How to Run a Successful Bonus Points Event for Your Rewards Program

Who doesn’t love getting bonus points when shopping from your Ecommerce store? People always expect more from you. The more opportunities you give your customers to collect reward points, the more they buy from you. This is a great strategy to recapture repeat customers and one-time purchased customers to shop with you again.

But many Ecommerce stores are unaware of how to structure their bonus points or organize events that can boost the reward points of their customers. The best strategy is to stick to the new trends in the market and stay in the minds of customers above all brands. But this can happen only when you strategically apply your ideas to these reward programs.

Did you know that acquiring a new customer is 5-25x more expensive than keeping an existing one? So it’s not too late to start your bonus points event to acquire repeat customers.

Let’s dig deeper into what is a bonus point event, why it is important for your business, strategies to create a successful bonus points event, and a few examples of how other brands do it.

What is a bonus points event?

A bonus point event is an event that multiplies the bonus points to participants for achieving specific goals during a special weekend sale or a limited period sale. Customers can use this opportunity to double or triple their rewards in one go, which can motivate them to buy from you in that stipulated time.

Bonus points events can also be used to drive additional sales by offering customers the chance to earn additional points for certain purchases.

Most of the bonus points events are run during special weekends, company birthdays, or other special occasions like new product launches and other special days like customers’ birthdays, Easter, Black Friday, Christmas, New Year, etc.

Steps for Planning a Bonus Points Event

Here are some of the steps that can help you plan your bonus points event:

• Set clear goals for the event 

Firstly, set a specific goal that you want to achieve during the event. Say you want to create brand awareness and spread the word about your new product launch. Set this in mind and come up with ideas to engage more people in your event.

• Developing marketing and promotional strategies

After setting the right goal, strategize the right incentive to get your customers’ attention. For example, you can provide 2X bonus points for purchasing a new product and also give 100 points to the existing customers for referring the product to a new customer.

This can persuade repeat customers to buy from you.

• Establish the event timeline 

A very well-planned reward strategy can be executed properly only when you take time to prepare an event calendar where you can note down when to give extra points, double the points, or give other incentives to the existing customers.

Preparing a bonus points event timeline can save more time, and you can invest in the right target audience, and it is easier to convince them to buy a product than a new customer.

Overview of why bonus points events are essential for rewards programs

• Increases customer engagement with the brand
• To boost the points for repeat customers
• An event that can increase sales
• Benefit both the company and the customer
• Build a community for your brand
• Increase customers by referral points events
• Increase the followers on social media
• People (Target audience)  love rewards and perks
• Helps to retain customers for your business

Strategies for Making the Bonus Points Event Successful 

1. Promote the event: Create visibility for the event by utilizing a variety of channels such as social media, email, and physical marketing materials.
2. Offer incentives: Offering discounts, free items, or exclusive promotions can drive customer engagement and motivate them to participate in the event.
3. Make the bonus points easy to understand: Make sure customers know how to earn and use the bonus points. Provide clear information on how to earn and redeem the points. Keep the bonus points event straightforward and easy to understand. Avoid complex rules and conditions that customers may find confusing.
4. Provide exciting rewards: Offer rewards that are attractive to customers. Choose rewards that are relevant to the customers and that will motivate them to participate.
5. Follow up with customers: After the event, follow up with customers to ensure they are satisfied with their rewards and to get feedback on the event.
6. Monitor the event: Monitor the event to ensure it runs smoothly and that customers engage with it.

Examples of Bonus Points Events

1. Social Media Events: Encourage customers to share your brand or product for bonus points on their social media accounts. Also, you can organize different events to promote your products. It can be anything like collaborating with other businesses to increase rewards and mutually get benefited together. Here are some examples:

Source: Instagram

2. Referral Bonuses: Give bonus points to customers for referring their friends and family to your business. Referral bonuses are incentives offered by employers to existing employees who refer new hires to the company. These bonuses usually come in the form of cash, gift cards, or other rewards and are intended to recognize and reward employees for referring quality job candidates.

Source: Pinterest

3. Loyalty Program Milestones: Award bonus points when customers reach certain levels in your loyalty program, such as reaching a certain number of purchases or spending a certain amount.

You can provide loyalty points for different categories once the person reaches a milestone. You can also provide them a badge or a pathway that is taking them to the Insider tier and can also show them how many points are left to reach that place.

This can motivate the users to reach their destination by adding points to their accounts.

Example 1: Dental Sky has promoted its loyalty program through Instagram to create awareness among people to collect reward points and enjoy different vouchers and discounts.

Source: Instagram

Example 2: Uber reward points are designed in a way where the users can get clear data of their goal to be achieved. These designs can engage customers better and help persuade them to buy from you.

Source: Pinterest

Example 3: Gilt has a special program called “GILT Insider,” where people can enter this privilege after spending a certain amount on the brand. The Insiders get to enjoy more reward points on every purchase, along with other perks and benefits.

Source: Pinterest

4. Birthday Bonuses: Give customers bonus points on their birthday or anniversary of joining your loyalty program. Usually, most stores award customers 200 points on their special day so they can buy something for their birthday.

This strategy is so cool as it is more personalized, like you can create a personalized photo book, catering to individual taste and more. Well, it’s also the right moment for people to buy new things. So businesses can adopt this bonus point event to increase their chances of buying from you.

Source: Instagram

5. Rewards week: A Rewards Week is when an organization rewards its employees with additional benefits or incentives in recognition of their continuous purchasing history.

These rewards can include anything from additional vacation days, bonuses, gift cards, awarding trophies or other incentives. The idea behind Reward Weeks is to show appreciation for the employees‘ contributions and motivate them to continue purchasing products from you.

Example 1: Starbucks has the trend of giving away golden stars for each purchase the customer makes. And they also give 3x bonus stars or organize double stars week, especially to triple or double up their rewards.

Source: Pinterest

Example 2: Starbucks didn’t just stop promoting it through email or its website but also took it to social media to create awareness of the bonus star event that was taking place. People love collecting golden stars right from kindergarten, so this strategy is a win-win for Starbucks to drive people to collect more stars by ordering more from them.

Source: Instagram

Example 3: Secret Recipe offers 2X reward points on a special day when people celebrate labor worldwide. This is the right time to treat people for the work they’ve done all these years. Also, food is everything for a hard worker. 

Source: Pinterest

6. Flash sales exclusively for increasing reward points: Flash sales are short-term sales events that offer customers exclusive discounts and promotions. The goal of a flash sale is to create a sense of urgency and excitement and to encourage customers to purchase products within a limited period of time. Flash sales can be used to increase reward points for customers in a variety of ways. 

For example, customers may be offered additional points for every purchase they make during the flash sale and bonus points for purchasing certain products. 

Source: Pinterest

Additionally, customers may be given the option to redeem their reward points for discounted or free products during the flash sale. Flash sales can be an effective way to reward customers and encourage them to purchase more products in a short period of time.

Statistics that show how bonus points events are successful!

1. Over 83% of consumers say belonging to a loyalty program influences their decision to buy again from a brand.
2. 75% of consumers in loyalty programs will buy more products from the companies they partner with.
3. 84% of consumers say they’re more likely to stick with a brand that offers a loyalty program.
4. 68% of customers in loyalty programs with brands feel the brands better understand their buying preferences.
5. 79% of customers said being able to unlock exclusive benefits made them loyal.

Start doubling the rewards and see the magic!

Running a successful reward point event can be a great way to thank your customers for their loyalty and encourage them to purchase your products. By offering rewards that are attractive and easy to redeem, you can increase customer engagement and loyalty. 

Additionally, by using an effective marketing strategy and tracking your results, you can ensure that your reward point event is a success. With the right strategy, a reward point event can be a great way to thank your customers for their loyalty and increase your sales by double the time.

Try doubling and tripling the reward points for your customers and see the magic that’s happening to your conversion rates. Happy us and happy customers!