Tiered Rewards
A flat reward pays the same amount whether a referrer brings in one friend or twenty. That works at launch, but it gives your most active referrers no reason to keep going after their first success. Bloop's FlexiTiers feature lets you structure referrer rewards so the payout changes — usually grows — as a referrer reaches new milestones. The referrer who converts five friends earns more than the one who converted one, which is exactly the behavior worth encouraging.
Tiered rewards do not change the referee reward. The discount or credit a new customer receives stays the same regardless of where their referrer sits in the tier structure.
Best practice: Keep the tier structure simple enough to explain in one sentence. "Bring in two friends and earn $5; bring in five and earn $15; bring in ten and earn a $30 store credit" is easy to share. Four or five tiers with overlapping rules is not. A program nobody can explain does not get shared.
How tiers work
Each tier covers a range of successful referral counts. When a referrer completes their Nth qualifying referral, Bloop checks which tier N falls into and issues that tier's reward — or nothing, if N lands in a gap between tiers.
Every tier is configured independently: the reward type, value, minimum requirements, and expiry can all differ across tiers. A referrer who hits tier 1 earns a $5 discount; the same referrer at tier 3 might earn $20 store credit instead. The tiers run sequentially — a referrer works through them in order, one referral at a time.
Set up tiers
Tiers are configured from the Referrer reward section of the Campaign tab.
Open your referral campaign and go to Referrer reward.
In the Tiers section, click Add tiers. Bloop creates a two-tier starting structure: Tier 1 covers referral #1, Tier 2 covers referral #2 and beyond.
For each tier card:
Adjust the start and end referral numbers to define the range.
Click Edit reward settings to choose the reward type, value, and any minimum requirements for that tier.
Use the Add new tier button to insert additional tiers.
Watch the preview panel on the right — it shows the complete sequence: which referral numbers land in each tier, any gaps between tiers, and what happens beyond the final tier.
Configure Advanced tier settings (see below) to control behavior after the last tier and how past referrals are counted.
Click Save when finished.
To remove tiers and return to a single flat reward, delete tiers until only one remains. One tier equals a single flat reward — tiered mode requires at least two.
Control what happens after the final tier
When a referrer's count moves past the last tier, Bloop follows one of three behaviors. Set this in Advanced tier settings.
Keep giving last tier reward for each referral after completing final tier
Every referral beyond the last tier earns the same reward as the final tier, indefinitely
Default for progressive programs — your best advocates keep earning your highest rate forever
Stop rewards after final tier
Referrals beyond the last tier earn nothing
Milestone programs where rewards celebrate specific achievements, not ongoing volume
Loop tiers — restart at Tier 1 after completing final tier
The tier sequence repeats: a referrer who has passed the final tier earns the Tier 1 reward on their next referral, then works through the tiers again
Recurring promotions or programs where you want the reward rhythm to repeat on a cycle
Control how past referrals count
Referrers may already have successful referrals before you enable tiers. Advanced tier settings lets you decide how those prior referrals factor into tier placement.
Count all past rewards toward tier progression (default) — a referrer's N equals their total successful referrals since they joined the program. A referrer with four past successes immediately joins whichever tier covers referral #4. Use this when enabling tiers for an existing program and you want to honor the history your referrers have built.
Start tier progression from: [date] — a referrer's N counts only successful referrals made after the chosen date. Past referrals do not count. Use this when you are launching a new campaign period and want everyone to start from zero — for example, a quarterly promotion where the tier clock resets regardless of prior activity.
Use gaps between tiers
You can leave intentional gaps in your tier structure — ranges of referral counts that fall outside any tier. Referrals that land in a gap earn no reward.
For example, if Tier 1 covers referrals 1–1 and Tier 2 covers referrals 5–∞, then referrals 2, 3, and 4 earn nothing. The preview panel shows gap rows in gray so the full picture is visible before you save.
Gaps are useful when you want to celebrate specific milestones (the first referral, the fifth, the tenth) without paying out for every referral in between — a milestone-only pattern common in loyalty-style programs.
Worked examples
Example 1: Progressive reward — keep highest rate forever (KEEP_LAST)
A beauty brand wants to reward referrers more generously as they grow, and keep paying the highest rate once referrers reach it.
Tier 1
Referrals 1–2
$5 store credit
Tier 2
Referrals 3–5
$10 store credit
Tier 3
Referral 6+
$20 store credit (keeps paying forever)
Behavior: Keep giving last tier reward. A referrer at 12 successful referrals earns $20 credit each time.
Example 2: Milestone rewards only — stop after the last tier (STOP)
A home goods brand runs a three-month campaign and wants to celebrate three specific milestones without paying out on every referral.
Tier 1
Referral #1 only
$5 discount
(gap)
Referrals 2–4
No reward
Tier 2
Referral #5 only
$15 store credit
(gap)
Referrals 6–9
No reward
Tier 3
Referral #10 only
$30 store credit + free gift
Behavior: Stop rewards after final tier. Referral #11 earns nothing — the campaign celebrates achieving each milestone, not raw volume.
Example 3: Cycling rewards — restart at Tier 1 (LOOP)
A subscription box brand runs a recurring quarterly promotion and wants the reward cycle to repeat rather than locking referrers into a permanent top tier.
Tier 1
Referrals 1–2
$5 credit
Tier 2
Referrals 3–5
$12 credit
Behavior: Loop tiers. Referral #6 restarts at Tier 1 ($5), referral #7 stays in Tier 1 ($5), referral #8 enters Tier 2 ($12), and so on. The cycle repeats indefinitely.
Things to know
First tier must start at referral #1. Bloop enforces this — you cannot start the first tier at referral #2 or later.
Tiers cannot overlap. Each referral number can belong to at most one tier. Overlapping ranges are blocked on save.
Gaps are allowed. Referrals that land in a gap earn no reward and still advance the referrer's count.
Minimum 2 tiers to activate tiered mode. If you delete tiers until only one remains, the program reverts to a single flat reward.
Tiers apply to the referrer reward only. The referee's discount is separate and not affected by tiers.
Any reward type per tier. A tier's reward can be a discount, store credit, cash, or a custom reward you describe and fulfil yourself. A custom-reward tier is held for your approval rather than issued automatically, and shows its description in the tier summary and emails.
Tiers and A/B testing are mutually exclusive. If an A/B test is active on the campaign, you cannot enable tiers. Disable the A/B test first, then set up tiers.
Reward resolution uses the tier at order time. If you later edit tier ranges, past rewards already issued are not changed. A referral approved manually after a delay still earns the tier that applied when the original order was placed — not the current configuration.
Common mistakes to avoid
Making tiers too similar. If Tier 1 is a $5 discount and the top tier is $7, the incremental gain is not enough to change behavior. Make the jump feel meaningful — top-tier rewards should feel substantially better than the entry level.
Choosing LOOP when you want KEEP_LAST. LOOP restarts the cycle from Tier 1 after the final tier, which means your most dedicated referrers earn your lowest rate again. Use KEEP_LAST if you want ongoing high performers to always receive your best rate.
Setting START_FROM without a plan for existing referrers. START_FROM resets everyone's progression counter to zero from the chosen date. Referrers who were near the top tier lose that progress. Communicate the change before enabling it.
Building too many tiers. Three well-spaced tiers that referrers can explain to friends outperform five granular tiers that require a table to understand. Complexity belongs in the configuration, not in what referrers have to memorize and pitch.
Next steps
Set the referrer and referee base rewards in Set up referrer and referee rewards.
See who is in each tier and filter by tier in Customers.
Track how your tiered program performs in Analytics.
Understand when to use each reward type in Best practices: choosing the right referral reward.
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