Hey — It’s Nico.

Welcome to Behind Tactics 🧠, the Failory newsletter where I share the strategies behind the best startups.

This issue takes 6 mins to read. If you only have one, here’s what you need to know:

• Shakepay has turned earning Bitcoin into a daily habit with its “Shake for Sats” feature, where users shake their phone to earn free satoshis.

• The longer you shake consecutively, the more you earn, with rewards scaling from 21 sats a day to 1,000 sats after 1,000 days.

• To earn higher rewards, users must engage with Shakepay’s core features, like making a transaction or using the Shakepay Card, ensuring the app drives real engagement.

• The program’s referral-only access adds exclusivity, fueling organic growth and making users eager to spread the word.

Let’s get into it.

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The Strategy

Shakepay, a Canadian fintech app, has transformed a simple action into a daily ritual: open the app, shake your phone, and earn free Bitcoin. 

Their “Shake for Sats” feature rewards users with satoshis (the smallest unit of Bitcoin) every day they log in and give their phone a shake. It’s a clever use of gamification that drives user retention, encourages word-of-mouth growth, and fuels virality. 

Here’s how it works—and why it’s so effective.

Shake For Sats

The Shake for Sats feature is a carefully designed strategy to drive engagement, build habits, and grow Shakepay’s user base.

Every day, users open the Shakepay app, shake their phone, and receive free satoshis. The rewards start small, at 21 sats per day, but increase steadily with consistent use. By day 1,000 of consecutive shaking, users can earn 1,000 sats daily and lock in this top reward as long as they maintain their streak.

The catch? Missing even a single day resets the streak back to the starting amount of 21 sats, creating a powerful incentive to stay consistent. This structure turns a simple action into a high-stakes habit, keeping users engaged and coming back every day.

The design gets even smarter with its two-tier system for users:

• Active Stackers: Active Stackers enjoy the full benefits of the streak system, with rewards that grow from 21 sats per day to a maximum of 1,000 sats after 1,000 days. To qualify as an Active Stacker, users must engage with the app’s core features by completing a transaction at least once every seven days—whether it’s buying or selling Bitcoin or Ethereum or using the Shakepay Card. This requirement ensures users don’t just participate for the gamified rewards but also explore the app’s main functionality.

• Inactive Stackers: Inactive Stackers earn a flat 21 sats daily, regardless of their streak. While this allows casual users to participate with minimal effort, the stark difference between 21 sats and 1,000 sats is a strong motivator to become an Active Stacker. This tier subtly nudges users to engage with the app more meaningfully, preventing them from using Shakepay solely for its gamified elements.

Shakepay adds another layer of brilliance by making the shake program available only to users who sign up with a referral code or refer others themselves. This exclusivity drives word-of-mouth growth, as users are eager to invite friends for access to the free Bitcoin rewards. The program effectively turns participants into marketers, creating a viral loop that benefits both the company and its users.

The feature’s simplicity is key to its success. It takes just a few seconds each day, yet it fosters a strong sense of accomplishment and habit formation. Many users set reminders or mark their calendars to ensure they don’t miss a shake, reinforcing the app’s role in their daily routine. And once users log in to shake, they’re more likely to explore other features, such as trading or spending crypto, further deepening their engagement.

The results speak for themselves. Thousands of users participate daily, sharing their streak progress and celebrating their “free money” on social media. By combining habit formation, exclusivity, and tangible rewards, Shakepay has turned a simple action into a powerful growth and retention tool. 

Should I?

Why This Works

• Habitual Engagement Without Fatigue: The simplicity of the shake action makes it easy to incorporate into daily routines without feeling like a chore. It’s quick, rewarding, and doesn’t demand much effort, which keeps users from burning out on the habit.

• Emotional Investment and Loss Aversion: The growing rewards and visible streak progress create a strong sense of accomplishment and personal investment. As the streak grows, users have more to lose, making the thought of missing a day and resetting their progress feel significantly more painful, which keeps them committed.

• Viral Growth Through Exclusivity: The referral-only access makes the feature feel exclusive, while the shareable streak format encourages users to brag about their progress and invite friends. This combination fuels organic growth through social proof, friendly competition, and FOMO.

• Scalable and Cost-Effective: The rewards are in Bitcoin’s smallest unit, making the cost per user minimal while still feeling valuable. Currently, 1,000 sats are worth about 12 cents, allowing Shakepay to attract and retain a large user base without significant expense.

• Cross-Promotion of Core Features: The requirement to remain an Active Stacker ensures Shakepay’s core functions aren’t overshadowed by the gamification. Users can’t just log in for the fun—they need to interact with the app’s financial services, building habits around the app’s main offerings.

How to Apply It

• Introduce Randomized Rewards: Instead of fixed rewards, add an element of randomness to the payouts. For example, users might shake their phone and receive anywhere from 10 to 10,000 sats. Studies show that people are more engaged when there’s a chance to earn a high reward, even if the odds are slim. The unpredictability adds excitement and keeps users coming back.

• Tie Rewards to Core Actions: Like Shakepay’s Active Stacker system, require users to engage with your app’s core features to unlock higher rewards. Whether it’s making a purchase, completing a task, or using a specific tool, this ensures that gamification drives meaningful interaction with your product, not just surface-level engagement.

• Gradually Scale Rewards: Create a system where rewards grow with continued use. The longer users stay consistent, the more valuable their streak becomes. This taps into loss aversion and gives users a tangible reason to keep coming back.

• Incorporate Social Elements: Encourage users to share their progress or compete with friends. A leaderboard, referral bonuses, or collaborative goals can amplify engagement. People love to brag about their streaks or invite others to join in on the fun.

• Make Rewards Instantly Redeemable: Avoid delayed gratification by ensuring users can immediately see the value of what they earn. Whether it’s a small payout or an in-app perk, instant rewards feel more satisfying and reinforce the habit.

Yes, But

• Streak Pressure Can Backfire: While streaks are engaging, they can create stress for users who feel pressured to log in every day. This pressure might lead to frustration or burnout, especially for users who accidentally break their streak and feel like all their progress was wasted.

• Reward Devaluation Over Time: As streaks grow longer, the reward may begin to lose its perceived value. For example, once users hit the maximum payout of 1,000 sats, there’s no further progression, which might cause long-term engagement to plateau.

• Low Real-World Value: The small monetary value of satoshis might not feel meaningful enough to justify the daily effort for some users. While it’s cost-effective for Shakepay, users who expect more tangible rewards might lose interest.

Keep Learning

Others Playing It

Duolingo

The undisputed king of streak-based gamification, Duolingo has mastered the art of making users obsess over their streaks. With rewards like gems, leaderboards, and visual streak trackers, it turns consistent learning into a badge of honor. Duolingo’s streak strategy is so effective that breaking one often results in users paying for a “streak freeze” to avoid losing their progress—a testament to how deeply they’ve tied user habits to the feature.

Forest

A focus-enhancing app that encourages users to stay off their phones by planting virtual trees. Maintaining streaks of uninterrupted focus sessions results in a lush virtual forest. While Shakepay offers tangible rewards, Forest provides a visual representation of productivity.

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That’s all for this edition.

Cheers,

Nico