Loyalty App Builder — A How-to Guide

Interested in a loyalty app builder how-to guide? In this article, I’ll explain how to build a loyalty app for Android and iOS and provide some examples of top loyalty apps and loyalty app features.

Let’s see how you can mark your share in the lucrative market by developing an innovative loyalty app. By the way, if you have a great loyalty app idea and lack a professional development team to nail your project, you can hire software engineers from DevTeam.Space. Fill out our short form, and we’ll call you back promptly to discuss your project details and provide a preliminary cost estimation.

Now let’s explore how you can make a loyalty app with and without a loyalty app builder. First, we will discuss the essential features and some loyalty apps to get an idea of the target market.

Plan on incorporating the following features before you decide to build a loyalty program app:

The loyalty cards must be customized. Branding, information, layout, etc. should all have your definitive signature that identifies with your brand.
Complete integration is needed with POS and eCommerce providers.
Marketing campaigns, promotions, and loyalty programs are never ’one-size-fits-all‘. You need to design separate programs for different segments. The app should cater to it.
The web app should have an elegant ’User Interface‘ (UI).
Push notifications are required in a loyalty app.
You need to know how your loyalty programs are working. You need detailed and aggregated real-time analytics and reports.
The loyalty app must comply with security requirements, e.g., PCI DSS.
Social media marketing should be seamlessly integrated into the loyalty app.
Your app should make it easier for users to manage their loyalty points.
Geolocation-based search is key so that your users can find rewards and coupons near their location.
Last but not least, robust customer care for the loyalty program is required.

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Before you start building your loyalty app using a loyalty app builder or otherwise, I recommend you review these examples for great design ideas:

Starbucks Rewards

The Starbucks Rewards app is available on both Android and iOS. It has a tiered loyalty feature program with 2 tiers. Their reward program offers the following features for their loyal customers through their app:

Free refills;
Mobile payment/ordering;
Exclusive member special offers;
Personalized rewards.

Sephora‘s Beauty INSIDER

Available on both Android and iOS, the Sephora Mobile App offers exclusive rewards as part of its customer loyalty model. It‘s integrated with the company‘s retail stores, websites, and Sephora stores present inside JCPenney stores. Customers need to use their email addresses while checking out to accumulate points.

Kohl‘s Yes2You Rewards

Kohl‘s app offers 50 “Yes2You” points when new customers download the app. “Yes2You” is their rewards program. They have both Android and iOS apps. The company offers a cashback point-based system through its app. There are yearly rewards, furthermore, members also get reward points for birthdays and other special occasions.

The Nike App

The Nike App users receive multiple benefits. These include free shipping for any $50+ order, a 60-day wear test, as well as receiptless return of purchases. The app users receive personalized product recommendations based on their likings. Also, there are rewards for special occasions like a birthday. The company has both iOS and Android apps.

Businesses without access to a skilled app development team have a few zero-coding options to launch loyalty program apps. I will explain a few of these options.

Option #1: The iBuildApp app builder

The company iBuildApp offers app builders for different mobile app use cases. With this option, retailers don‘t need to hire a loyalty app development team. The company provides drag-and-drop app builders, furthermore, they provide cloud hosting.

This means that business owners’ main financial outlay is the cost of the product.

Their loyalty card app builder has templates suitable for this use case. You need to follow an easy, and intuitive process to build your app.

Your customer base or users only need to show the loyalty punch card app to the cashier in a store, who punches a code so that stamps can be accumulated.

The app will have good analytics features for you to measure customer engagement. There are other useful features like push notifications. While their loyalty card app builder template is free, you need to buy their service which includes cloud hosting.

Check their pricing plans. You are responsible for publishing your app in ’Google Play‘ and ’Apple App Store‘. You need to know the respective guidelines hence, check them out here and here. If you buy a higher-priced plan, the company provides app publishing assistance.

Option #2: The Appy Pie app builder

Appy Pie provides its drag-and-drop app builder for many mobile app use cases. With their app builder, you don‘t need to code. Its offer includes cloud hosting hence, the product cost is your only key cost element.

Their loyalty app builder offers the following features:

An ability to easily reward loyal users and improve their engagement.
You can choose your own validation criteria like a QR code.
The app builder allows customizing your reward program.
You can easily integrate social media and email marketing.
The app will have a push notifications feature.
A robust analytics suite will help in analyzing the results of your campaign. It also helps you gauge user engagement.
You can launch both Android and iOS apps.
There are good security measures.
Your app can remind users about the expiry of loyalty cards.

You need to sign-up with Appy Pie, subsequently, there is an intuitive drag-and-drop process to build your app.

While the company offers different pricing plans, remember that only the Platinum plan allows you to use your own branding. Check their pricing plans. You need to get ’Google Play’ and ’Apple App Store’ accounts. You also need to follow the app publishing guidelines I have mentioned above.

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While the above app builder options are useful for businesses without a skilled development team, differentiated features require custom development. I will now explain the custom development approach for you to create a loyalty app.

UI and front-end design and development

In this custom development approach, you need UI designers to design your mobile app UI. A good UI design is a key to the success of your app — be sure that it is user-friendly. Check our guide “Mobile navigation menu examples” for more details.

SDKs and APIs for common functions

You certainly need Android developers and iOS developers for this development project, however, you can expedite the project. There are several common functionalities in a loyalty app. Businesses offer their ’Software Development Kits‘ (SDKs) and ’Application Programming Interfaces‘ (APIs) to make it easy to integrate these functions.

I suggest you use SDKs/APIs, and I will describe a few such options.

SDK/API option #1: Smile.io APIs

Smile.io, the rewards program API provider offers its APIs for creating a loyalty app. You can build the following features in your app with their APIs:

Reward points;
Referrals;
Differentiated rewards for special customers.

Access the API s. The company‘s platform enables you to create beautiful mobile designs. You can easily integrate your existing systems. You can offer an elegant rewards program experience to your customers, furthermore, you can launch your rewards program quickly.

Their platform is a ’Software as a Service‘ (SaaS), consequently, all updates are automatic. The company offers a powerful analytics suite for measuring the success of the rewards program. You can also measure user engagement with it.

Request access to their APIs, and then you can read their API documentation. The company also provides comprehensive learning resources. Check out their pricing plan, and request a demo.

SDK/API option #2: SDK.finance APIs

SDK.finance, the core payments platform company provides APIs for developing a loyalty card app. Its APIs allow you to incorporate the following features:

payments and loyalty functionalities;
integration with popular payment gateways;
easy integration with key 3^rd party APIs for ’Know Your Customer‘ (KYC), OAuth, etc.;
compliance with PCI-DSS and other key security standards;
an ability to manage reward programs;
customer profile management;
reporting, and analytics.

You can explore their technology partners who include top-level providers from domains like digital identity or payment gateways. You can get their pricing information and request a free demo.

SDK/API option #3: Talon.One APIs

Talon.One, a promotion programs platform company provides APIs for loyalty programs. With their APIs, you can build several functions in your loyalty program app, as follows:

You can easily integrate your existing systems.
The APIs offer the ability to launch the loyalty program quickly.
Scaling your loyalty program is easy.
The app can incorporate customized loyalty programs.

Access their loyalty APIs. You can use their developer portal, and, additionally, the API documentation. Preliminary information about their pricing is available. You need to contact them for a demo, and detailed pricing information.

Backend for the loyalty program mobile app

So far, I have elaborated on the UI, front-end, and use of APIs for common functionalities. You also need to address your mobile app backend. I recommend you use a ’Mobile Backend as a Service‘ (MBaaS) provider to expedite your project.

MBaaS providers address several key aspects of the mobile backend. This includes infrastructure, database, persistent storage, user management, security, API integration, and scaling. Using an MBaaS provider can free up your time, thus allowing you to focus on the front end.

AWS for mobile, Google Firebase, etc. are some popular MBaaS providers. Read our guide “How to choose the best mobile backend as a service (MBaaS)?” for more examples.

Your loyalty program app development team

To build a loyalty app, you need business analysts, UI/UX designers, mobile developers (both Android and iOS), testers, and a project manager (PM) in your team. The PM should know key project management methodologies well. Refer to our guide “Top 7 project management methodologies” for more details.

A mobile app is a customer-facing channel. These are called ’Systems of Engagement’ (SoEs). Agile is the preferred project management methodology for developing SoEs, because of iterative development. You need to build an Agile team.

You can refer to our guide “How to build an Agile development team?” for more details.

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Project execution, tracking, and control

While Agile is a broad PM methodology, there are several techniques that come under its wider umbrella. ’Scrum‘ is a proven technique for managing iterative developments. I recommend it for this project.

In this technique, a ’Product owner‘ (PO) provides features, i.e., requirements. These are documented in a ’Product backlog‘. The PM acts as a ’Scrum master‘ and organizes the team into a cross-functional ’Scrum team‘, i.e., developers and testers work together.

Upon estimating the features, ’Sprints‘, i.e., iterations are planned. During a sprint, the team conducts a ’Daily stand-up meeting‘ to discuss the project status, furthermore, the scrum master resolves issues.

To demonstrate the success of a sprint, the team conducts a ’Sprint review meeting‘. Project stakeholders review demonstrable features and approve the sprint if the features are working.

The team also conducts a lessons-learned exercise called the ’Sprint retrospective meeting‘ after the sprint. After the ’Minimum Viable Product‘ is launched, the team repeats this process, i.e., executes more sprints. You can consult our guide “How to build a Scrum Development Team?” for more details.

Tools for effective project planning, execution, and tracking

You need to use the right tools to effectively deliver this project. I recommend the following tools:

Selenium for test automation is crucial in iterative development.
AWS CodeDeploy for build and deployment management.

Please consider using a good PM tool. Asana is a good choice however, you can check our guide “The 10 best Agile project management tools” for more examples.

The cost of developing a mobile loyalty solution

There are multiple cost components for the custom development of a loyalty program app. SDK/API providers can send their pricing details upon request or display them on their websites. MBaaS providers always display their pricing plans on their websites.

Your development manpower cost will vary depending on your requirements. Your geography and local labor market also influence it.

If you need professional help with this end-to-end development approach, refer to our guide “How to find the best software development company?”. To save on the initial development costs of a custom loyalty app, you should consider creating a minimal viable product, or MVP, to get the key features right.

If you prefer to focus on your business and have your loyalty app idea brought to life by expert mobile developers or development teams, simply contact DevTeam.Space. One of our dedicated account managers will be in touch to see what we can do for you.

What is a loyalty program?

A loyalty program is a customer reward scheme that is designed to retain customers and achieve customer satisfaction with products or services.

How do loyalty programs work?

They reward past customers with discounts or gifts with the aim of encouraging them to continue shopping with that particular company. An example is a 50% discount for all registered members of a loyalty program.

How do you create a loyalty app?

If you don’t have previous development experience, you should create a project specification and use it to onboard the programmers that you need. Once you have done this, you can set up the infrastructure and communication channels, and brief your team on the tasks ahead before setting everything in motion.

Learn more about building different types of mobile apps from our expert articles:

Article tags Android API AWS iOS Mobile OAuth Selenium UI/UX

Alexey Semeney

Founder of DevTeam.Space

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Alexey is the founder of DevTeam.Space. He is award nominee among TOP 26 mentors of FI's 'Global Startup Mentor Awards'.

Alexey is Expert Startup Review Panel member and advices the oldest angel investment group in Silicon Valley on products investment deals.

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Loyalty App Builder — A How-to Guide

In this article

Features of a Loyalty Program App