Point Categories

Points measure activity on your site and encourage user engagement. Users can be awarded points which can then be redeemed for rewards.

Typically, some combination of the following is used to incorporate points into your user experience:

Create missions that award points to users that complete actions.
Create a variety of point levels where users achieve recognition for reaching certain milestones.
Display point balances in a leaderboard to encourage competition.
Display the user's point balances such as lifetime point balance (all time) and current point balance (spendable).

Depending on your program, you can set up one or more point categories to reward your users. You may need to use multiple point categories if you have a budget for activities such as recognition or if only some points are redeemable. Only one point category can be linked to an award account.

Create a Point Category

Open Nitro Studio > Reward > Point Categories.
Click New Point Category. Or, to edit an existing category, hover over the category and click Edit ().
Set point category properties. See Program Imagery and Character Recommendations for best practices.

Field	Description
Name	The category name. Choose a name that aligns with your brand and program theme.
Short Name	The abbreviated category name.
Initial Credits	The number of points a user is given as their starting balance in this point category when the user is added to Nitro. When you create a new point category and add initial credits, all new and existing users are credited the initial credits. When you edit an existing point category to add initial credits: New users will receive the initial credits when added to Nitro. Existing users will receive the initial credits if they have not had any transactions within that point category. For example, you add 50 initial credits to the Recognition point category. Jane will receive 50 credits because she has not had any transactions in that point category. Bob will not receive the 50 credits because he already has a balance of 25 in that point category.
Daily Max Credits	The maximum number of points a user can earn in this point category in a single day. Note: Impact does not indicate that a user has reached their daily maximum. The user will see the points that can be earned for a mission, but they will not receive them if they've reached the daily limit.
Yearly Max Credits	The maximum number of points a user can earn in this point category in a calendar year (January - December). Note: Impact does not indicate that a user has reached their yearly maximum. The user will see the points that can be earned for a mission, but they will not receive them if they've reached the yearly limit.
Max Points Balance	The lifetime maximum balance a user can have in this point category.
Icon URL	The icon that displays for the point category in the Impact block.
Set as default category	Select this option to set the category as the default. When you credit or debit points via API methods, set up a mission to award points, or generate points-based leaderboards, you can specify a point category. When a category is not specified, the default point category is used.
Link to Award Account	Indicates if the point category is tied to the award account. Only one point category can be linked to the award account.

Click Save.

Add Points to a Point Category

Typically points are earned by completing missions. In some cases, you may need to manually credit a user with points. This may be necessary if you're using Recognition and you want to credit users with "giving" points on an ongoing basis. You can credit points using the following methods:

Scenario	Method
Single user Any point category	Use the User Management view > Balances tab and change the balance of the appropriate point category.
Multiple users Any point category	Use data import to upload a file of users and credits or debits. Use POST /users/{userId}/point-transactions to add points to the user's balance or PUT /users/{userId}/point-balance to set the user's balance to some amount. Set an initial credits amount on the point category to credit users as they're added to the program.

Delete a Point Category

You cannot delete a point category if there is a recognition or award account associated to it. Do not delete a point category that is currently used in missions as this will cause errors in your program.

Open Nitro Studio > Reward > Point Categories.
Hover over the point category you want to delete and click Delete ().
Click Delete Category.