A financial technology company sought to engage and retain non-beta users who joined the platform through a viral referral program but had limited access to the app’s full functionality. 

The engineering team was focused on delivering core payment features and did not have capacity for extensive reward mechanisms. 

Interest in the platform was beginning to decline, and the company needed a solution to maintain user engagement while incentivising continued referrals as users waited for the product to go live.

The objective was to design a rewards program that would engage both beta and non-beta users while encouraging profitable user actions. 

For the former category, this involved making financial transactions and providing ongoing user feedback, while for the latter, it meant continuing to participate in the community and onboard new users.

This program needed to align with the company’s broader goal of maximising user acquisition and retention while being resource-efficient.

Developing the rewards program required an end-to-end process, beginning with market, competitor and user analysis and ending with an ongoing commitment to testing, iteration, and optimisation.

To begin, I analysed competitor rewards programs and evaluated emerging market trends to better understand what types of incentives could appeal to our audience. Many similar companies in the space successfully capitalised on the community’s interest in gaming, which informed the initial conceptualisation.

To validate these assumptions, as well as learn more about user motivations, sentiments, and preferences, I ran a targeted survey that received over 730 responses and facilitated user interviews through various communication channels (Discord, Twitter, and Intercom). This revealed a clear desire for cash-equivalent rewards, such as bitcoin (sats).

Based on insights from user feedback, I proposed a rewards engine with quests to earn points and exclusive artwork. To maintain development efficiency, I partnered with a third-party provider for gift card and voucher redemption, rather than building the entire rewards infrastructure from scratch.

Collaborating closely with our product designer, I prototyped different user flows and ran testing sessions to optimise the user experience. We iterated based on feedback from testing, continuously simplifying the flow to make it more intuitive.

Most importantly, I consulted with our engineering team on the most effective structure for the rewards engine, ensuring that new quests could be easily duplicated without requiring significant developer input. This allowed for quick deployment of limited edition and time-sensitive rewards that would maximise engagement during short bursts.

The rewards program significantly increased user engagement, particularly among non-beta users:

• A limited edition referral quest saw a 638% increase in users referred and onboarded within a short timeframe.

• The introduction of limited-time quests led to an impressive 447% higher conversion rate compared to regular quests.

• The rewards program provided the company with a scalable tool that could be easily adapted for future marketing and product initiatives, driving retention and acquisition efforts while requiring minimal development resources.

By addressing the users’ core desire for rewards and maximising earning potential, the program became an essential component of the company’s engagement strategy.