Benefit Discovery

Entitlement reports that show many users holding an active benefit, free shipping for instance, without ever using it are the case for this journey. Before launch you need benefit ownership, its validity period and the usage event tracked on the same user, an in-app message that can appear in the context where the benefit matters, such as while shopping, and email subscription for the follow-up. If the benefit does not apply itself at checkout or its terms exclude most orders, fix the product and the terms first; explaining a benefit nobody can use will not get it used.

Incremental first-use rate vs control

Getting the benefit used, not seen, is the journey's job; viewing the message or clicking its link is not use of the benefit.

How it is counted: Count every benefit assigned at entry to either group; the metric is the share of them used for the first time within the same follow-up window after assignment, and the difference between the two groups is credited to the journey. Impressions, delivery or clicks are not subtracted from the denominator.

Also track

• Progress to the use pathMoving from the message into the benefit's use path is an intermediate step, not to be confused with use; report the share of users who make that move.
• Email follow-up contributionAmong benefits still unused at the 7-day check, track first use after the email separately; it shows whether email adds value where the in-app message did not.
• Share of owned benefits in useAcross all owned benefits, the share used at least once; it shows the journey's effect on the entitlement portfolio over time.
• Unsubscribes and dismissalsWatch email unsubscribes and in-app dismissal rates; if a message about a benefit people already own annoys them, the context is probably wrong.

• Trigger and entryThe trigger is a valid benefit the user owns being found never used. On entry, split eligible users at random between the journey group and a control group that hears nothing about the benefit from this flow.
• Who must not enterNo journey opens for a benefit that has expired, is not the user's own or whose terms they do not meet. One benefit is one instance: no second flow for the same benefit, and anyone who has used it even once does not enter.
• Timing and channelsIn-app comes first, shown while the user is doing the task the benefit applies to, explaining the benefit and opening its use path. Usage is checked after 7 days; if still unused, one email explains the terms and the first step, and a final check follows 14 days later.
• Exit and handoffUsing the benefit for the first time ends the journey in the Benefit used exit, and the queued email is cancelled. If it is still unused after the 14-day wait, benefit communication stops; there is no handoff, the journey ends in its own exits.
• Frequency and consentTwo touches per benefit is the ceiling: one in-app message and one email. The email goes only to users with email subscription whose benefit is still valid; the in-app message appears only in the relevant context, not in every session.

1. 1If the control group reaches a similar first-use rate, users were finding the benefit without the message; impressions and clicks do not justify the journey. Read the first-use gap together with unsubscribes.
2. 2This reading applies to the in-app then email order and the 7 and 14 day waits. With no handoff, usage is credited to this journey alone; when one user holds several benefits, measure each in its own flow and do not stack their messages.
3. 3If first use of the benefit is rare, a small gap can be chance. Enter the current first-use rate and the smallest gap you care about into the sample size calculator to get the benefits needed per group, and hold the decision until you reach that count.
4. 4If use rose because the benefit was presented like a new discount, that is a promotion effect, not benefit discovery; check that the message only explains an owned entitlement and how to use it.