Rewards have always been a core part of your Yonder membership. From the very beginning we’ve wanted to rethink the way a world-class rewards program would look like for our members.

What are Local Experiences?

We conducted over 200 user interviews in 2021 to help us understand where the pain points were for potential customers.

We kept hearing over and over that rewards were impossible to redeem, they were riddled with restrictions on when they could be used and there were just way too many to pick from. They were from brands they’d never heard of and wouldn’t shop at anyway, and the cashback redemption value was really low. So, in short, reward programs weren’t very rewarding. We figured we’d start from scratch.

We wanted to make sure our members are rewarded, but we felt strongly about doing it in a way that our members would really love.

Fast forward a few months and we landed on Local Experiences, 8-10 hand-picked dining, social and active experiences from rewards partners across London. Every month we cycle out our rewards and offer new ones, so they’re fresh and relevant to what is going on in London at the time.

Local Experiences is our rewards program designed so you can use your points more regularly doing things you want to do at places you actually want to go, like eating out at one of London’s top restaurants, or tickets to Secret Cinema.

Types of Local Experiences

Treats – small, irregular rewards

Yonder members are typically so busy they don’t have time every month to visit a a nice restaurant or head to an event. But we still wanted to make sure they’re getting regular rewards value. So we introduced a bitesize option that does exactly that.

We started our offer with Yonder Coffees, where members could get a coffee at over 90 independent coffee shops across the city for 100 Yonder Points. Throughout July, the sun was beating down on London so we then introduced Yonder Pints, where members could get a pint at 50 London pubs for 200 Yonder Points.

Casual – midweek, casual rewards

These are your midweek Local Experiences worth around 1000-2500 Yonder Points. They’re a more accessible type of reward you don’t need to plan months in advance, and great for catching up with a friend or a midweek date. The likes of Crust Bros, Korean Dinner Party and Arcade fall into this bucket, as well as boutique gym experiences or tickets to the rugby. Casual Experiences rotate every 4-6 weeks.

Memorable – high-value, infrequent rewards

The big hitters. They’re generally available at much higher points values, between 7,000 - 10,000 Yonder Points and always absolutely worth it. They’re festival tickets, tasting menus at some of London’s best restaurants, and travel experiences. We try to offer 1-2 Memorable experiences each month. If you don’t have enough points, you can Extend the Experiences for three months.

Local to You – personalised rewards

Rewards that are personalised to within a short walk of where you live. We saw in our member rewards data that most of our members went to Experiences that were near where they lived. So we're launching Local to You Experiences that are no more than a fifteen minute walk from your registered address. It's our first step towards a fully personalised rewards program.

Our rewards principles

Fewer options

We found that our customers actually prefer less choice when it comes to spending their points. We kept hearing about ‘choice paralysis’ that meant customers just weren’t doing anything with their credit card points from their old credit card providers. Giving customers a handful of really good options makes their lives much easier.

We’ll always aim to give you a good mixture of dining, social, active and travel experiences but only just enough for you to pick the right one for you.

‍Things you’d go to anyway

There are hundreds of good restaurants and things to do in London, but good won’t do, we’ll only settle for great.

We’ve designed our rewards around the things our customers were already doing with their free time in London. Which is why we’re offering rewards to sporting events, gigs, restaurants and bars instead of restricted flights to places you can only travel to during set times throughout the year.

Over time, we’ll look to personalise Local Experiences to each member, but until then we’ll keep serving up a few of the best things to do in London that month. Every Experience that Yonder features has been tried and tested by our team as much as possible. If it doesn’t feel like somewhere you’d take a first date you’re trying to impress, or something you’d tell a friend about, then it won’t make it as a Local Experience.

Seamless redemption

We've literally built a rewards system from scratch that does away with coupons, codes and other annoying redemptions. Just pay with your Yonder card and we'll do the rest. You can then choose to use your points to cover an Experience or to pay normally and earn extra points.

More value, less restrictions

Blackout periods, restricted menus and other limitations take the shine off of what should be a really enjoyable experience. With Yonder, there's no limited menus or times of the week when you can redeem an experience. Go when it suits you (provided there's availability!).

At the end of the day, the financial value of rewards is the most important thing. While Local Experiences redemption values vary depending on the partner and Experience type, you'll always be getting way more value than your typical cashback credit card. You can easily see the rewards value and points amount in the app before you redeem an experience.