For digital and CRM teams, the starting point should be the customer’s task. An app earns its place when using the app makes participation easier or more useful.
When someone reaches the checkout, their immediate task might be to identify themselves and use an available reward. Downloading software, creating a password and finding a verification email introduce several additional tasks before the customer receives the benefit.
For me, the question is whether each step serves a useful purpose at this point in the journey. An app might offer a good experience once installed and configured. The first encounter still deserves a review of its own.
Digital interest does not settle the channel decision
Deloitte’s consumer loyalty research found more than 90% of Gen Z and millennial respondents considered at least one technology-enabled feature useful, compared with 73% of baby boomers. The study covered US adult loyalty members, and its technology questions concerned respondents’ preferred program within their assigned industry. [2]
This supports examining useful digital features. The finding does not establish a requirement for a separate app.
Checking a balance, receiving an offer and identifying a member are tasks. An app, a mobile website, a digital wallet card and the checkout system are possible ways to support those tasks. I would choose between them after understanding what the member needs to do and how often.
Start with the simplest recurring task
Take a customer who visits a retailer every few months. If their only loyalty task is presenting a member identifier, a digital card or an existing account lookup deserves consideration. Asking for an app installation needs an additional reason.
Now consider a frequent customer who orders ahead, pays, tracks progress and uses rewards during each visit. Bringing those activities together in an app has a clearer purpose. The customer has repeated opportunities to recover the effort of setting up the account.
These are illustrative situations. The useful distinction is the frequency and range of tasks, alongside the effort each channel requires.
I would map the most common member journeys before agreeing the channel requirements. Joining, identifying, checking eligibility and redeeming deserve separate attention. A channel which works well for one task might introduce unnecessary steps for another.
Measure completion from the beginning
Suppose 1,000 eligible customers start a reward journey requiring an app. Of those, 600 finish installation and sign-in, and 480 complete redemption.
The redemption rate is 80% among customers who finish setup. Across everyone who started, the completion rate is 48%.
These invented numbers show why the starting point matters. A dashboard focused on signed-in users leaves the first 400 customers outside the analysis.
The team then needs to examine where those customers stopped. Installation, verification, password recovery and finding the reward are different problems. Grouping them as “low engagement” gives the team little direction.
A comparison with another route should start from equivalent eligible customers, with the same reward and observation period. Existing app users are already a selected group. Their stronger purchasing or redemption results alone would not establish the benefit of requiring every member to use the app.
The alternative route also has costs
A mobile website still needs account access and support. A digital card needs reliable identification at checkout. Staff-assisted redemption adds work for store teams and requires clear controls.
So my preference is to compare complete journeys, including operating effort. Removing a step from the customer’s phone achieves little if the same step becomes a difficult conversation at the till.
For an existing program, I would test one frequent task through the proposed route before committing to a wider channel change. Measure successful completion, time taken, support requests and cost. Then examine repeat use over a period appropriate to the purchase cycle.
An app makes sense when customers have useful reasons to return and the experience supports those reasons. Where the task is occasional and simple, a lighter route deserves a fair test.
Before approving another app feature, I would ask the team to show the customer task, the effort involved and the evidence of successful completion. Those three things give the channel decision a practical basis.
References
[2] Deloitte. Reshaping loyalty programs in an era of value seeking. 12 January 2026. Survey methodology and endnote 4. View source