Tutorial: How does the Virtual Coins feature work? – Easypromos - Online Helpdesk

With the "Virtual Coins" functionality of Easypromos, you can bring the traditional points or rewards program to the digital world: users will earn coins or points after participating in the promotion, which they can redeem for prizes or rewards.

This way, you can present users with the catalog of prizes they can obtain, along with the cost in coins or points, which will serve as an incentive to participate in the promotion: users will accumulate points for each completed participation in order to redeem their desired prize.

In this tutorial, we explain in detail how the Virtual Coins tool works, both from the perspective of the participating user and the promotion administrator.

These are the contents of the tutorial:

1. Overview

Points or rewards programs are commonly used by brands as one of the most effective strategies for customer loyalty: points are easy to earn and redeem for prizes, making them very attractive to consumers who are increasingly familiar with such programs.

With the Easypromos "Virtual Coins" tool, you can easily create your own points or rewards program: in this case, users will accumulate "virtual coins" by participating in the promotion. This way, each time they participate, users earn new coins that they can redeem for prizes and gifts.

The "Virtual Coins" functionality can be applied to any type of Easypromos participation stage, such as: a "Validate Purchase Receipt" promotion, a "Prize Wheel," a timed quiz like the "Timed Quiz," or any of the games, such as a "Word Search" or a "Multi-Game". All promotions using the Login system may implement the virtual coins feature.

Here are some practical examples:

Example 1: The brand organizes a promotion where the user must upload a purchase receipt. For each valid purchase receipt, the user earns points or coins. The user can track the points they are accumulating, and upon reaching X points, they can redeem them for the gift of their choice.

Example 2: A beverage brand organizes a campaign where unique alphanumeric codes are printed under the bottle caps. Users buy the bottles and have a website where they can enter the code from each bottle. For each valid code, they accumulate points. They can redeem these points for prizes. The more bottles they buy, the better gifts they can obtain.

Example 3: A brand has its own points program but wants to expand its possibilities by connecting Easypromos games and having everything work automatically. Users within the points program play an Easypromos game (Puzzle, Scratch and Win, Wheel of Fortune, Trivia, etc.) and earn points that are automatically synchronized with the user's account in the points program.

Example 4: A brand organizes a digital advent calendar for Christmas. It wants to award points for each window a user opens. Some windows will give more points than others. After completing the calendar, users will enter a final draw, and they will have as many entries in the draw as points they have obtained. They can also redeem points for gifts if they wish. The possibilities are endless.

Example 5: A brand organizes a Prize Wheel, where users participate and have the chance to win different types of prizes. In this way, for a "By Probability" or "By Instant win" prize, the administrator can configure that the prize, when won, awards a certain number of coins to the user. This way, the user will accumulate coins that can be used to redeem for prizes or rewards.

As the promotion administrator, you will be able to:

Customize the name and icon of your currency: You can call it coins, points, or the term that best suits your brand or business. Additionally, you can upload the image that will represent the "coin" icon, which is displayed at diverse locations in the promotion microsite.
Create coin assignment rules upon participation: You can configure the number of coins users will receive when they fulfill the rule set by the administrator. Currently, two types of rules can be applied:
- Upon participation: Allows awarding X virtual coins for completing a participation. Examples:
  - Award 20 coins for uploading a valid purchase receipt.
  - Award 20 coins for entering a valid code.
- By score: Allows awarding X virtual coins based on the points earned in the participation. Examples:
  - Minimum: award 10 coins for exceeding 300 points in a game.
  - For every: award 1 coin for every 100 points earned in a game.
  - Range: award 5 coins if the user earns between 400 and 500 points.
- Multiple rules: In case of creating multiple rules, the coins that meet each rule will be given. Example:
  - If you give 3 coins for participating, and 5 coins for exceeding 100 points in a game, if a user plays and scores 150 points, they will earn 8 coins.
- [White Label/Corporate] In addition, with an active WL or Corporate subscription, you can configure the assignment of different quantities of coins to users, depending of the segment they belong to. This allows you to distribute a higher number of coins to your VIP clients. Example:
  - Award 1 coin to clients without any segment.
  - Award 10 coins to your most loyal clients from the VIP segment.

Set the cost of prizes: You can create the catalog of prizes that users can redeem for coins and indicate the cost in coins for each of them.
Configure prizes to award a certain number of coins: For any type of prize, you can set it to award coins. This way, when the prize is won, the user will receive the specified number of coins. Example: In a Prize Wheel, you can create a "By Probability" or "By Instant win" prize that automatically assigns 30 coins to the user.
Customize the prize redemption page: You can present the catalog of prizes that users can redeem for coins.

2. User experience

Below we explain the user experience when participating in a promotion that offers users "virtual coins" redeemable for prizes and gifts.

As mentioned in the introduction of this article, the "Virtual Coins" functionality is available for any type of participation stage, In this example, we will use a "Validate Purchase Receipt" promotion, where the clients accumulate points for each valid purchase receipt they upload, which they can finally redeem for the gift of their choice.

To encourage participation, the brand organizes a promotion where users can accumulate points, redeemable for different types of prizes and gifts, publicly displayed on the "Virtual Coin Redemption" page, which would be the catalog of prizes or rewards:

1. After uploading the valid receipt on the requirement screen, the user sees on-screen the number of coins or points they have just earned:

2. The user can continue participating, in this case, by uploading new purchase receipts, to continue accumulating points. Clients can check their points balance from the "My Participation" menu of the promotion, which they can access by simply logging in with the email they registered with:

3. When the user has the necessary number of coins to redeem the desired prize, they can go to the "Points Catalog" screen to start the redemption process. Upon accessing, they will see the list of available prizes and can click the "Redeem" button to exchange their coins for the reward:

4. Once redeemed, the user can see at any time the list of prizes they have redeemed in their user area, accessing the "My Prizes" section, where their current coin balance will also appear. Additionally, the administrator can also schedule the sending of an automatic email upon redeeming a prize, so that the user has the information of the prize won in their email. Check here for instructions on creating this type of email.

3. Configuration of virtual Coins

After reviewing the functioning of Virtual Coins from the participant's perspective, next, we describe the steps that the administrator must follow to enable this functionality in the promotion.

Initial Considerations

Below are some important points about the Easypromos virtual coins system that you should consider before starting:

Functionality only available in promotions created with the White Label version.
Currently, it is not possible to accumulate coins between different promotions.
Only available with "Identified Mode" (users must register before participating)
Virtual Coins is a cross-functional feature, meaning it can be applied to any type of participation stage (Validate Purchase Receipt, Validate Code, Prize Wheel, Scratch and Win, Quiz with Time, Puzzle, etc.).
Currently, it is only possible to distribute a single type of coins.
Not available for Classic promotions (promotions with the old Easypromos engine).

Step 1. Enable virtual Coins functionality

The first step is to activate the Virtual Coins tool. To do this, access the Editor > Prizes > Virtual coins, then click the button to enable the functionality:

Step 2. Customize coins and message that users will see when receiving them

After clicking the button, you will see the options to customize the coin itself, as well as the message that users will see when they participate and are assigned coins.

Specifically, you will find two configuration tabs:

1. "Settings" Tab: Here you can customize the name you want to use to express the coins. For example: points, coins, tokens, etc. You can customize the following elements:

Singular name of the currency.
Plural name.
Icon.

On the right side of the screen, you can see a graphical representation of how your virtual coin will be displayed on different screens of the promotion.

2. "Message on coin earning" Tab: Here you can customize the contents and design of the screen that users will see when they win coins. Specifically, you can customize the following options:

Text color: customize the color of the message indicating to the user the coins they have won.
Border width: this option allows you to display the message with a box by selecting the border thickness.
Background color: additionally, you can modify the background color of the box where the message is presented.
Text: customize the message indicating to the user the coins won. You can use the following smart-tags to display a personalized message to each user:
- Coins won.
- Total coins accumulated by the user.
- Coin name.
- Coin icon.
Display a link to the virtual coins redemption page: This option allows you to include access to the redemption page, which is the page where the prizes that users can win by redeeming the coins are presented.
Link color: Allows you to modify the color used for including external links in the message.

Examples of where this message appears

The "Message on coin earning" appears when the user has completed participation in the promotion, so it appears right on the page the user accesses after participating.

Below, we show three examples where the message indicating the number of coins won can be displayed, depending on the application used.

1. Final Page

It is the screen the user accesses after registering and participating in the promotion:

2. Game Score Screen

It's the screen that appears right after completing the game with a summary of the user's score:

3. Final Quiz Messages Screen

In case of setting up a Quiz, it's the screen where the user is shown a personalized final message based on their quiz answers:

Step 3. Rules for assigning coins

The next step is to define the number of coins that users will earn upon completing participation.

To configure it, access the Editor > Participation > click on the participation stage, then access the "Virtual coins" tab:

To get started, click on the "Add rule" button.

1. First, you need to apply the rule that will award coins to users. There are 2 types of rules available:

Upon participation: Allows granting X virtual coins for completing a participation. Example: Granting 20 coins for uploading a valid purchase receipt.
Based on score: Allows granting X virtual coins based on the points obtained in the participation. Example: Granting 10 coins for exceeding 300 points in a game.

2. Once you have selected the coin assignment rule, you can configure the following options:

"Upon participation" rule: You can indicate the number of coins the user will earn upon completing participation:

"Based on score" rule: You will have the following options to define the number of points required to meet the rule, as well as the number of coins to be awarded:

Note: The system allows combining multiple rules. In this case, the system will grant the coins taking into account the different rules created. For example, if the administrator defines the following rules:

Upon participation: 3 coins are awarded for participating.

Based on score: 5 coins are awarded for exceeding 100 points in a game.

If a user plays and scores 150 points, the user will earn 8 coins.

How to Award Coins Through Prizes

Additionally, you can award coins to users through the prizes they can win in the promotion. For this, you can configure any type of prize to award coins. This way, when the prize is won, the user will receive the specified number of coins.

Example: A brand organizes a Prize Wheel, where users participate and have the chance to win different types of prizes. In this way, for a "By Probability" or "By Instant win" prize, the administrator can configure the prize to award a certain number of coins to the user when won. This way, the user will accumulate coins that can be used to redeem for prizes or rewards.

You can configure the prize to award coins through the following option, where you can specify the number of coins the user will receive if they win the prize:

Step 4. Create the prizes that can be redeemed for coins

Next, create the prizes that will be part of the points catalog, that is, the gifts, prizes, or rewards that users can redeem with the coins or points they have accumulated by participating in the promotion.

For each prize, you can indicate their cost in coins, that is, the number of virtual coins that users will need to have received in order to redeem it and thus obtain the prize.

To create the prizes, follow the steps indicated below:

1. Go to the Editor > Prizes > Prize Inventory section, and click on the "Create new prize" button:

2. Next, as the type of prize, select "By redeeming virtual coins":

3. Enter next the basic information of the prize:

4. Indicate the cost of the prize in virtual coins in the following field:

5. Next, you can finish configuring the prize through the following options:

Prize image: this will appear on the Prize Redemption Page.
Option to convert the prize into a promotional code. In this case, you can upload your own promotional codes, and the system will distribute them among users as they participate.
Prize have downloadable content: you can generate a PDF to display the prize in the form of a promotional coupon.

Discover here all the configuration options for prize properties.

Step 5. Customize the prize redemption page

The prize redemption page is the screen where the prizes that users can redeem in exchange of their coins are presented. The page shows an image of each prize and details of the different rewards of the Prize catalog, indicating the cost in coins of each one:

Next, we explain how you can configure this page and how you can customize its contents.

First, go to the Editor > Pages > Virtual Coin Redemption page, and click on the "Publish page" button:

Next, you will see the following customization options:

Upload media: allows you to upload a header image or video.
Introduction message: customize the message that will be shown at the top of the page.
Display exhausted prizes: allows you to decide whether to show in the prize catalog those prizes that have run out of units.
Display prize description: allows you to accompany each prize with the defined description.
User message: customize the message that the user will see on screen when redeeming the prizes.

When publishing the page, the administrator can enable access to this page from two specific locations in the user participation flow:

1. Access from the promotion's Welcome page:

To configure it, enter the Editor > Pages > Welcome, and under the Content tab, check the option "Display a link to the virtual coin redemption page":

2. Access to the Prize/rewards catalog from the screen users see after participating:

To configure it, enter the Editor > Prizes > Virtual Coins > "Message on coin earning" section, and check the option "Display a link to the virtual coin redemption page":

4. Email communications with users

You can use the Email Platform to create a series of emails that are automatically sent when users perform certain actions in the promotion, such as:

1. Send an email when the user redeems a prize for coins

When a user successfully redeems a prize in exchange of their coins, a good practice is to send an email to the user with the information about the prize they have redeemed. This way, users will always have all the necessary information at hand, and in the case of a prize that can be redeemed physically at a store or establishment, this will allow users to easily retrieve prize information on the day they want to go to the point of sale to collect their prize.

To create this email, your promotion includes the Email Platform tool, which allows you to automate the sending of emails to users registered in the promotion.

Here's how you can do it:

1. From the main management page of the promotion, enter the "Emails and notifications" section:

2. Create a new email of the type "Upon winning a prize":

3. Create the email with the following characteristics:

In the "Conditions" section, you should select the filter "Has won a prize" "By virtual coins", and then you will see two options:
- "All": This will allow you to send the same email for all the prizes in the prize catalog, being able to customize the message with the smart tag "Prize Information" to indicate to each user more information about the prize they have requested.
- "Specific Prize": This allows you to select a specific prize and create a different email for each prize, instead of sending the same email for all types of prizes.

In the body of the email, insert the smart tag "Prize Summary". This will dynamically add all the information related to the prize that each user has won (prize name, as well as the Redeem button to open the redemption screen).

2. Send a notification to the administrator when a user redeems a prize for coins

Additionally, you can also send an internal notification to the promotion administrator each time a user redeems a prize for coins, with the user and prize information.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click on the "Notifications to administrators" tab and click on the "Create a new notification" button:

2. Create a notification of the type "Upon winning a prize":

3. Create the notification with the following characteristics:

In the "Conditions" section, you should select the filter "Has won a prize" "By virtual coins", and then you will see two options:
- "All": This will allow you to send the same notification for all the prizes in the prize catalog.
- "Specific Prize": This allows you to select a specific prize, instead of sending the same notification for all types of prizes.

In the body of the email, you can use smart tags so that the notification includes the user information, the prize they redeemed, etc.

5. Participant management

From the "Users" section of the promotion, the administrator can see at any time the number of coins each participant has earned, and for more details, they can check the history of each user, which records the number of coins earned in each user's participation, the coins they have redeemed for prizes, etc.

To do this, the administrator should access the "Users" section and click on the eye icon to view the details of a user, and then click on the "Virtual Coins" tab:

Here, the administrator can check the history of coins earned and spent for this user, with details of the date on which each action was taken:

Additionally, the administrator has a tool to manage the virtual coins of the user, which will allow them to add or remove coins from a participant indicating the reason, updating the total number of coins for the user. To do this, the administrator should click on the link "Manage the virtual coins of the user":

Below, you will find the following options:

Number of coins: You can indicate the number of coins you want to add or remove from this user.
Reason: You can indicate the reason why you are adding or removing coins from this user. This information will be accessible to the administrator to review at any point.

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