Improve Engagement and Streamline Rewards Management with Our New Points Expiration Feature

Motivate Participation, Reduce Liability, Build Programs to Last

BrandChamp is excited to announce the release of a highly requested new feature: Points Expiration.

This enhancement allows brands running ambassador and loyalty programs to set automatic expiration dates on reward points, helping brands drive more engagement while reducing liability to improve overall program performance.

This blog post explores why Points Expiration matters, how the feature works in BrandChamp, how brands can use it effectively, and what industry research reveals about the measurable business and customer benefits of expiring reward points.

Why The Ability to Expire Points Matters

Point-based rewards are one of the most effective ways to drive participation across a community. Earned points can be redeemed for rewards within a customizable catalog that gives participants the freedom to choose how they want to be rewarded.

However, unspent points can pile up over time. Especially for long-standing programs that span years (which is common at BrandChamp), point management can become a challenge.

That’s where Points Expiration – sometimes known as points breakage – comes in. The feature isn’t just about removing points. It’s about making your rewards system more meaningful and engaging.

This powerful new tool provides more control over how points are managed, creating a more engaging system for incentivizing participants while minimizing liability for growing programs.

Benefit #1: Encourages More Participation

Points that never expire give no incentive for participants to redeem in a timely manner. A deadline, by contrast, creates urgency and motivates ambassadors to act.

Benefit #2: Reduces Financial Liability

Unredeemed reward points count as liabilities on a brand’s balance sheet. If they never expire, those liabilities can balloon indefinitely. Point Expiration helps brands recognize revenue from unused point and clear them from financial records.

Benefit #3: Improves Program Health & Manageability

Without expiration, point balances can grow uncontrollably and make forecasting reward budgets difficult. Expiration policies help manage point balances and focus engagement strategies on active users.

Benefit #4: Redemption Builds Loyalty

Redemptions aren’t the end of a journey. They’re part of the engagement loop. Once an ambassador receives an incentive, they’re motivated to earn again. A regular cycle of earning, redeeming, and repeating drives retention and can help increase lifetime value.

What Is the Points Expiration Feature?

Points Expiration gives you the ability to set earned points to expire automatically after a chosen time period.

You now have two flexible ways to configure points to expire:

Ongoing Expiration: Set a recurring window (i.e. every 3 months) where points automatically expire on an ongoing basis after they’ve aged out.

One-Time Expiration: Set an expiration window for points within a program that can be turned off, allowing new points to freely accrue until you decide they should be set to expire again.

This flexibility provides more control to customize the lifespan of reward points over time, allowing your brand to shape redemption behavior and create an engaging program.

For example, it’s possible to activate expiration temporarily to clear out old points before pausing it again to allow new points to accrue.

Additionally, the expiration frequency can be adjusted at any time. If points were originally set to expire every month, they can be updated with a new countdown timer for every 12 months.

Points Expiration: How it Works

Points Expiration is simple and intuitive to configure within your admin dashboard.

First, define the expiration timeframe based on a specific frequency that ranges from every 1 month up to every 12 months. For example, points could be set to expire every 4 months or every 7 months depending on your preference.

Once enabled, points will not begin to expire until the 1st of the following month. This mechanism ensures participants have a minimum window of time before any points expire.

For example, let’s say you set points to expire every month on April 11th.

Any points earned in April will begin their monthly expiration countdown on May 1st and those points will not begin to expire until June 1st. Even if points are years old, they will not expire until at least a full calendar month has passed (from May 1st to June 1st).

While the Points Expiration feature is live, participants will see a notification banner on the dashboard and Rewards page of their BrandChamp ambassador portal.

The notification will show the number of points set to expire, their expiration date, and provide details of the points expiration policy set for your program.

How to Use Points Expiration Effectively

To get the most out of this feature, here are some best practices to consider.

1) Communicate Early and Often

Transparency is key. Ambassadors should never be surprised by expired points. Send reminders in advance, include the policy in your knowledgebase, and provide an ample time window for participants to make use of their points.

2) Align with Purchase Cycles

If your customers buy quarterly, a 12-month expiration might be fine but a monthly expiration would create negative experiences. If purchases happen more often, consider shorter durations to drive more consumption.

3) Balance Points, Rewards, and Activities

Points expiration frequency should align with the structure of your program. If it takes 3 months of maximum effort to redeem 1 reward, then you shouldn’t expire points every month. If your entire catalog can be redeemed within a single month, then a monthly expiration makes sense.

4) Use Expiration to Re-Engage Dormant Members

Use expiring points as an excuse to activate your community. Leverage notifications for upcoming expirations to bring inactive ambassadors back into the program. These reminders convert inactivity into revenue.

Start Using Points Expiration Today

Your community is active. Your rewards should be, too.

With Points Expiration, you can prevent incentives from going stale, keep participants engaged, and better manage your rewards liability.

When implemented with care, expiration policies:

• Drive more activity
• Prompt more purchases
• Clear liabilities from your books
• Boost overall ROI

It’s another way BrandChamp helps brands build smarter, more scalable programs that grow over time and last for years.

For more information on how to get access to this feature, reach out to our team.