards program opens the rewards widget, they see a preview built to encourage sign-ups. It shows what the program offers, without the member-only features.
At the top of the rewards widget, guests see the Join our rewards program section. Its Join now button invites them to create an account. A Sign in link serves customers who already have one.
The Points section gives an overview of how points work, without a personal balance.
The Refer your friends section previews the rewards available through referrals.
If VIP tiers are on, guests also see a preview of the tier structure and benefits.
Guests can open the Ways to earn and Ways to redeem panels to browse earn actions and rewards. Each panel shows a Join now button in place of active features.
Earning points, the referral link, sharing with friends and redeeming rewards open up once a guest creates an account and becomes a member.
Behind the scenes, RewardsWP starts tracking a guest once they complete a purchase.
How Are Guest Purchases Tracked?
When a guest makes a purchase through WooCommerce’s guest checkout, RewardsWP captures their order data (email address and name) and creates a guest member record. Here’s what happens step by step:
- Guest browses your store: The visitor sees the rewards widget in guest or preview mode. No tracking has started yet.
- Guest completes a purchase: They check out without creating an account, providing their email and name as part of the standard WooCommerce checkout.
- Guest member record created: RewardsWP creates a member record with a status of Guest. This record stores their email and links their order.
- Tracking token issued: A unique token is generated and stored on the visitor’s device. This token allows RewardsWP to recognize the guest on return visits.
The tracking token is stored in two places for reliability:
- Browser cookie (
rewardswp_member_access_token): Valid for 400 days, which is the maximum duration browsers allow. - Local storage: A backup copy in the browser’s local storage, which persists even if cookies are cleared.
This dual-storage approach ensures guests are recognized on return visits even if one storage method is cleared.
Once the record exists, it has a few key differences from a regular member account.
Guest member creation
When RewardsWP creates a guest member record, it works differently from a regular member account:
- No WordPress account required: The guest member record exists only within RewardsWP. The guest doesn’t have a WordPress user account or login credentials.
- Status is “Guest”: Guest members appear in your RewardsWP » Members list with a Guest status badge, separate from active members.
- No points awarded yet: The purchase is recorded but points aren’t awarded until the guest converts to a full member. This ensures they have an account to access their balance.
- Order data preserved: The guest’s email, name, and order history are stored and ready for linking when they sign up.
From your WordPress admin sidebar, go to RewardsWP » Members. Then select the Guests tab to view and filter guest members.
When a guest is ready to join, the record converts without any manual steps.
Converting from guest to member
When a guest decides to create an account on your store, RewardsWP handles the conversion automatically. No manual action is needed.
The conversion flow works like this:
- Guest returns to your store: RewardsWP checks for the tracking token in the guest’s cookie or local storage.
- Guest creates an account: The guest registers through your site’s account creation form, WooCommerce checkout account creation, or any other WordPress registration method.
- Token matched to guest record: RewardsWP uses the stored token to find the guest’s existing member record.
- Guest record upgraded: The guest member record is linked to the new WordPress user account. The member’s status changes from Guest to Active.
- Historical orders linked: All previous guest purchases associated with that email or token are linked to the new member account.
- Points awarded: Points are calculated and awarded for all linked past purchases.
The member’s activity log will show the linked purchases as earned points entries, giving the new member visibility into the rewards they’ve already earned.
The process that connects those earlier purchases is order linking.
How Does Order Linking Work?
Order linking is the process that connects a guest’s previous purchases to their new member account. It relies on two matching methods:
Email matching
When a guest creates an account, RewardsWP checks whether the email address on the new account matches the email used for any guest purchases. If there’s a match, those orders are linked to the member.
This is the primary linking method and covers the most common scenario: a guest who used the same email for checkout and account registration.
Token matching covers the cases where email matching alone does not link a purchase.
Token matching
Token matching uses the tracking token stored on the guest’s device to link purchases. This handles edge cases where:
- The guest used a different email for their account than for checkout.
- Multiple guest orders were placed from the same device under different emails.
Either method can find the match. The linking steps after a match are the same.
What gets linked
When orders are successfully linked, the following happens:
- Each qualifying order is associated with the member’s account.
- Points are calculated for each order using your earn rate.
- Point entries appear in the member’s activity log with the appropriate source label (e.g., “Made a purchase”).
- The member’s points balance updates to reflect all linked purchases.
With order linking covered, here are a few things to keep in mind for your store.
What store owners should know
Guest participation works automatically in most setups. A few things are worth keeping in mind:
- Guest checkout must be enabled: Guest participation relies on WooCommerce’s guest checkout feature, which is enabled by default in most stores. To check it, go to WooCommerce » Settings » Accounts & Privacy. If you’ve disabled it, customers must create an account before purchasing. The guest flow doesn’t apply.
- Points are awarded after conversion: Guests don’t earn points while they’re in guest status. Points are calculated and awarded only when the guest converts to a full member. This prevents point balances that nobody can access.
- Guest records appear in your members list: Guest members show up in the Guests tab on the RewardsWP » Members page. You can see how many guests you have and review their order data.
- No manual linking needed: The conversion and order linking process is fully automatic. You don’t need to merge records, reassign orders, or manually award points.
- Guest orders and product reviews: Orders a customer placed as a guest join their review list in the rewards widget once they confirm their email. A guest member, known only by their email, has no Review button until they join and confirm their email. For the full review flow, read product review points.
- Cookie duration is 400 days: The tracking cookie is set to the maximum browser-allowed duration of 400 days. After that period, or if the guest clears their cookies, the token in local storage serves as a backup.
That’s it! You know how RewardsWP tracks guest purchases and links them when a guest joins. Next, to see how customers review the products they bought, read product review points.
Frequently asked questions
Below, we’ve answered some of the most common questions about guest participation.
Do my guest customers earn points on their purchases?
Not while they’re guests. RewardsWP awards points for their past orders when they create an account and become a member. For the full flow, see the Converting from guest to member section above.
What happens when my guest customers create an account?
RewardsWP upgrades the guest record to an active member, links their earlier guest purchases and awards points for those orders. For how RewardsWP finds those orders, see the How Does Order Linking Work? section above.
Can I disable guest participation?
Guest participation is tied to WooCommerce’s guest checkout setting. If you disable guest checkout in WooCommerce » Settings » Accounts & Privacy, customers will need to create an account before purchasing. That means every customer is already a member by the time they check out.
