3 Underutilized Loyalty Program Features That Boost Engagement

When done correctly, loyalty programs are full-time jobs for marketers. But even though marketers are actively engaged in running their program, certain features and functionalities can fall into disuse.

This tends to happen when those features land outside the normal day-to-day workings of a loyalty program. But making sure these features don’t go under-utilized is what will give your loyalty program a boost and ensure it keeps customers active, happy, and engaged. 

The good news? Many of these overlooked features are easy to activate. And when leveraged properly, they can dramatically increase member engagement, improve customer retention, and drive measurable ROI. In this article, we’ll explore three loyalty program features marketers often underuse—surveys, promotions, and analytics—and explain how to use them effectively to maximize program performance.

1. Surveys: Unlock Customer Insights to Improve Loyalty Programs

Why Surveys Matter

Surveys are one of the best and most important loyalty program features to use regularly. Why? Loyalty program member surveys provide you with information willingly given by customers with whom you already have an existing relationship. These are your most engaged customers: they've purchased from you, enrolled in the loyalty program, and most likely participate in your events and promotions. This makes them some of your best sources of research data. 

When used correctly, surveys help you:

• Identify what motivates your customers and what prevents them from engaging more.
• Discover opportunities to improve your loyalty program structure or reward offerings.
• Learn why members may consider buying from competitors.
• Segment audiences for more targeted marketing campaigns.

Example: Let’s say you’re a company that produces teapots and teapot accessories. You send a customer survey out to your loyalty program members. In one of the questions, you ask program members to list examples of other stores they might buy teapots from and why. 

The responses might uncover some interesting revelations, such as:

• One of your teapot competitors includes discounts on tea bags when purchased with a teapot.
• Another teapot company allows shoppers to custom-order teapots or accessories with custom colors, images, or designs, making the product more unique and personalized.
• A different competitor offers a warranty replacement service for any damaged custom teapots.

Or maybe it just comes down to price. Regardless, obtaining this type of information directly from customers is invaluable because it directly shows you opportunities to improve your own offerings. Your company can use survey responses to generate ideas for expanding product lines or services, if it makes sense to do so.

Survey response information will also help you devise marketing strategies that counter your competitors and utilize better segmentation to create more targeted customer offers. You can separate survey responders into specific customer segments and then create relevant messaging and offers that specifically appeal to them. To go back to the teapot example:

• You could segment all the individuals who like customized teapot colors or designs into a group that gets first-look at newly released teapots or limited-edition teapot designs.
• Another segment could be customers who liked getting discounts on accessories or tea bags with their teapot order, making them a group that receives special bonus offers for bundling purchases, etc.

How to Use Surveys Effectively

Surveys require time and strategic planning to design, send, and analyze, but as we've established, they're worth it. To make surveys easy and actionable:

• Keep them short: Customers are more likely to respond if it takes less than 5 minutes.
• Incentivize responses: Offer bonus points or a discount code to increase participation rates.
• Ask targeted questions: Use questions that reveal motivations, preferences, and pain points.
• Segment results: Group responses by common trends and behaviors to tailor future campaigns.

2. Promotions: Drive Engagement Beyond Purchases

Why Promotions Matter

When the word “promotions” comes up, most people assume that it refers to sales or discounts. But for loyalty programs, promotions are engagement drivers: play-to-win games, social media hashtag promotions, photo or video contests, etc. These are engagement opportunities that reward users for their activity and engagement, not necessarily for their purchases. 

Transaction-based promotions like bonus point sales can be good program member activity drivers. However,  because they require a purchase, there’s a limit to how often a customer can realistically participate. Remember, if the only time customers engage with your loyalty program is when they buy something, then all it takes for them to stop participating is for them to stop buying. Without another reason to engage, they can quickly lose motivation and interest in your loyalty program.

You can combat loyalty program abandonment by creating earning and engagement opportunities that don’t rely on purchases, like promotions.

Types of Loyalty Program Promotions

Here are several ways to make promotions more engaging:

1. Gamified Challenges

Gamification is a great way to bolster loyalty program activity. Using missions or challenges lets program members participate through fun and competitiveness. 

• Use missions, challenges, or competitions to encourage participation.
• Reward members with points, badges, or exclusive perks for completing tasks.
• Example: A “collect 5 stamps” challenge for interacting with your website or app can increase daily engagement.
  
  

2. Social UGC Hashtag Promotions

Social media channels can generate program member engagement very easily. Using a loyalty platform’s integrated tools, like the ones offered by Brandmovers, enables you to set up social media promotions to reward members for posting or sharing comments, photos, or videos. 

• Encourage members to post photos, videos, or comments using a branded hashtag.
• Reward participants with bonus points or entries into contests.
• Benefit: You generate user-generated content (UGC) that can be repurposed for marketing campaigns, increasing brand visibility and trust.
  
  

3. Experiential Promotions

Got a new product launch party coming up? A company anniversary or holiday event? Or even just a webinar? Toss your members some bonus points or other perks for joining in the fun and participating. This can also include consuming experiential content, such as videos or tuning into livestreams.

• Offer points or rewards for participating in webinars, livestreams, or virtual events.
• Launch parties, seasonal events, or product demonstrations can also be integrated.
• Example: Rewarding members for attending a live product demo creates engagement without requiring a purchase.

Tips for Promotion Success

• Align promotions with broader marketing campaigns (product launches, seasonal campaigns, or brand milestones).
• Track participation rates and engagement metrics to identify what drives the most activity.
• Mix short-term “flash” promotions with long-term ongoing challenges to keep members consistently engaged.

By providing multiple ways for members to earn points or rewards, promotions create habit-forming behaviors that keep your program top-of-mind and reduce the risk of program abandonment.

3. Analytics: Turn Loyalty Data Into Actionable Insights

Why Analytics Matter

Program analytics are a core part of loyalty program success -- yet it's surprising how often they go unused or underutilized by loyalty program administrators. 

Taking the time to really dig into loyalty program data is easier if your program has modern data analytics and reporting dashboards that easily break down loyalty program performance into actionable insights. It saves you from having to manually compile and format the data yourself, which is time-consuming and hinders your ability to make real-time decisions.

The best way to make program analytics a core part of your routine is to set aside a dedicated time each week to review program performance data. Try to avoid just gathering numbers for a report; instead, look at your specific program KPIs or general program metrics.

Metrics To Track: 

• Users who haven’t logged in in 30/60/90 days 
• Users who haven’t submitted their first receipt or redeemed for their first reward 
• Members who have redeemed unique codes or offers
• Top redeemed rewards 
• Top products or categories purchased 
• Top customer or earners
  

Focusing on certain metrics like these helps you actually put the data to good use. Like with survey data, understanding program analytics and metrics can help you gain actionable insights into how to optimize program performance. You're able to recognize areas for improvement and create action plans for re-engaging members, create more targeted offers, or identify opportunities to drive cross-selling or purchase rates. 

How to Make Analytics Actionable

• Set a weekly review schedule: Don’t let data sit idle. Assign a specific time each week to review key metrics.
• Identify trends: Look for areas where members drop off or engagement decreases.
• Segment members: Use analytics to create tailored campaigns for different audience groups.
• Plan campaigns based on insights: For example, inactive members may receive targeted emails with bonus point offers, while highly engaged members could be offered exclusive rewards.

Analytics turns raw numbers into strategies that increase engagement, retention, and loyalty program ROI. Combining survey data with analytics helps you better understand member needs and act on them efficiently.

Conclusion: Leverage Every Feature to Maximize Loyalty Program Success

Loyalty programs can be major drivers of growth, and the most successful loyalty programs don’t leave features unused. The best way to ensure your loyalty program is reaching its full potential is to ensure you’re utilizing every aspect of your program's features and functionalities. Surveys, promotions, and analytics are essential tools to drive engagement, retain members, and uncover actionable insights.  

• Surveys help you understand your members’ motivations and pain points, creating opportunities for personalized offers and program enhancements.
• Promotions keep members active beyond purchases, fostering long-term engagement through gamification, UGC campaigns, and experiential rewards.
• Analytics lets you measure performance, segment members, and develop data-driven campaigns that continually optimize your program.

By integrating these features into your regular campaigns, you’ll transform your loyalty program from a static points system into a dynamic engagement engine. Start today, and watch your member participation, retention, and overall program ROI improve.

Want to see how top brands maximize loyalty program engagement? Schedule a personalized demo today to explore actionable strategies for boosting member retention and program performance.