Why Points Programs Are Struggling to Retain Users
Points programs fail to retain users because most projects design points as “volume-boosting tools” rather than “relationship bonds”—rewarding transaction volume instead of genuine contributions, attracting mercenaries who leave the moment rewards stop, rather than people who truly care about the product.
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Two Core Reasons Why Points Programs Fail
Mechanism 1: Reward Mismatch — How Many Points You Earn Has No Bearing on Whether Users Stay
Most points programs follow the same formula: points = volume × time. The problem is that it rewards “bots and wash trading” rather than “people who truly understand the product.”
When projects only reward superficial behaviors like transaction count, volume, and wallet creations, professional studios use scripts to operate hundreds or thousands of wallets, easily earning far more points than real users. The result: real users’ rewards are diluted, and projects spend big money only to get “zombie addresses” that disappear en masse once the campaign ends.
Mechanism 2: Psychological Misalignment — Points Feel Like ‘Labor’ Rather Than ‘Progress’
If users repeat the same tasks every day (bridging, staking, retweeting) and only receive ever-inflating points, they quickly experience fatigue. When 90% of projects on the market use similar point mechanics, the appeal of “points” itself is completely diluted.
Users do a different calculation: are the gas fees and time spent worth the points earned? If the answer is uncertain, they won’t stick around.
What a Points Design That Actually Retains Users Looks Like
The following is for project teams’ reference, and ordinary users can use it to judge whether a points campaign is worth joining:
| Features That Retain Users | Features That Fail to Retain |
|---|---|
| Rewards skill demonstration, community contributions, product mastery | Only rewards volume and transaction count |
| The deeper users go, the more complex the tasks and higher the rewards | Everyone does the same tasks forever |
| Tied to real protocol revenue (fee sharing, governance rights) | Relies solely on token inflation for rewards, with no revenue backing |
| Has anti-Sybil mechanisms to identify real users | Whoever farms the most gets the most |
| Users continue participating after the campaign (voting, contributing) | Users vanish en masse once the campaign ends |
Typical examples: Blur stopped rewarding pure trading volume in seasons 3-4 and instead rewarded high-quality trading behaviors (rare NFT trading, market-making, etc.), resulting in a 40% increase in monthly active users and a 25% drop in churn. Curve’s veCRV model lets users lock tokens to earn fee shares, turning retention into rational behavior rather than a marketing goal.
As a Regular User, How to Judge Whether a Points Campaign Is Worth Joining
Step 1: Look at what it rewards.
Case A: The campaign says “the more transactions you make / the more you stake, the more points you get.”
It probably isn’t worth much effort. The points from such campaigns will eventually be diluted by farmers, and the token value you might receive likely won’t cover gas fees.
Case B: The campaign has a clear “deep engagement” path — like beginner tasks → advanced features → community contribution, with a transparent reward mechanism.
It’s worth a try. Such campaigns filter for real users, and at least you won’t be working for nothing.
When are you done: You’ve confirmed the campaign belongs to “Case B” rather than “Case A.”
Step 2: Check if the project has completed funding or TGE (Token Generation Event).
If a project has been running a points campaign for over six months without issuing a token and has no clear timeline, the value of the points is likely being continually diluted. It’s advisable to pause your input and wait for clear rules.
When are you done: You can find the TGE schedule or funding information on the project’s official site or in public information.
Step 3: Estimate costs and benefits.
Open your wallet and tally the total gas fees spent on this campaign in the past week. If it exceeds 20% of your expected airdrop value, it’s wise to pause. Keep an eye on the campaign, but it’s not worth “farming at a loss.”
When are you done: You have a clear account of your weekly costs for participating in points campaigns.
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Way to Confirm Completion
Look through your wallet and find 2-3 points projects you’ve recently participated in. Review whether your “active address” continued interacting with these projects after they distributed rewards—if you can’t even remember what the last project did, it probably didn’t retain you. Likewise, if you’re a project team, the 30-day retention rate is more meaningful than registration numbers.
Next step: If you find that past points campaigns were mostly “busywork with no payoff,” next time you encounter a new project, spend 5 minutes evaluating it with the 3 steps above before diving in. Don’t be driven by “just in case” emotions—most of the time, the people who rush in are the ones being filtered out.
