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.
