How to Use Pending Points as a Carrot for Incentives

Whether rewarding users for updating their profile, completing training courses, or selling a product - loyalty program efficacy is only as good as the behavior being incentivized. The best approach to driving loyalty program impact involves a series of actions designed to create meaningful connections across every customer touch point. Use pending points to develop a strategic, action-based behavioral series to ultimately increase channel loyalty. 

What are “pending points”? These are a category of points earned by a user that are not yet active and available to be used for redemption. They are pending an additional step of some kind before the user has the points added to their active points bank. Pending points can be tracked on a user’s dashboard as a clear motivator that they are one step away from realizing these points and the rewards that come with it. Here are some examples of different use cases in how this feature can be used to incentivize a user base to complete a unique final step:

• A B2B logistics company distributes points based on bookings; a successful tactic in engaging end users with its loyalty incentives program. In order to drive financial gains, however, a more strategic approach could benefit not only the program, but also bottom-line business results. By adding pending points to its program structure, the company was able to define behaviors and incentivize users to complete invoice payments in exchange for redeemable (live) points. 
• A B2B chemical company created an ongoing, year-over-year program where all earned points are banked until a predetermined redemption period is reached. The company’s use of pending points protects the program from abuse, prevents users from returning purchased items after points are rewarded, and encourages program interaction and engagement throughout the year.

• A B2B professional services company uses secret calls to grade users on performance to incentivize product and service up-selling. To further engage users in program education, the company issues pending points to reward completion of successfully graded secret calls. These loyalty points are then only made active (and available for redemption) once a user completes their required data entry.

To figure out how your brand can best utilize a feature like pending points, start by identifying the answers to a few key questions: what user behaviors are you looking to drive? What are some customer experience areas or issues you're looking to improve upon or fix? How can a pending points structure help you get the most out of your program? 

For more ideas on how pending points and other loyalty program features can help increase your channel partner loyalty, reach out to us today!