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How to Create Campaigns and Packages

Campaigns let you offer promotional packages to your members. Each campaign contains one or more packages that bundle time or wallet credit with bonus amounts at a set price. Members purchase these packages from the client desktop during their session. This guide covers creating campaigns, adding time and money packages, restricting packages to specific days, and understanding the purchase flow.

How to Create a Campaign

A campaign is the container that holds one or more packages. Think of it as a promotional event such as "Summer Special" or "Weekend Deal."

What you will need

  • HandyCafe Server running.
  • Admin or owner-level access.

Steps

  1. Click Campaigns in the left sidebar of the HandyCafe Server application.
  2. Click the Add button to create a new campaign.
  3. Enter a Name for the campaign. For example: "Summer Special." This name is visible to members on their client desktops.
  4. Enter a Description explaining the promotion. For example: "Get extra gaming time all summer long." Keep it short and clear.
  5. Set the Active Date (when the campaign becomes available) and the Expiry Date (when it stops being offered). Click Save.

Expected result

The campaign appears in the campaign list. It is active between the dates you set. You can now add packages to it.

Common mistakes

  • Setting the expiry date in the past. The campaign will not be visible to members.
  • Leaving the description empty. Members see the campaign on their desktop. A clear description helps them understand what they are getting.

How to Create a Time Package

Time packages give members a block of session time plus a bonus. The member pays a fixed price and receives the base time plus additional bonus minutes.

What you will need

  • An existing campaign to add the package to.

Steps

  1. On the Campaigns page, select the campaign you want to add a package to.
  2. Click Add Package in the packages panel.
  3. Set Package Type to Minutes. This defines the primary unit of the package.
  4. Set Base Amount to the number of minutes included. For example: 60 (meaning one hour of session time).
  5. Set Bonus Type to Minutes and Bonus Amount to the free extra time. For example: 15 (meaning 15 bonus minutes on top of the base 60).
  6. Set the Purchase Price to the amount the member pays. For example: $8.00. This is the total cost displayed to the member.
  7. Set the Device Restriction to control where this package can be used. Choose Both for all devices, PC for standard workstations only, or Console for gaming consoles only.
  8. Configure Valid Days and valid days of week to restrict when the package is available. See the section below on restricting to specific days. Click Save.

Expected result

Members browsing the campaign on their client desktop see something like: "60 min + 15 bonus min for $8.00." When they purchase it, 75 total minutes are added to their session time as time credits in the system.

Common mistakes

  • Setting the bonus amount higher than the base amount without intending to. A package offering 30 base minutes with 60 bonus minutes is possible but looks unusual to customers.
  • Forgetting to set the device restriction. Leaving it undefined may make the package unavailable.

How to Create a Money Package

Money packages add wallet credit to a member's account. The member pays a fixed price and receives a base amount plus a bonus deposited into their wallet.

What you will need

  • An existing campaign to add the package to.

Steps

  1. Select the target campaign on the Campaigns page.
  2. Click Add Package.
  3. Set Package Type to Money. This defines the package as a wallet credit package.
  4. Set Base Amount to the amount of credit the member receives. For example: $10.00 in wallet credit.
  5. Set Bonus Type to Money and Bonus Amount to the extra credit. For example: $2.50 bonus.
  6. Set the Purchase Price to what the member actually pays. For example: $10.00. The member pays $10 and receives $12.50 in total wallet credit.
  7. Set the Device Restriction to Both, PC, or Console as appropriate.
  8. Configure Valid Days and valid days of week if the package should only be available on certain days. Click Save.

Expected result

Members see the package as: "$10.00 credit + $2.50 bonus for $10.00." On purchase, wallet credits totaling $12.50 are created in the member's wallet, available to spend on future sessions.

How to Restrict a Package to Weekdays Only

You can limit when a package is available using the valid days and week mask settings. This is useful for promotions like "Happy Hour" that only apply on specific days.

What you will need

  • An existing package within a campaign.

Steps

  1. Edit the package you want to restrict.
  2. Locate the Valid Days field. This controls the total number of days the package remains active from its start date. Set it to match your campaign duration.
  3. Locate the Valid Days of Week field. This is a day selection representing Sunday through Saturday. Set each day to enabled (available) or disabled (unavailable). For weekdays only, use 0,1,1,1,1,1,0 where Sunday and Saturday are disabled.
  4. Save the package.

Expected result

The package only appears to members on the enabled days. On disabled days (Saturday and Sunday in the example above), the package is hidden from the client menu.

Common mistakes

  • Confusing the day order in the day selection. The order is Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Double-check which days you have disabled.

How a Member Purchases a Package

Understanding the purchase flow helps you verify that campaigns are working correctly.

Flow

  1. A member logs into a client PC and opens the Member Panel on the desktop.
  2. The member navigates to the Campaigns tab within the Member Panel.
  3. Active campaigns are listed with their packages. The member selects a package such as "60 min + 15 bonus min for $8.00."
  4. The member confirms the purchase. The payment is deducted from their existing wallet balance or processed according to your payment configuration.
  5. The system automatically creates the appropriate wallet credits (for money packages) or time credits (for time packages) in the member's account.
  6. The member's session is extended by the purchased time, or their wallet balance increases by the purchased credit. The change is immediate.

Expected result

The member's balance or session time updates instantly. The transaction appears in the Cash Report. The package purchase count increments in the campaign statistics.

Full Example: Creating a Happy Hour Campaign

This example walks through creating a complete promotional campaign from start to finish.

Scenario

You want to offer a weekday-only deal where members get 120 minutes of gaming time plus 30 bonus minutes for $12.

Steps

  1. Navigate to Campaigns and click Add.
  2. Enter the name: "Happy Hour."
  3. Enter the description: "Extra game time on weekdays."
  4. Set the active date to today and the expiry date to the end of the month.
  5. Save the campaign.
  6. Select "Happy Hour" and click Add Package.
  7. Set Package Type to Minutes, Base Amount to 120.
  8. Set Bonus Type to Minutes, Bonus Amount to 30.
  9. Set Purchase Price to $12.00.
  10. Set Device Restriction to Both.
  11. Set the Valid Days of Week to 0,1,1,1,1,1,0 (weekdays only, no Saturday or Sunday).
  12. Save the package.

Expected result

From Monday through Friday, members see "120 min + 30 bonus min for $12.00" in their Campaigns tab. On Saturday and Sunday, the package is hidden. When a member purchases it, they receive 150 total minutes of session time.