The value of user research when designing mobile experiences that drive loyalty

In a competitive digital landscape where shoppers juggle multiple loyalty programmes and expectations are constantly evolving and growing, designing mobile experiences to drive genuine loyalty is no easy feat.

Our extensive experience in designing digital products for leading businesses has shown us that at the heart of the most successful mobile offerings, understanding your customer through user research has played a pivotal role in achieving loyalty goals. 

All too often, businesses omit or minimise user research, treating it as an optional part of the process. Instead they dive straight into design and development with concepts rooted in assumptions and best guesses. Even when user research is included, it is quite common to see findings ignored in favour of preconceived notions about what customers want.

This gap between research and implementation is one of the most significant barriers for brands looking to foster mobile experiences that unlock real loyalty.

So what can we do?

Beyond assumptions - why user research matters

To design an engaging mobile product, you first need to step into your users’ shoes. Research, discovery and user testing cycles are not just boxes to be ticked - they are essential to delivering meaningful, impactful rewards that resonate with your customers. 

One of the most common mistakes we see is brands prioritising objectives over user needs. The challenge lies in striking a balance - combining user desires with business goals. For instance, while a retailer might want to drive app engagement through frequent point-earning activities, users often seek flexibility in how rewards are earned and redeemed. Listening to these needs—and acting on them—can make the difference between an app that thrives and one that is effectively rejected by users and ignored.

A great example of this principle in action is Duolingo, which leverages behavioural science principles to keep users engaged. By giving users a sense of reward and achievement in their progress - through features like streaks and milestones - Duolingo taps into natural motivation, increasing app retention and user loyalty.

Key behavioural science principles you need to consider

Behavioural science can offer valuable insight into how people interact with rewards and loyalty programmes - exploring these as part of your user research and design process can help unlock 

Some of the principles we consider when designing for loyalty are:

  • Reciprocity: The sense that users “owe” you something because you’ve given them something first - find ways to initiate reciprocity with customers, such as an introductory reward.

  • Goal gradient effect: Users are more motivated as they near the completion of a goal. Completing the last two spaces on a loyalty card seems like less effort than the first two, even though it’s the same..

  • Endowed progress effect: Giving users a “head start” makes them more likely to complete tasks. For example, starting a rewards program with bonus points already earned encourages continued participation.

  • Consistency: Small commitments lead to larger ones. Asking for just the user’s email before presenting them with a full registration flow, increases the likelihood of completing the entire process.

  • Tiny habits: Repeating small, satisfying actions—like redeeming a reward—can create a habit loop that ensures users keep coming back.

By embedding these principles into their design thinking, businesses can create mobile experiences that encourage active engagement and habit formation, rather than passive participation.

The Apadmi team sat on the sofas

Rewards that stick: the research-driven approach

Most mobile apps that fail to drive loyalty may be offering valuable rewards, but all too often they demand too much effort, or lack clarity. Customers crave simplicity, transparency, and flexibility in their loyalty programs. They want to understand what’s in it for them—without wading through convoluted terms and conditions.

Through user research, we can uncover these kinds of pain points and design more engaging solutions. Here are some methods that we find to be most impactful when designing award-winning mobile experiences with rewards that stick:

  • Iterative feedback loops: By incorporating ongoing user feedback during the design process, we ensure that rewards align with their expectations. This approach prevents businesses from investing heavily in features that miss the mark with their customers.

  • Testing reward models: Conducting multi-variate or A/B testing can reveal which rewards drive the most engagement. For example, does offering free delivery outperform percentage discounts in motivating purchase?

  • Tracking impact: The work doesn’t stop after launch - measuring the performance and ROI of rewards is vital. Tracking metrics like user retention, redemption rates, and app usage allow you to evaluate effectiveness and continue refining the design of your product over time.

To give you an example, a client we onboarded recently had previously focused on offering static discounts in a ‘one size fits all’ approach. After analysing their user data and feedback, we suggested dynamic rewards tailored to past purchase behaviour that performed significantly better, driving both retention and incremental revenue.

Creating habit-forming loyalty experiences

Habit formation is key to unlocking the full potential of your mobile product. To design experiences that users return to repeatedly, we focus on building a cycle of Trigger, Action, and Reward - this is something that we have implemented effectively with our client Co-op with brilliant outcomes.

  • Trigger: Notifications or prompts that remind users to engage with the app, like adding a coupon to their wallet.

  • Action: Encouraging simple, intuitive actions, such as browsing rewards or earning points.

  • Reward: Delivering a satisfying result, like a discount or engaging animation, to reinforce the behaviour.

With this approach in place, users form habits that keep them engaged without conscious effort. 

Another example - at the heart of the Co-op app is member offers. Each Monday, Co-op provides users with eight personalised offers and customers can choose up to two at a time to use in store. Having tried a variety of approaches, encouraging this regular routine proved to be the best method for increasing both usage and retention. 

This approach is simple, not purely algorithmic (as there is some manual customisation of offers), and it genuinely rewards loyalty as 50% of the offers are based on what customers regularly buy. And customers love it, with one user feeding back, “I get happy when I see the notification. It’s a nice start to the week and it cheers you up on a Monday.”

co-op-device-loyalty-app

Listen, measure and adapt

All of this is to say, to design loyalty experiences that effectively deliver, businesses need to adopt a curiosity that leads them to listening to customers more frequently, and with an open mind.

Research is a continuous process that requires, listening, measuring and adapting your product based on user feedback. When paired with behavioural science and an approach that balances user and business needs, user research can transform mobile products into powerful tools for engagement and retention.

At Apadmi, we believe that loyalty is more than just points and perks, it’s about creating meaningful experiences that encourage users to return time and again. If you’d like to learn more about how we can design these experiences together - contact us today.

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