Reward design is the art and science of pricing virtual currency rewards on your offerwall. Get it right, and users will complete offers all day. Get it wrong, and you’ll either lose users (too expensive) or lose revenue (too cheap).
The Core Principle: Reward = Payout × Margin
When a user completes an offer, the advertiser pays you a payout (e.g., $2.00 for an app install). You convert that into virtual currency for the user. The key is to keep your margin:
User Reward = Payout × (1 – Your Margin)
For example, if an offer pays $2.00 and you want a 30% margin:
User gets: $2.00 × 0.70 = $1.40 worth of virtual currency
Common Reward Design Mistakes
- Rewards too small: If completing a 5-minute survey only earns 10 coins (worth $0.01), users won’t bother.
- Rewards too large: If you give away 90% of your payout, your margin disappears.
- Flat rewards: Every offer pays the same regardless of effort or payout. Users cherry-pick the easy ones.
- No scaling: Rewards don’t scale with offer difficulty or payout size.
Best Practices for Reward Design
1. Use a Dynamic Exchange Rate
Set a base exchange rate (e.g., 100 coins = $1.00) and apply it consistently. Users should understand how much their coins are worth.
2. Scale Rewards with Payout
Higher-paying offers should give proportionally higher rewards. A $5 trial signup should reward more than a $0.50 survey completion.
3. Show Real Value
Display the real-world value next to virtual currency: “Earn 500 coins ($5.00 value).” This makes the reward feel tangible.
4. Test Different Margins
Start with 30% margin and A/B test. If completion rates are low, try 20% margin. If they’re high, try 40%.
Key Takeaways
- Reward = Payout × (1 – Margin) — keep your margin consistent
- Scale rewards with offer payout and difficulty
- Show real-world value to make rewards tangible
- A/B test margins to find the sweet spot between user engagement and revenue
Perkox handles reward calculation automatically — you set your margin, and the SDK converts payouts to virtual currency in real-time. Get started with Perkox to add a properly configured offerwall to your app.
For more on reward monetization, see our offerwall placement guide, our monetization SDK comparison, and our guide on turning non-paying users into revenue. To understand the revenue math, read our ARPDAU calculation guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much virtual currency should I reward per offer?
Aim for offerwall rewards that are worth 20-50% of the cheapest IAP package. If your smallest IAP is 100 coins for $0.99, offerwall rewards should range from 20-50 coins for easy tasks (surveys, app installs) up to 200-500 coins for high-value tasks (trials, purchases). The reward must feel meaningful enough to motivate action but not so high that it cannibalizes IAP revenue.
How do I prevent offerwall rewards from cannibalizing IAP?
Three safeguards: (1) Cap daily offerwall earnings so they can’t fully replace IAP. (2) Keep premium items and exclusive content purchasable only through IAP. (3) Price offerwall rewards below IAP value — if a $5 purchase gives 500 coins, a completed survey worth $2 to you should reward 100-150 coins, not 500. The offerwall is a supplementary monetization layer, not a replacement for purchases.
What is the ideal exchange rate between real money and virtual currency?
A common starting point is 1 cent of real revenue = 1 unit of virtual currency, then adjust based on your economy. The key principle: the cost to you (the real revenue from the offer) should always be less than the value the user perceives. For example, if a survey pays you $3, reward 200 coins that cost you $2 in IAP-equivalent value — you keep the $1 spread.
Should I show the real-dollar value of offerwall tasks to users?
Generally no. Showing dollar values makes users compare the effort to a wage, which reduces perceived value (“$0.50 for a 5-minute survey? That’s not worth it”). Instead, frame rewards in virtual currency: ‘Complete this offer to earn 150 coins!’ feels like a game reward, not a job. The virtual currency abstraction increases completion rates by 30-40% in most tests.
How do I handle reward fraud on my offerwall?
Use server-side reward validation — never credit rewards client-side. When a user completes an offer, the offerwall provider sends a server-to-server callback to your backend, which validates the transaction before crediting the user. This prevents reward injection attacks, duplicate credit claims, and emulator-based fraud. Perkox handles this validation automatically as part of its SDK.