- Platform
- Web App
- Duration
- 12 weeks
- Industry
- Utilities / Energy Services
- Read time
- 5 min read
RaftLabs built a loyalty rewards platform for Energia, one of Ireland's leading energy providers, through agency Brandfire. They replaced a WordPress-based system managing 300,000+ users with a Next.js platform that recorded 1,000+ logins in the first 24 hours and 3,000+ competition entries in the first 7 days. The new platform automates daily joiner and leaver management via SFTP, runs prize draws with automated winner selection, and gives the admin team live Metabase dashboards for registrations, logins, and redemptions. Built in 12 weeks, it has maintained 99.9% uptime since launch. The Energia Rewards program won Customer Experience of the Year at the 2023 Irish Loyalty Awards.
The platform they had was working. It ran on WordPress, managed 300,000 customer accounts, and had won the Customer Experience of the Year at the 2023 Irish Loyalty Awards. The problem was not whether it worked. The problem was whether it could keep up.
Every small update required a developer. The admin team managed new and departing customers through spreadsheets and email threads. Login errors were routine. The user experience no longer matched the brand Energia had spent years building.
Brandfire, the agency managing the rewards program, came to us for a full rebuild. Not a reskin. A complete platform replacement: faster front end, automated data workflows, real-time analytics, and the ability to manage both domestic and commercial customers without switching systems.
We rebuilt the Energia Rewards platform in 12 weeks. More than 1,000 customers logged in within the first 24 hours. Within 7 days, the platform had processed 3,000+ competition entries. It has run at 99.9% uptime since launch.
before & after
What changed
- Rewards platform built on WordPress made every change slow and required developer involvement
- Admin team managed new and departing customers through spreadsheets and manual email processes
- Login errors and account issues affected customers regularly across 300,000 records
- No automated alerts when files failed to upload or the system ran into problems
- No analytics on how customers were using the platform: registrations, logins, redemptions were all guesswork
- The user experience no longer reflected Energia's brand or the quality of the program
- Complete rebuild into a fast Next.js platform with a clean, mobile-friendly interface
- Daily SFTP automation processes new joiners and departing customers every morning without manual steps
- Login errors resolved; 300,000+ records migrated cleanly with account history preserved
- Smart alerts notify admins immediately when files fail or system issues arise
- Live Metabase dashboards show registrations, logins, redemptions, and competition entries in real time
- Modern UI aligned with Energia's brand, designed for a smooth customer experience
What we had to solve
- 01
Moving 300,000 live customer records with no room for error
The old platform held over 300,000 customer accounts, each with rewards history, login credentials, and status. Moving that data to a new system while the program was still running, and making sure every customer could log in from day one, required careful data mapping and a migration plan with multiple verification stages. A single mismatch between domestic and commercial records, or a lost redemption history, would have surfaced immediately in a platform with 1,000+ logins in the first day.
- 02
Replacing manual spreadsheet workflows with automated daily processes
Every day, Energia generates four data files: new domestic customers, departing domestic customers, new commercial customers, departing commercial customers. On the old system, managing these meant manual work, delays, and occasional errors. The new platform had to receive these files automatically via SFTP each morning, process them without intervention, and update access rights before the business day started. Customers who re-enrolled needed their history back. Customers who left needed clean deactivation. All of it had to run while the live platform kept serving active users.
outcomes
What we achieved
Frequent login errors on the old WordPress platform had eroded customer confidence. The migration had to preserve every account without any reset or disruption on launch day.
Running competitions on the old system was slow and manual. Admins had to manage entries by hand, with no automated draw or real-time visibility into participation.
The WordPress backend had no monitoring, no load balancing, and no automated alerts. Failures went undetected until customers reported them.
What clients say
What Our Client Says About Us
Three-year average engagement. Founders and operators describing the work in their own words. No marketing varnish.
IrelandThe RaftLabs team demonstrated exceptional collaboration and attention to detail throughout the development of the new Energia Rewards platform. The platform has now successfully launched, delivering a smooth, rewarding experience for our customers.
Your loyalty platform is holding back customer engagement instead of driving it?
the build
What we built
The platform handles two things the old system could not: automatic customer data management every day, and a live view of everything happening across the program.
Customers register with their account number: correct rewards appear from the start
Customers register using their Energia account number and verify through email before accessing rewards. The flow distinguishes between domestic and commercial customers from the start, so the right rewards and competitions appear for each account type. Returning customers who re-enrolled get their existing history back automatically.
New customers access the platform by day three: the admin team never touches the files
Every morning, a scheduler processes four SFTP files from Energia: new and departing customers for both domestic and commercial accounts. New customers gain platform access by day three. Departing customers are deactivated cleanly. If a customer re-enrolls later, their account and history are restored without manual intervention. The admin team sees the results in the dashboard; they no longer manage the files themselves.
Customers redeem from 20+ brands; admins see what's working without pulling reports
Customers browse and redeem rewards from 20+ brands directly from their dashboard. Admins create competitions (instant-win and multiple-choice formats) and group them into campaigns targeting specific customer segments. Automated coupon distribution and performance tracking show the team what is working without needing to pull reports manually.
The team knows about system issues before customers do
Metabase dashboards give the Brandfire and Energia teams a live view of registrations, logins, redemptions, and competition entries. Admins filter by date range or account type and export CSV reports for any time period. Smart alerts fire when files fail to upload or system issues arise, so the team knows before customers do.
Engagement
How we worked together
- 01Weeks 1–2
Discovery and scoping
We map the problem before writing code. Two weeks of technical audit, stakeholder interviews, and prototype — so both teams align on scope and risk before sprint one.
- 02Ongoing
Two-week Agile sprints
Each sprint ends with working software, not a status update. You review a real build, request changes, and approve before we move forward. No surprises at handover.
- 03Ongoing
Daily async updates
Slack for daily progress, Asana for task visibility, weekly video calls for decisions. You have full visibility without needing to attend every meeting.
- 04Final
Handover and warranty
Full code handover with deployment runbooks and documentation. Thirty-day warranty period for production issues at no extra cost.
stack
Why we chose this stack
- 01The customer-facing rewards platform needed fast page loads and a clean mobile experience. Next.js handles both through server-side rendering, which also gave the admin team the structured API layer the WordPress backend never had.Next.js
- 02The admin dashboard needed live updates as competition entries and redemptions came in. Hasura's GraphQL subscriptions push changes to the dashboard in real time without polling the database.Hasura GraphQL
- 03Brandfire and the Energia team needed to see registrations, logins, and redemptions without building a custom reporting layer. Metabase connects directly to the database and lets non-technical admins filter by date range, account type, and campaign.Metabase
FAQs
Yes. The migration for Energia Rewards moved 300,000+ active customer records to the new platform while the program kept running. The approach involved staged data verification and a hard cutover that went live cleanly. Every customer could log in from day one. The key is planning the migration before building the new system, not after.
Energia generates four SFTP files each night: new domestic customers, departing domestic customers, new commercial customers, departing commercial customers. A scheduler picks up these files each morning and processes them automatically. New accounts gain access within three days. Departing accounts are deactivated. Re-enrollees get their history restored. The admin team reviews a daily activity report but does not touch the files directly.
Yes. The Energia Rewards platform handles both customer types from a single system. Each account type has its own registration path, its own reward catalog, and its own competition eligibility. The admin panel shows data for each segment separately and lets the team run targeted campaigns per segment. From the customer's perspective, the experience is clean and relevant to their account type.
A platform of this scope (migrating 300,000+ records, building automated workflows, and adding real-time analytics) typically falls between $30,000 and $60,000 depending on the number of integrations, campaign features, and reporting requirements. Simpler programs with a smaller user base and fewer automated workflows can be built for less. See our loyalty program cost guide for a detailed breakdown.
Yes. We have built loyalty programs for Aldi Ireland, SuperValu and Centra, and Sanbra Fyffe across retail, grocery, and manufacturing. The Energia project adds utilities to that list. See our loyalty program development page for the full scope of what we build.
Related work
More work like this
AI phone agents automate global feedback loops through voice interviews
We transformed a text-based AI interview platform into a voice-first system that conducts automated phone interviews globally, eliminating user friction and delivering richer insights through natural conversations.
Read case study
An AI OCR loyalty platform drove 1,000+ sign-ups for a major supermarket chain
We built an AI loyalty platform for Musgrave's SuperValu and Centra that automates receipt validation with 99.9% accuracy, acquiring 1,062 users in 4 weeks.
Read case study
LoyaltyPass delivers wallet-native loyalty cards with 60% higher enrollment than app-based programs
LoyaltyPass runs loyalty programs inside Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. Customers earn and redeem without a separate app download, and businesses get real engagement data without the friction of a native app.
Read case study