Ways to Earn

Earn rules are the actions that award points to your customers. PerkStack ships with seven, each with a sensible default you can change. Turn rules on or off and set their point values in PerkStack → Loyalty → Earn Rules.

The seven ways to earn

ActionDefault pointsShipsPlan
Purchase1 point per $1 spentOnFree
Account signup100OnFree
Text review100OnFree
Photo review200OnEssential
Birthday200OffEssential
Social share100OnEssential
Referral500 referrer / 200 friendOffGrowth
Two rules ship off and must be turned on before they award anything: Birthday and Referral. Social share ships on. If you launch expecting birthday or referral points to flow automatically, enable those rules first.
Photo review, birthday, and social share require Essential or higher. Referral requires Growth or higher. On lower plans these rules appear in the list but are disabled, with an inline prompt naming the plan that unlocks them.

Configure a rule

In Loyalty → Earn Rules, open a rule to configure it. Every rule shares these options:

  • Active toggle — when active, customers earn points for this action.
  • Points earned — the point value awarded (a fixed amount for every rule except Purchase and Referral).
  • Description — free text shown to customers in the loyalty widget, so they know what the action is worth.

Purchase

Purchase points scale with order value. Set dollars spent per point (how many dollars a customer spends to earn one point — default $1, so a $50 order earns 50 points). You can also set a minimum order value: below it, an order earns nothing. Leave the minimum empty for no threshold. You can enter fractional rates for finer control.

Referral

The referral rule has two separate amounts: points for the referrer (default 500) and points for the friend (default 200). See Referrals for how the referral link and the friend's discount work.

Text and photo reviews

Both review rules offer a Require verified purchase option — when on, only reviewers who actually bought the product earn points. A review that includes at least one photo earns the photo-review amount, not both. Setting photo review higher than text review nudges customers toward richer, more persuasive reviews.

Multipliers: how purchase points can grow

Base purchase points are just the starting figure. Two multipliers can increase them:

  • VIP tier multiplier — a customer's tier multiplies their purchase points (for example, a 1.5x tier turns 50 points into 75). See VIP Tiers.
  • Campaign boost — a live points campaign multiplies earning during a scheduled window. See Points Campaigns & Boosts.

When both apply, they stack multiplicatively. A customer at a 2x tier buying during a 2x boost earns 4x the base points on that order.

Start simple: keep the default 1 point per $1 and turn on signup and text reviews to seed balances. Add birthday, social, and referral earning as your program matures.
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