Rewards Program
Organizer Guide
Offer your customers a points-based loyalty program that drives repeat attendance. Here is everything you need to know to set up and manage it.
Enabling the Rewards Program
The rewards program is configured per organizer. Each organizer can have one rewards program. Currently, rewards programs are set up by the Lapso team. Contact us to get started.
Your rewards program has an enabled/disabled toggle. When enabled, customers earn points on ticket purchases across all of your events (unless you opt out individual events). When disabled, no earning or redemption occurs, but existing customer balances are preserved.
Configuring Your Program
A rewards program has three core settings:
1. Cashback Rate
This controls how generous your program is. It determines how much discount value customers earn per dollar spent.
| Cashback Rate | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 0.5% | Customer earns $0.50 in future discounts per $100 spent |
| 1% (default) | Customer earns $1.00 per $100 spent |
| 2% | Customer earns $2.00 per $100 spent |
| 5% | Customer earns $5.00 per $100 spent |
| 10% | Customer earns $10.00 per $100 spent |
Industry norms for event loyalty programs range from 1% to 5%. Setting it too high (above 5-10%) can significantly erode your margins.
Note on very low rates and small purchases
Points are stored as whole cents, so fractional results round down. At most cashback rates this is a non-issue. For example, a $1.00 purchase at 1% earns 1 point, and at 5% it earns 5 points. However, if you set a sub-1% rate (e.g., 0.5%), small purchases can round down to zero points. A $1.00 purchase at 0.5% calculates to 0.5 cents, which rounds to 0, meaning no points are earned. This is only a practical concern if you combine sub-1% cashback rates with low ticket prices.
2. Display Multiplier
This controls the size of the numbers your customers see. It has no effect on the actual dollar value of points. It is purely a presentation choice. The display multiplier lets you show "earn 1,000 points per purchase" without actually giving away more discount value.
| Multiplier | $40 Purchase at 1% Cashback Shows As |
|---|---|
| 1 | "You earned 0.40 points" |
| 100 (default) | "You earned 40 points" |
| 1,000 | "You earned 400 points" |
| 10,000 | "You earned 4,000 points" |
Larger point numbers can feel more rewarding psychologically (earning "400 points" feels better than earning "4 points"), but overly large numbers can make the conversion confusing. The default of 100 strikes a good balance.
3. Minimum Redemption Threshold
This is the minimum value of points a customer must have before they can redeem. The default is $1.00. Setting this to $0 removes the minimum entirely.
The minimum prevents very small redemptions that clutter the checkout experience. It also encourages customers to accumulate points and come back, driving repeat purchases. You can adjust this based on your typical ticket prices. For example, if your average ticket is $200, you might set the minimum to $5.00 so redemptions feel meaningful.
Per-Event Rewards Toggle
By default, all events from an organizer with an active rewards program participate in rewards (both earning and redemption). However, you can disable rewards for specific events.
When you disable rewards on an event:
- Customers will not earn points on purchases for that event.
- Customers will not be able to redeem points at checkout for that event.
- The checkout page will not show the points redemption option.
When to use this:
- Charity or fundraiser events where you want 100% of revenue to go to the cause.
- At-cost or break-even events where margins are too thin for discounts.
- Co-promoted events where revenue is split with a partner not in the rewards program.
- Free or RSVP-only events where points do not make sense.
- Test events or soft launches you want to keep out of the loyalty ledger.
Disabling rewards on an event does not retroactively remove points that were already earned from previous purchases on that event. Those points are kept by the customers.
How Fees and Discounts Interact
Points discounts only reduce the ticket price. Platform service fees are never discounted.
When a customer redeems points:
- The discount is applied against the ticket subtotal (sum of ticket face values).
- The discount cannot exceed the ticket subtotal. Even if the customer has more points, they cannot reduce the ticket price below $0.
- Platform fees are calculated on the full, undiscounted ticket price. Your fee calculations are not affected by customer point redemptions.
- The customer's total payment = (ticket prices) + (fees) - (points discount).
Example
2 tickets at $50 each = $100 ticket subtotal. Platform fee: $10. Customer redeems points worth $15. Customer pays: $100 + $10 - $15 = $95. Fees are calculated on $100 (undiscounted), not $85.
New points earned on this order are based on the post-discount amount. The customer earns points on the $85 they effectively paid for tickets ($100 - $15 discount), not the original $100.
Edge Cases and Rules
| Scenario | What Happens |
|---|---|
| You enable rewards after customers have already bought tickets | Only future purchases earn points. Past purchases are not retroactively credited. |
| You disable your rewards program | No new earning or redemption. Existing customer balances are preserved. If you re-enable later, those balances become active again. |
| You change the cashback rate | The new rate applies to future purchases only. Points already earned are not recalculated. |
| You change the display multiplier | Existing balances stay the same in value. Their displayed numbers will change to match the new multiplier. |
| You change the minimum redemption threshold | The new threshold applies to future redemption attempts. It does not affect points already redeemed. |
| A customer requests a refund | Earned points from that order are reversed. If they redeemed points on that order, those points are restored to their available balance. |
| You disable rewards on an event after purchases were made | Already-earned points stay with the customers. Only future purchases and redemptions are affected. |
| A customer has more points than their ticket costs | The discount is capped at the ticket price. Fees are still charged. Excess points remain in the customer's balance. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Looking for the customer perspective?
Read the Attendee Guide