What it looks like on a real site.
The same plugin, pointed at four different problems. Each of these is a set of rules and rewards you can copy on the day you install it.
Local directory
The hardest thing about a new directory is the empty review count. Pay for reviews and you get the first hundred; make promotions the reward and the business owners start asking their customers to leave them.
- Earn: reviews 25, photos on the timeline 10, daily visit 5
- Cap: five reviews a day, so nobody farms it
- Spend: a week of homepage promotion at 800
- Result: roughly a month of genuine activity buys one promotion
Marketplace
When you already take a cut of every order, points are the cheapest loyalty programme you can run — the reward costs you inventory you control rather than margin you don't.
- Earn: 50 on a completed order, plus 1 per dollar spent
- Reverse: refunds claw the points back automatically
- Spend: priority boosts for sellers, promotions for shops
- Result: repeat buyers, and sellers who chase visibility
Community platform
Timeline sites live or die on whether anyone posts in the first six months. Points give early members a visible reason to keep showing up before the network effect does the work for you.
- Earn: timeline posts 10, comments 5, followers gained 15
- Cap: three timeline posts a day — strongly recommended
- Climb: the level mark sits beside every name in the feed
- Spend: profile features and verified badges
Job board
Employers post once and vanish. Points give them a balance that is only worth anything if they come back — and a listing promotion is exactly what they wanted to buy anyway.
- Earn: 100 on an approved listing, 50 on a completed hire
- Once: approval, not submission — pending spam earns nothing
- Spend: featured placement, priority in search
- Result: a reason to return that costs you nothing in cash
Whichever one you are, start the same way.
Turn on two rules, create one reward, and put the balance widget somewhere people will see it. You can tune the numbers for months afterwards without anyone noticing — the ledger keeps every change straight.
Pick two rules
The one thing you most want more of, and one easy one. Reviews and daily visits is a good default for a directory.
Price one reward
Aim for roughly a month of realistic activity. Too cheap and it stops meaning anything; too dear and nobody tries.
Show the balance
The Points Balance widget with its next-reward line turns a number into a target: “120 to Homepage Promotion”.
Set it up in an afternoon.
A short wizard names your points and picks your first rules. Everything it sets can be changed later.