How to Set Up a Milestone Campaign on Blinko

There's a particular kind of loyalty no discount can manufacture. The feeling of being genuinely recognised by a business you love. A customer who gets a message saying "You've visited 25 times — you're officially one of our most loyal regulars, and we want to celebrate that" doesn't just redeem the reward. They tell people. They feel ownership over the relationship, the kind that makes them defend your business when someone criticises it online. A Milestone Campaign is how you create that feeling at scale. Here's how to set one up.

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What is a Milestone Campaign?

A Milestone Campaign fires automatically when a customer reaches a specific achievement — a visit count, an anniversary of following your business, or a community-wide moment you choose to celebrate.

It's different from a stamp card. A stamp card rewards every completed cycle. A Milestone Campaign marks a singular achievement. It says: this customer has done something worth acknowledging. The reward is secondary to the recognition — but both matter.

Three milestone types:

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When to use it

A Milestone Campaign works best when:

• You have a growing base of regulars — customers who visit frequently enough to rack up meaningful visit counts
• You want a VIP tier feel without building a formal tiered programme
• You're approaching a business anniversary or community milestone and want to celebrate it with your customers
• Certain customers visit unusually often and you want to acknowledge them specifically — not with a generic offer, but with a message that says we see you
• You want to generate word-of-mouth — customers who feel recognised are significantly more likely to mention your business to others

For businesses just getting started with Blinko (fewer than 50 customers), set up your stamp card and welcome offer first. Milestone Campaigns work best when you have enough customers to regularly hit the thresholds you set.

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What you'll get

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How to set it up

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Option 1: Mobile App

Time to complete: ~3 minutes

Step 1 — Open Campaigns and tap +

Tap Campaigns in the bottom navigation, then +. Select Milestone Campaign.

Step 2 — Select your milestone type

Choose one of:

• Visit count milestone — fires when a customer checks in for the Nth time
• Follower anniversary — fires on the Nth month or year since their first check-in
• Community milestone — fires for all customers on a date or event you define

Step 3 — Set the threshold and reward

For visit count milestones:

• Visit number: Which check-in triggers the milestone. Common thresholds: 5, 10, 25, 50.
• Milestone name: What to call it — "10-Visit Regular", "Coffee Veteran", "VIP Member"
• Reward: What the customer receives. For milestone campaigns, the reward should feel proportional to the achievement — bigger milestones earn bigger rewards.
• Message: The personal note that accompanies the milestone notification. This is the most important field — write it as if you're speaking directly to the customer.

Step 4 — Add more thresholds (optional)

You can layer multiple milestones in a single campaign — rewards at the 5th, 10th, and 25th visit, for example. Each threshold gets its own reward and message. That creates a progression that keeps customers engaged across multiple loyalty levels.

Step 5 — Publish

Tap Publish. The milestones fire automatically as customers reach each threshold going forward.

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Option 2: Web Portal

Time to complete: ~4 minutes

Step 1 — Go to Campaigns → New Campaign → Milestone Campaign

Log in at local.blinko.ai, click Campaigns, New Campaign, then Milestone Campaign.

Step 2 — Choose milestone type and configure

Select your milestone type and set up each threshold:

• Milestone type: Visit count, customer anniversary, or community milestone
• Threshold(s): The specific number(s) that trigger a reward
• Reward per threshold: What the customer receives at each level
• Message per threshold: The personal acknowledgement message — each level should have its own tone

Step 3 — Publish Campaign

Click Publish Campaign. Customers who've already exceeded the threshold receive the milestone immediately. All future customers get it when they reach it.

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Option 3: AI Copilot

The Copilot is well-suited to milestone campaigns. It can help you pick appropriate thresholds for your visit frequency and write the recognition messages:

"Create milestone rewards for my 10th, 25th, and 50th most loyal customers with escalating rewards."

"Set up a 1-year anniversary reward for customers who have been with us for 12 months."

"Create a community milestone — we're celebrating our 3rd anniversary. Reward all customers with a special offer."

"My 10th-visit customers should get a free coffee. Write something warm to go with it."

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What your staff need to do

Milestone redemptions are the most emotionally significant moment in a customer's loyalty journey. The process is simple. But the staff interaction around it matters more than for any other campaign type.

No action needed at delivery

Milestone notifications fire automatically when a customer hits the threshold. Staff don't trigger them and don't need to track who's earned what.

At redemption — staff action required

1. Customer shows the milestone notification in their Blinko app — it displays the milestone name (e.g., "10-Visit Regular") and the reward they've earned
2. Staff open the Blinko Business app → tap Redeem
3. Customer holds up their in-app QR code
4. Staff scan it — the milestone reward is confirmed and marked as redeemed
5. Staff honour the reward at the register

The verbal acknowledgement is part of the offer

A customer who's visited 25 times has chosen your business over every alternative, 25 times. When they show a milestone, they're not just redeeming a coupon — they're marking an achievement. A staff member who says "Congratulations, you're officially one of our best customers" turns a transaction into a moment the customer will remember and talk about. That's why it matters.

Brief your team to treat milestone redemptions differently from standard offer redemptions. The scan is the same. The moment around it shouldn't be.

Brief your team: "If a customer shows a milestone achievement in their Blinko app, scan their code to redeem the reward and congratulate them — genuinely. These customers have been coming back for a reason."

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Tips for better results

Layer your milestones — 5, 10, 25, 50

A single milestone at visit 10 is good. A ladder of milestones at visits 5, 10, 25, and 50 is transformative. The first milestone catches customers at visit 5, before they've had a chance to drift. The one at visit 25 rewards your most committed regulars with something genuinely special. Each new threshold gives customers an achievement to work toward even after they've claimed the previous one.

Write the message as if it came from a person

Here's the thing: the milestone message is your most important copy. "You've visited 10 times — you've officially earned the title of Regular. Here's something to celebrate." outperforms "Milestone reached: 10 visits." by a significant margin. The offer might be identical. The feeling is completely different. Spend time on this message. The AI Copilot can help if you're not sure how to phrase it.

Use community milestones for your business's own story

Your 1st anniversary, your 100th customer, your 500th coffee served — these moments are worth celebrating with your community. A community milestone campaign sent to all customers on your business birthday does something no discount campaign can: it invites customers to be part of your story, not just a transaction in it.

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Frequently asked questions

What if a customer already exceeded the milestone threshold before I published the campaign? Customers who've already surpassed a threshold when the campaign is published will receive the milestone immediately upon activation. This is a feature, not a bug — your longest-standing regulars get recognised right away.

Can I run multiple milestone campaigns at the same time? Yes. You can run a visit count milestone and a customer anniversary milestone simultaneously. Both fire independently for eligible customers.

Should the milestone reward be bigger than my stamp card reward? Generally, yes. A customer reaching their 25th visit has shown exceptional loyalty — the reward should reflect that. A free coffee is a great stamp card reward. A free meal, a meaningful upgrade, or a personalised experience is a more fitting 25th-visit milestone reward.

Can I retroactively send a milestone to customers who hit a threshold before I had Blinko? Milestones fire based on check-in history recorded in Blinko. Check-ins that happened before a customer started following your business on Blinko aren't counted. The count starts from their first scan.