Get started with Rewards
An introduction to how rewards work in the Loyalty Engine, including types, configuration, availability, and how users browse, purchase, redeem, and receive their rewards.
Rewards are how your loyalty program delivers value to users. They can offer tangible benefits like voucher codes or gift cards, or simply promote offers and program information.
In this guide, we’ll cover:
What rewards are, the different reward types, and when to use each
How rewards are displayed and configured
How users interact with rewards—from browsing to redemption
What are rewards?
Rewards are how you offer value to users in your loyalty program. In the Loyalty Engine, they’re flexible containers that can share useful information, promote program perks or deliver real benefits (e.g. a voucher, discount, or digital gift card).
Each reward is assigned a type, which determines how it's shown, redeemed, and fulfilled. Click a card to find out more about each reward type:
Offers
Promote offers and program perks (e.g. “Double points this weekend”) and share useful information.
Vouchers
Deliver self-fulfilled tangible benefits such as discount codes, merchandise, or other perks.
Gift Cards
Digital gift cards for third-party retailers, included with our Reward Fulfilment module.
Reward details & configuration
Each reward includes both user-facing details and back-end configuration.
User-facing details are what users see in your loyalty interface—like the reward name, image, summary, and description. These help users understand the reward and what it offers.
Configuration settings define how the reward behaves. This includes:
Reward price – How many points (if any) the reward costs
Availability rules – Who can see or purchase the reward, and when
Incentive configuration – What value the reward carries (if applicable)
The specific configuration options depend on the reward type. For full details, see Reward details & configuration.
How users interact with rewards
Rewards move through a set of user interaction stages, depending on the reward type and your program setup. These include browsing, viewing, acquiring, redeeming, and fulfilment.
Browsing rewards
Users browse available rewards via your loyalty interface—typically a web page, microsite, or app.
Rewards can be grouped into categories to make navigation easier, especially when you have a large catalogue.
Visibility can be restricted by tier, audience, or date/time settings, so different users may see different rewards.
Acquiring a reward
If a reward has a cost (e.g. points or other currency), the user can choose to purchase it.
Some rewards may be free but require action to acquire (e.g. click “Get reward”), while others may be automatically awarded via a reactor (e.g. a birthday gift).
Once acquired, the reward becomes a benefit in the user’s wallet, ready to be redeemed.
Offer-type rewards do not require 'purchasing' or redemption but may guide users to take a specific action.
Fulfilment & delivery
Fulfilment is how the user actually receives the benefit. This could be:
Immediate (e.g. displaying a discount code)
Digital delivery (e.g. emailed gift card)
Access to a service provisioned (e.g. becomes a Premium member)
External (e.g. a physical item shipped later)
Your program must handle fulfilment appropriately—either using WLL’s built-in fulfilment options or through your own systems.
Implementing reward journeys in your customer interface
See the relevant reward type article for specific implementation information.
Choosing and setting up rewards for your program
Before you start building out your reward catalogue, take time to plan your approach:
Understand how rewards work
Read up on how rewards function in the Loyalty Engine—especially how types, pricing, fulfilment and availability are configured.
Align rewards with your program design
Think about your loyalty logic. What reactors are in place? What behaviours are rewarded, and what are users expected to spend points on or be awarded?
Plan how you’ll fulfil tangible rewards
If your rewards include vouchers, discounts or gift cards: will you use preloaded codes from your POS (via a code pool), or a real-time POS integration that generates and validates codes on demand?
See the vouchers article for more on code pools and validation methods.
Set up any third-party integrations
If you want users to be emailed their voucher codes, you’ll need to integrate the Loyalty Engine with your email comms tool. The platform does not send emails directly (with the exception of digital gift cards included with the Reward Fulfilment module – which can be emailed to users out-of-the-box).
Create your rewards ahead of launch
Add rewards in the Loyalty Console so they’re ready to go. Use our guide Which reward type should I use? to help determine what reward types to use, and ask your marketing team to write the reward descriptions and upload supporting artwork.
Highlight key program perks
Use offer-type rewards to promote incentives like “Refer a friend and earn 500 points” or “Double points on weekends.” These help communicate your program’s value clearly to users.
Last updated
Was this helpful?