Editor’s note, May 2026: This article was first published in March 2022. We updated it in May 2026 to reflect the current Afterpay Day Sale and the closure of Afterpay Pulse Rewards.
The Afterpay Day Sale remains one of Afterpay’s major shopping events, with participating retailer deals across categories such as fashion, beauty, homewares, tech and more. In the spirit of this deluxe shopping event, I decided to investigate Afterpay and discovered they once had a loyalty program called Pulse Rewards. At the time, this program was cleverly tied into the Afterpay Day Sale, with members earning extra throughout the sale.
What is the Afterpay Day Sale?
So, what is the Afterpay Day Sale? Afterpay runs the event twice a year, once in March and again in August. For four days, customers can shop participating retailer deals across categories including fashion, beauty, homewares, tech and more. Customers can shop online, in-store, through participating retailer websites or through the Afterpay app.
Afterpay also encourages customers to prepare for the sale by downloading the app, activating the Afterpay Card for in-store purchases, opting in to notifications and creating a wish list before the sale goes live.
One of the downsides for Afterpay is that participating retailers may promote their offers broadly, not only to customers who pay with Afterpay. Afterpay counters this by making the app, Afterpay Card, notifications and wish list part of the sale preparation. This gives Afterpay more direct engagement with customers before the sale begins.
In earlier campaigns, Pulse Rewards gave Afterpay another way to connect the sale to member behaviour. That loyalty layer is no longer current, as Afterpay closed Pulse Rewards in January 2024.
Afterpay Pulse Rewards
The Afterpay Pulse Rewards program was a tiered member benefits program. To sign up, customers had to download the Afterpay app and opt in. Customers earned points through regular on-time repayments, which helped them move through the program tiers. The first tier of the program was called Gold.
Members could then move into higher tiers, including Platinum and Mint, by earning more points. The program also offered bonus points for selected activities, which gave Afterpay another way to direct member behaviour. This structure is no longer current, as Afterpay closed Pulse Rewards on 31 January 2024.
The Model
Pulse Rewards used a tiered member benefits model. Member benefits are company-provided rewards that customers could only access through the loyalty program. A tiered program like this encouraged members to spend further with Afterpay to progress through said tiers. Each tier provided benefits that made it easier for members to spend again. It was a brilliant program for Afterpay, an absolute win-win. Members continued to spend, all while redeeming rewards that had little to no cost to Afterpay. In loyalty, we call this phenomenon efficient rewards, which are rewards that are highly valued by a customer but come at little to no expense to the company.
The Benefits
At each tier, members could access certain benefits. Afterpay grouped these benefits under three headings: Save, Flex and Access. The benefits under Save included exclusive members-only Afterpay deals. Gold, or first-tier, members received only a single welcome offer, while higher tiers had access to an exclusive offer at every one hundred points they earned. Under Flex, members acquired more flexibility regarding their Afterpay payments. There was the option for no up-front payments and a set number of times a member could delay their payment for up to seven days. The final benefit category was Access, which allowed members to access sales in the top tiers and buy gift cards that could be paid off in four payments.
Afterpay Day Sale summary
Afterpay continues to run the Afterpay Day Sale as a major shopping event. Pulse Rewards, however, is no longer part of the offer. The original program did well to cater towards customers who were already high purchasers through Afterpay, although it had less to offer as an acquisition tool. Overall, the program did what it intended: it rewarded loyal members and made them feel appreciated.
Previously, Loyalty & Reward Co’s Stacey Lyons investigated Afterpay’s loyalty program. What was said then remains useful, even though Pulse Rewards has now closed. Tying a loyalty program into the Afterpay Day Sale was still a clever way to encourage further spending. Looking back at this program, it is easy to see both the potential and the challenge of building loyalty around a buy now, pay later product.
Do Loyalty Programs Work?
Looking for examples of best-practice loyalty programs from around the world that have delivered outstanding results? Check out our ‘Do Loyalty Programs Work?’ series.
