Case study 02 · Retention
Launched May 202602
Rewards with rules people can trust
Launching a points product across customer and operational surfaces
Scope
Cross-platform MVP
Role
Rules, experience, measurement, launch
Partners
Engineering, CX, support
Surfaces
Product, checkout, admin, lifecycle
Proof available now
71K+customers supported in 12 weeksLaunched May 2026Redemption by observed behaviorAssociation, not causal lift
Earned beyond grant32.6%
Grant only0.35%
Roadmap signal Move from broad issuance toward repeat earning, visible value, and timely redemption prompts.
01 / Business context
The retention idea needed to become a product customers and teams could actually trust.
The previous miles-based concept was hard to understand and weakly connected to the behaviors CarAdvise wanted to encourage.
A credible replacement needed to create recognizable value, support redemption, work across customer and operational surfaces, and remain explainable to customers and frontline teams.
02 / Strategic role
Define the business rules, operating model, and launch path as one product.
I translated the retention goal into operating rules, customer experience, lifecycle data, measurement, launch readiness, and post-launch support.
That meant defining audiences, earn and burn behavior, reservation states, exclusions, retroactive eligibility, rounding, success measures, and the boundary of the MVP.
03 / Product decisions
Use a simple currency
100 points equals $1 in service credit, with value connected to eligible spend and selected maintenance behaviors.
Reward meaningful milestones
Vehicle addition, first booking, first completed service, and mileage updates create an activation path—not random gamification.
Define the awkward edges
Cancellation, discounts, partner benefits, tires, taxes, fees, and reservation all received explicit behavior.
Launch with an operating model
Training and a 30-day support channel turned real customer patterns and ledger anomalies into prioritized fixes.
04 / Evidence + learning
The MVP proved operational scale—and exposed the next retention problem.
In its first twelve weeks, Rewards supported 71,424 customers and 100,717 ledger transactions. Customers redeemed $37,520 in value across approximately 7,450 order-linked transactions. Post-launch analysis showed 32.6% redemption among customers who earned beyond the introductory grant, compared with 0.35% among grant-only recipients—an association that shifted the next roadmap question toward repeat earning, clearer redemption value, and lifecycle-triggered engagement. Retention lift remains a measurement goal, not a claimed result.
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