Look After My Bills used digital gift cards alongside paid advertising and other incentives as it grew to 500,000 customers over two years, according to a March 2021 case study published by the provider now known as Runa. The total describes the company's overall acquisition result, rather than customers attributed solely to gift card campaigns.

Marketing manager Polly Holden, who joined the energy auto-switching service in 2018, described a mix spanning paid search, email and television. Early publicity and affiliate activity followed the company's Dragons' Den fundraising, with Facebook advertising becoming an important acquisition channel.

The team treated incentives as something that could improve offers across those channels, not as a separate marketing channel. Both physical gifts and digital gift cards were used, with the latter described as easier to distribute and scale.

Look After My Bills assessed campaigns against acquisition volume and cost per acquisition, including the cost of the reward. The company said improved conversion could lower the overall acquisition cost, but the case study did not publish a specific reduction percentage.

Its approach evolved from working directly with one gift card brand in 2018 to offering a broader selection through a platform. The Body Shop and Sports Direct were among the brands the team found performed well, illustrating why it compared recipient responses rather than relying only on assumed customer preferences.

The team also refreshed incentives over time and revisited prospects who had not responded to an earlier offer. Monthly acquisition and budget targets allowed it to adjust the level of incentive activity as campaigns progressed.

At the time of the case study, Look After My Bills was considering full API integration to connect reward history more closely with its CRM and segment customers. That integration was described as a planned step, while ordering and fulfilment through the provider were already part of the campaign process.