Business Context
Afterpay’s Pulse Program was its first global loyalty program. It started in 2020 with the mission of rewarding responsible spending and on-time payments. Encouraging healthy financial behavior in an industry that is stigmatized for glamorizing debt? Great in theory.
The issue is that the loyalty program was not driving, well, loyalty.
Acquisition was a crapshoot. Engagement was sparse. Churn was churning.
Step-by-Step
-
Analyze product KPIs - acquisition, engagement, churn, conversion, risk
-
One hour, one-on-one user testing among variety of Pulse members (tiers, region, etc.). Understand how they are currently using the Pulse program.
-
Deep dive into other loyalty and rewards programs - in and outside of fintech to identify opportunities with Pulse.
Current State Assessment
Strategic Development
-
Workshop with cross-functional teams on new mission statement
-
Spec out new features - prioritizing those in MVP vs. future state.
-
Develop the product roadmap, identify short and long term milestones, and OKRs.
Product
Build
-
Wrote a lot of requirements.
-
Built the prototype in close collaboration with engineers and design.
-
Pressure tested the prototype internally and also with users, fine tuning the use cases and identifying edge cases.
-
Rolled out the first version of the rewards program. Ramped up across a few weeks.
-
Reviewed product performance based on established OKRs and via event tracking.
-
Fully ramped up the product and marketed it a lot.
Product Launch
What Pulse Program Was
Tiered Structure
3 tiers based on the number of
on-time payments made and some additional rules, such as expiration dates, late payments losing tier status.
Bit of a black box, really.
Points-based
Earn points per on-time payment that can then be redeemed for offers. Spoiler, the offers were expensive for Afterpay and not enticing for customers. Lose, lose.
Also, in case you forgot already, these on-time payment points are the same earn construct & currency for tiers. These points were handcuffs.
Additional Benefits
Upgrading tiers unlock more benefits. While the benefits were enticing, they felt oddly misplaced. All efforts to force tier differentiation only backfired.
Gating gift cards behind tiers limited revenue. Exclusive offers were so exclusive, it was rarely available. No Payment Up Front and Change Payment Dates (most prized benefits) should’ve been risk-based.
What Rewards Became
Spoiler, the loyalty program was scrapped.
A new program was re-envisioned, one that focused on rewarding customers.
What was removed
Goodbye to tiers (moment of silence) and points
Financial benefits, no payment up front and change payment date, were changed to risk-based definitions where they belonged
Gift cards were moved out of the program
What was added
Integrated ad partners to add compelling offers and rewards, better offers for customers, and a new revenue stream for Afterpay
Setup an offers management process and armed sales team with compelling offer performance data to build streamline for fully-merchant funded offers
Built notifications, directing customers to exclusive offers/deals
