What are game rewards?

A game reward is any item a player receives from completing an action, like unlocking new characters after defeating a boss or earning bonus coins and XP for completing a level. Crafting an in-app game rewards strategy is critical to keeping your players engaged and invested. But that same level of thought needs to extend beyond the game - especially in your web shop. Since you’re asking players to step outside the familiar in-game experience and engage with a new UI, the right incentives can smooth the transition and reinforce their connection to your game’s brand. Done right, webshop game rewards aren’t just perks - they’re powerful tools to drive retention, spending, and long-term loyalty.

The good news? There are many ways to keep players engaged and spending. Let’s break down the best strategies to integrate gaming reward programs into your webshop. 

How to offer game rewards in your webshop?

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to game rewards - what works for one game might fall flat in another. The key is calibrating your rewards to fit your game’s design and your players’ motivations. At Stash, we’ve built multiple webshop game reward programs, and we’ve learned what truly drives engagement. Steal these tips and make them your own.

1. Take a player-first approach

The golden principle when beginning to integrate game rewards into your webshop is to take a player-first approach. You know your audience best and what makes them tick in-game - so use that as a jumping off point for your webshop rather than a one-size-fits-all strategy that might have worked for another type of game. 

Start by segmenting your players and analyzing them to get a better idea of what they like and what motivates them. Then, you can build your game rewards around generating engagement from those groups. Your goal is to design your game rewards experience based on these insights and what resonates with YOUR players. 

2. Align your reward value with your game economy

Increasing overall player spend in your webshop is key, but you need to make sure to avoid cannibalizing your in-game purchases. To do that, for example, you can offer intangible game rewards that enhance the player experience and are “free” to give away - like exclusive characters, early access to content, VIP communities, or high-status cosmetic skins. 

If you want to offer tangible game rewards, tie them to dollar values, like determining that 10 gems equal $20. This will help you track the success of your gaming rewards program and make sure the extra revenue from your rewards outweighs what you may lose in sales.

3. Offer bonuses, not discounts

Instead of offering discounts as a game reward, focus on giving players more resources. Discounts can lower the pervalue of items and reduce how much players spend. But offering extra resources instead - like 10% more gems - creates more value without directly reducing spend, helping to boost engagement and offset cannibalization. 

For example, airline loyalty programs often offer free seats or upgrades as a reward for their loyal customers. It doesn’t require any additional cost for the airline, since those seats would have been empty anyway. This is also true for gaming - It doesn’t cost anything to give away a skin or chest of coins to players.

6 strategies for delivering game rewards in your webshop 

A great rewards system isn’t just about what you offer - it’s about how you deliver it. The right approach can keep players engaged, encourage repeat visits, and maximize the impact of your rewards. Here are six strategies to effectively structure and distribute game rewards in your game’s web shop.

1. Daily check in

The best game rewards encourage players to repeatedly engage with your web shop - in fact, around 60-70% of a company's revenue comes from repeat business of existing, engaged customers. 

Daily check-ins, for example, give players a reason to return every day - offering small but meaningful game rewards that build anticipation over time. You can even give higher bonuses for players who visit multiple days in a row. By integrating rewards into a player’s routine, you create a steady traffic flow while strengthening long-term retention.

Take Monopoly Go by Scopely, for example. They offer a Daily Wheel of Rewards on their webshop, resetting every 24 hours to give players a reason to return and spin the wheel for new rewards.

What’s the point? Daily check-ins drive players to visit the web shop regularly and engage with its offerings without requiring a purchase. This boosts retention and encourages habitual visits - all without requiring an upfront purchase. They can also help convert non-spenders into paying players by giving them a taste of in-app purchases for free, which is a key goal for any game studio.

2. Bonus game rewards with every webshop purchase

You can also choose to tie your game rewards to players’ purchasing activity. For example, for every dollar spent in the web shop, offer players an extra bonus. The webshop for Snowprint Studio’s Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus gives players 5 free Blackstone for every $1 spent. In fact, Snowprint even went a step further and tied this bonus to their webshop loyalty program - the higher the loyalty tier, the higher the bonus. 

If you choose this strategy, be sure to clearly communicate it throughout the browsing experience, especially at checkout. Highlight the bonuses alongside each purchase to show players the value they’re getting, making it more likely they’ll return. Clash of Clans from Supercell effectively showcases the extra value players get from purchases, reinforcing the incentive to keep shopping.

What’s the point? The value is clear - these game rewards incentivize more spending. In fact, 66% of consumers modify the amount they spend to maximize points. You’ll encourage repeat spenders and larger purchases while making players feel like they’re getting more for their money.

3. Milestone rewards

Milestone game rewards allow players to unlock increasingly valuable perks as they reach spending thresholds. 

For example, Marvel Strike Force from Scopely uses Strike Points to reward players for their in-game purchases. As they shop, they accumulate Strike Points. With each milestone reached, players unlock better rewards, ranging from in-game currency and resources to exclusive characters and powerful gear. 

A visible milestone bar or progress tracker within the webshop encourages further spending by showing players how close they are to unlocking their next reward.

What’s the point? Milestone-based rewards increase repeat purchases because players feel incentivized to keep spending to reach the next milestone and advance towards more meaningful rewards. This not only increases overall spending but also strengthens player retention by making each purchase part of a larger journey.

4. Tiered loyalty programs

Go a step further and create a tiered loyalty program for your game’s web shop. While milestone rewards drive short-term spending, tiered programs build long-term engagement by giving players a sense of progression, exclusivity, and bigger rewards over time.

Most webshop loyalty programs have clear tiers that players can climb, with each new tier offering better rewards and payouts - like Bronze, Silver, or Gold. But how players progress through those tiers is just as important as the rewards themselves. There are two common strategies:

• Web shop spend: Players earn points toward tier progression by making purchases. Clash Royale from Supercell uses this approach with its Bonus Track, where players move along a reward path as they shop, unlocking increasingly valuable payouts.
• In-game missions & resources: Players progress through loyalty tiers by completing missions or spending in-game currency. Supercell’s Clash of Clans does this with in-game Missions that award points redeemable in the web shop.

The structure of your loyalty program should match your game and its audience. A hardcore strategy game with deep mechanics might benefit from multiple tiers, layered currencies, and complex incentives. Meanwhile, a casual casino-style game may work better with fewer tiers and a straightforward rewards system that aligns with the player’s motivation to keep playing and winning.

Designing the right tier pacing is key. If progression is too fast, paying players may burn through the program too quickly, while non-paying players may struggle to make any meaningful progress. A good rule of thumb: base your tiers on your non-paying players’ progression rate and then extend that timeframe - if it takes non-paying players three years to complete, structure your program for six. This ensures that both paying and non-paying players have long-term goals to chase, keeping them engaged and motivated to keep progressing.

5. Promo codes

Offering promo codes through your webshop is another great delivery method for game rewards. In fact, some studies show that up to 80% of consumers are more likely to shop from a brand offering a discount coupon. 

To maximize their impact, these promotions should be prominently displayed at the top of your shop page, making them impossible to miss. You can also restrict access to these exclusive deals until players log-in to encourage them to share their information and give you access to first-party data. Clash of Clans entices users to sign in by giving them a preview of what’s available while keeping high-value discounts gated. Not only does this drive engagement, but it also provides valuable first-party data from logged-in players.

Adding a countdown timer to these promotions can further amplify urgency, pushing players to act quickly before the deal expires. Once a limited-time offer ends, replace it with a fresh promotion to keep players coming back to see what’s new. Walking Dead: Road to Survival by Scopely regularly features rotating web-only bundles, combining time-limited availability with purchase caps to enhance the feeling of exclusivity. This approach keeps players engaged and encourages them to check in frequently for new deals.

What’s the point? Offering promo codes can drive more traffic to your webshop and encourage new sign-ins, giving you access to valuable first-party data. This insight allows you to refine your reward system, tailoring game incentives that better resonate with your audience and boost engagement. Not to mention the increased revenue, engagement, and retention. 

What are the types of game rewards?

Now that we’ve gone through various strategies for delivering rewards to players, it’s time to choose the actual rewards you’ll offer. Your goal is to go beyond rewarding players with basic resources and to dive deeper into what truly excites your audience.  

Vanity rewards

Vanity rewards are in-game items or cosmetics that enhance a player's visual experience. The best part - they don’t require any additional costs or cannibalize your overall player spend.

• Cosmetic skins
• Animations and emotes
• Customizable profiles and banners
• Glowing effects and auras
• Pet companions 
• Victory poses and kill effects

VIP rewards

VIP rewards are only available for, well, VIPs - your players who have reached the highest loyalty tier or spend threshold. 

• Exclusive badges and frames displayed on player’s profile
• Dedicated account manager
• IRL goodies like merchandise or gifts
• Early access to new releases
• Dedicated VIP forums
• Access to exclusive IRL events 
• Direct access to talk with the studio

Create your own game reward system

A well-designed game reward system turns your web shop into an extension of the gameplay experience, keeping players engaged and coming back. By aligning rewards with player motivations you’ll drive traffic, increase revenue, and foster loyalty. The key is to go beyond discounts and offer meaningful rewards that create excitement, exclusivity, and a sense of progress. 

At Stash, we work with our developer partners to offer web shop game rewards that tap into their unique player motivations without cannibalizing their in-game economies. You know your players best, and we know how to build custom webshops and offer strategies - combining our knowledge, we can design a game rewards structure that increases player spend, boosts engagement, and encourages repeat visits. Talk to us today to learn more.