DoorDash has ranked high among food delivery services over the years, not just because of the sudden boom in the industry but for its beneficial rewards program. Doordash is a technology company that coordinates food deliveries from restaurants directly to its customers. The company has found a way to create a strong community of Restaurant customers and Dashers who order and deliver through their platform.

DoorDash has sought to retain its broad customer base by constantly reviewing its program. In this article, we'll take a look at the DoorDash Rewards Program, how it works, as well as its benefits and drawbacks.

How does the program work?

DoorDash uses its Top Dasher program to recognize and reward the drivers or dashers who choose to deliver to its customers.

There is a criterion that dashers need to meet to qualify as a Top dasher. They should have met these criteria by the last day of the month to enjoy rewards. To qualify as a Top dasher, a dasher must have:

• A Customer rating of at least 4.7
• Completion rate not less than 95%
• Acceptance rate not below 70%
• Completed 100 deliveries during the last month
• Completed not less than 200 deliveries within their lifetime period
  

When a member meets these criteria, they can access their rewards on the Dasher Rewards page, found in the Account section of the Dasher app. They can enjoy these rewards until the end of that month. To be eligible for bonuses, dashers need to meet the same criteria every single month. Top dashers enjoy the freedom to schedule their most convenient time slots while using the Dasher app. They will also be prioritized for a new order when the pace for deliveries is slower.

The company announced in June 2021 that Dashers would continue to enjoy the above benefits and additional perks under its New Top Dasher Perk. With this new program, they will gain priority access to high-value orders, i.e., orders valued above $30. This will mean bigger tips for them.

From January 2021, Dashers were rewarded with cash for completing a specific number of deliveries. U.S. Dashers who completed at least 450 deliveries within the month were awarded an extra $200 on top of their regular delivery earnings. Dashers in Australia and Canada who completed at least 400 deliveries received a cash reward of 200 CAD/AUD.

Doordash Customer-Friends and Family Referral Program

The Doordash Rewards program caters to Dashers and all customers who use their platform and their family and friends. When a customer refers a family or a friend to the platform, they are eligible to receive reward credits in their account.

For customers to receive referral credits, the person they refer must:

• Be a new customer who has never opened a DoorDash account
• Place an order with the required minimum subtotal amount displayed on the referral sign up page
• Sign up through your referral link

Once the referral meets these criteria, the customer will automatically receive a confirmation mail, after which their reward credits will be applied automatically to their next order. Customers are limited to receive credits only for the first 25 customers who place a qualified order after signing up through your referral link.

What are the good things about the program?

DoorDash has built a strong community of dashers due to its generous rewards program. One of its significant successes can be attributed to its Five-Year, $200m Main Street Strong Pledge. The first phase of the rewards program offered Dashers cash rewards of between $300 and $20,000 for their total lifetime deliveries. This initiative proved highly beneficial to active platform users who had completed a significant number of deliveries. It also sends a message to its members that the brand truly cares about them and their financial needs.

The program's second phase also took the cash rewards approach, but the company gave the amounts based on a milestone achieved within the month. For example, Canadian and Australian Dashers who completed 400 deliveries would receive 200 CAD/AUD, while U.S. Dashers who completed over 450 deliveries would receive 200 USD. This approach gave its users a sense of accomplishment and urged them to do more deliveries to earn more rewards.

How could they have made their rewards program more attractive?

Lack of Clarity

If there's one crucial thing DoorDash needs to do to make its rewards program more attractive, it is improving its clarity. New visitors and customers alike can quickly get confused because of the unclear manner in which they present the Reward program. Aside from the fact that the company has made several adjustments over the past few months of 2021, DoorDash has not done an excellent job at clearly outlining the benefits of joining its rewards program. While the program offers different rewards such as Promos, Referral incentives, and its Top Dasher program, the information about earning these are scattered in different tabs and under separate FAQ pages. People who want to learn more about any of these programs will be easily overwhelmed by the number of tabs they would have to open. A good rewards program should have a clear and concise explainer page that displays substantial information about perks in one place.

Value of Rewards

Another area DoorDash needs to improve on is communicating the value of its incentives, particularly for its referral program. This does not dispute that the company has done a fantastic job at rewarding its clients extra cash rewards and other perks, on top of allowing them to earn through their deliveries. However, when it comes to their referral program, more work needs to be done. This referral program is one of the best ways to draw in newer dashers, and it is also a good way of building customer loyalty. Thus the value derived from engaging in it should be clearly defined. Doordash incentivizes its customers with credits for referring a maximum of 25 friends and family. The only problem is that the number of credits for each referral is not stated. Again the worth of the credits given is not predetermined and is done at the company's discretion. This could discourage dashers from participating in the program because they cannot see its value in the first place. Doordash could make it more attractive by listing the number of credits and their equivalent value on its explainer page.

Final Words

The most profound benefit of the Doordash Rewards program is the vast opportunities it has given to several people to earn a living and have their delivery needs met simultaneously. In addition, the brand seeks to go beyond this initiative by providing extra rewards to encourage its users to do more. Doordash can undoubtedly do more in its loyalty program by improving its clarity.