Management of point settings controls the entire lifecycle of your loyalty currency. Getting the settings wrong will break consumer trust, create liabilities, and leave no profit margin.
Points that are too easy to earn get gamed. Points that can be redeemed without limit will erode profits. Points with no expiration don’t create liabilities – they create liabilities on steroids.
Our WooCommerce Points and Rewards plugin provides controls down to the granular level of when points are earned, how they are redeemed, and when they expire. This trio of configuration areas works closely together to create loyalty programs that are sustainable and profitable.
This is a thorough guide on each integrated setting to maximize both customer engagement and business profitability of your loyalty program.
Accessing Points Settings #
Navigate to DevDiggers Plugins → LoyaltyX → Configuration → Points Earning / Points Redeeming / Points Expiration tabs.
These three tabs contain all of the core settings for managing the lifecycle of your points.
Part 1: Point Earning Settings #
Control WHEN and HOW customers earn points.
Global Point Value
Set the default earning rate that is applied right away to all purchases.
Earn Points: Every [10] $(USD) [1] Points
- Default: 10 points per $1 spent (10:1 ratio)
- Calculation: Order total ÷ currency value = points awarded
- Example: $50 order = 50 ÷ 10 = 5 points awarded
Recommendation: Start with a 10:1 or 100:1 ratio, depending on your selling price points and value points goals.
Advanced Rules: You can always override this global default by building out advanced rules that have earning rates that are product-specific, category-specific, or customer role-specific.
Points Calculation
Configure what parts of the order total are included or excluded when calculating points.
Include Taxes: Enable this to include order taxes when calculating points earned.
- Disabled by default
- When Enabled: Points calculated on (Subtotal + Tax)
- When Disabled: Points calculated on Subtotal only
Recommendation: Keep DISABLED. If it’s a tax, it’s not part of your revenue – don’t reward points for a government fee.
Include Shipping: Enable this to include shipping costs when calculating points earned.
- Disabled by default
- When enabled: Points include shipping fees
- When disabled: Points excluded shipping costs.
Recommendation: DISABLE unless shipping is a significant profit center. Shipping is usually considered a “cost” and most stores should exclude this from points.
Opting Out of Coupon Discounts: Allow the option to exclude any coupon discounts from the points earned calculation.
- On by default (recommended)
- Enabled – Point earned calculated BEFORE the coupon discount is applied
- Disabled – Point earned calculated on the discounted total only
Why this is important:
Disabled = Customer uses a $20 coupon discount on a $100 purchase who earned points on $80
Enabled = Customer uses a $20 coupon discount on a $100 purchase who earned points on $100
Advice: Enable. This prevents customers from double-dipping (receiving a discount + reduced points)
Points Rounding on Points Earned: Specify how fractional points will be rounded.
- Round Up: 4.1 points earned → 5 Points gained (Customer friendly, higher expense to you)
- Round Down: 4.9 points earned → 4 points gained (Business friendly, caused customer frustration)
- Round to Nearest: 4.4 points → 4 pts or 4.5 pts → 5 pts (neutral, semi-fair)
Advice: In order to be mathematically accurate and perceived as fair, select “Round to Nearest”.
Product and Category Exclusions
Exclude Specific Products: Specify any products and or categories you will not allow to earn points.
Use For: Loss leaders or promotional items, gift cards, items that are cleared, etc. Example: “Gift Cards” don’t earn points because we want to prevent “point farming”.
Exclude Specific Categories: Select specific product categories that will NOT earn points.
Use For: Because of the entire product line that is associated with or out of your hands. Example: “Sale” Category and Gift Cards” Category.
Exclude Sale Products: This feature disallows customers from using points on a product that is already on sale.
- When enabled, a product marked on sale earns zero points
- Prevents abuse – customers never earn even the full points on sale products
Part 2: Points Redemption Settings #
Control HOW points convert into discounts and/or spending limits.
Global Points Conversion Rate
This value will set the monetary value or discount that customers receive when they choose to use points at the time of checkout.
Points Conversion: [10] Points = [1] $(USD)
- Default: 10 points = $1 discount
- Example: A customer has 100 points = $10 value
- This is the value for redemption that customers see in their dashboard.
This is an essential business rule: The redemption value of the points should sit around, but not exceeding 30-40% of the earning value to protect your profit.
Example Sustainable Structure:
- Earning, spend $10 → Earn 10 points (customer spent $10)
- Redeeming, 100 points → $10 discount (customer spent $100 to earn $10 back = 10% value)
Advanced Rules: You can also override this global rate by applying advanced rules during redemption for specific products, product categories, or certain customer roles.
Restrictions
Establish minimum and maximum restrictions for the number of points that can be redeemed in a single transaction.
Minimum Points to Redeem: Set the minimum number of points the customer needs to have in order to redeem points.
- Default Value: 100 points
- Purpose: To prevent tiny redemptions that create overhead processing.
- Psychological Benefit: Provides a milestone to reach.
Recommendation: Minimum set at roughly $5-$10 discount value equivalent.
Maximum Points that can be redeemed: Set the maximum amount of points that can be redeemed in a single transaction. Leave blank for no maximum.
- Default Value: 1000 points
- Purpose: To protect against an entire order being “free” from just points.
- Leave blank for unlimited points redeemed (high-risk for high-value items).
Recommendation: Maximum set at 30-50% of the average order value.
Example: Average order = $100:
- Maximum redeemed = 30-50% ($30-50 discount), the customer still pays $50-70 cash for the order.
- Good for a healthy profit margin.
Exclude Products and Categories
Designate where points CAN NOT be redeemed.
Exclude Specific Products: Select individual products where points cannot be redeemed.
- Used For: High-margin items or prestige items with a lower margin
- Example: Don’t allow point redemptions on already discounted bundles
Exclude Specific Categories: Select complete product categories where points cannot be redeemed.
- Used For: Specific product lines to protect
- Example: “New Arrivals” or “Limited Edition” product categories.
Exclude Sale Products: Prevent customers from redeeming points on already-discounted products.
- When enabled: Customers can’t use points on sale items
- Critical for margins: Prevents double-discounting
Part 3: Points Expiration Settings #
By determining when the points will expire, you can create urgency and manage your liability to consumers.
Enable/Disable Expiration: The enable option is if you wish to place an expiration time on the points that are rewarded to your users.
- Enabled: Points will expire after the time configured by the user
- Disabled: Points never expire (unlimited liability)
Reasons to worry about expiration:
- Reduces long-term financial liability.
- Create urgency for points to be redeemed! Prompting consumers to make purchases.
- Discourages the ”point hoarding” behavior.
- It’s the norm: Most major programmes expire points.
Advisable: ENABLE expiration, with a reasonable expiration time (12-24 months).
Points will expire in: This feature will allow you to set a default expiration time on the redeemed points in your store.
- Default: 365 days (1 year)
- Common configurations:
- 180 days (6 months) – Aggressive, high urgency
- 365 days (1 year) – Balanced, the industry standard
- 730 days (2 years) – Customer-friendly, long-term planning
Expiration Email Notifications
Automated notifications for your customers regarding expiring points.
Send Email: Check this option if you would like to have an email sent to your users to notify them of their earned points before they expire.
- Disabled by Default
- When it is enabled, the system will automatically generate reminder emails by emailing the user any time before their points expire.
Best Practices: Enable to decrease customer frustration and increase redemptions.
Send Email Notification Before Expiration: Input the number of days before the expiration date that you would like the email notification to be sent to the user.
- Default of 7 Days before expiration
- Common configurations:
- 7 days – Urgent last-minute email.
- 14 days – Good amount of reminder time.
- 30 days – Early warning and better customer experience.
Next Steps #
After the basic points settings are complete:
- Complete Emails Settings for automated notifications on earning, redemption and expiration of points.
- Complete Display Messages settings to display earning points on product pages.
- Complete Layout Settings to ensure brand conformity.
- Complete Advanced Points Rules to set configurations on products/categories.
A good points configuration will provide the basis for a prosperous and sustainable loyalty program that will drive repeat business but also keep a healthy margin.
