5 QSR Loyalty Boosters Driving App Engagement and Repeat Sales in 2025

In the age when you can access the whole city’s restaurant options from a single screen, quick-service restaurants are facing a critical challenge. The traditional “buy 10, get 1 free” loyalty model no longer works to capture and retain customer attention. 

And no, “buy 5, get 1 free” won’t cut it either: modern customers expect more – engaging digital experiences that extend beyond the meal itself. When done right, they convert into increased customer retention, visit frequency, and revenue growth.

McDonald’s recent performance proves just how far loyalty programs are from being optional. Despite overall sales challenges in late 2024, their loyalty program drove $30 billion in sales (up 30% year-over-year) and grew to 175 million active users, with members consistently spending more than non-members.

So, what are the ways to increase adoption and effectiveness of a QSR loyalty program? Let’s analyze five fresh approaches fit for a modern customer.

Add Personalization and Predictive Targeting

Research shows: businesses can boost revenues by at least 15% when they personalize messages and offers at scale. In the QSR world, that could mean using data to suggest a customer’s go-to side dish during prime lunch hours or sending a “we miss you” coupon when their usual order hasn’t appeared in two weeks. 

The key is first-party data, which captures every guest interaction and forms the backbone of hyper-personalization. 

According to QSR Magazine:

• One-to-one targeting based on first-party data can boost YoY loyalty spend by 16.5 percent. 
• Users who opt into personalized loyalty program communications deliver LTV 18-24 percent higher than members who don’t.

First-party data is your foundation, but third-party data from partners can layer on details like psychographics, interests, and broader lifestyle habits. This extra context helps you pinpoint exactly who loves an early morning smoothie versus who might respond better to a family-sized dinner bundle.

💡 Pro Tip: Segment users not just by past purchases but also by lifestyle signals (like location patterns or time-of-day preferences). A midnight snacker is different from a weekend brunch fanatic – so treat them accordingly. No need to build the tools yourself – there are plenty of options on the market, e.g. Amplitude, which helps track user behavior over time or Mixpanel, which focuses on real-time interactions and funnel analysis.

Make Mobile Gaming Part of the Experience

QSR apps are particularly vulnerable to sporadic app engagement – most users only interact with them when they’re hungry. But mobile app engagement is a universal challenge across industries, and researching beyond the QSR sector reveals new solutions. Like integration with mobile gaming.

Take Fetch, America’s Reward App. After introducing Fetch Play to allow users to earn Fetch points by playing popular mobile games, they saw a 5.5% increase in app open rates and a 10% boost in user retention.

For QSRs, this is the opportunity to stand out in a crowded market. 

The gaming and QSR worlds aren’t as separate as they might seem. Major restaurant chains like McDonalds, Wendy’s or Subway already sponsor the biggest esports events, host Twitch streams and create gaming-themed menus. There’s clearly a natural audience overlap. 

Your customers are already gamers. They’re just not gaming in your app. Considering every gaming integration with QSRs out there, there’s still a more engaging and frictionless strategy – bringing gaming inside your QSR app with Arcade.

Imagine users collecting your points by playing popular games they love, with the added value of ordering lunch cheaper or grabbing a snack for free – all within the same ecosystem.

By offering personalized collections of top mobile games through your QSR app, you transform it from a purely transactional tool to a restaurant-based entertainment platform, giving users a reason to remember your app between meals.

💡 Pro Tip: Set up limited-time Arcade promotions around major events like the Superbowl or Christmas. Offer double points, and watch how quickly simple point collection turns into meal orders.

Make Reward Redemption Frictionless 

Even great rewards flop if they’re hard to claim. In the same way that you’re more likely to start your day with exercise if you keep dumbbells next to your bed, minimizing checkout steps boosts conversion rates. 

Simply said, people are more likely to collect and redeem rewards, if it takes minimal effort. 

Depending on the nature of your restaurant, the “frictionless” approach may manifest itself in the loyalty program barcode instantly visible at launch of the app, a “pay-with-points” menu, or a “redeem” button right in the checkout flow so customers see how close they are to a free appetizer. 

Mirror that ease at your in-store kiosks, drive-thru points, and pickup stations. When redeeming points becomes second nature, usage goes up.

For example, Dunkin’ Rewards keeps their loyalty program easy to use with a dedicated in-app loyalty hub. Customers can instantly see their points balance, redeem rewards with just a couple of taps, and scan a barcode in-store to earn points or apply coupons.

💡 Pro Tip: Show the user’s point balance in large, bold text as soon as they open your app. If they see they’re only 15 points away from a free item, it’ll nudge them to continue engagement or place that next order.

Offer Tiered & Exclusive Menu Items

Limited-edition or “secret” items give customers something to brag about. QSR Magazine points out: tiered rewards encourage higher spending and more frequent visits.

By structuring loyalty tiers you create a sense of progression. Each tier should offer meaningful benefits to drive both engagement and spending.

Starbucks uses this exact strategy by offering its top-tier users increasingly valuable free items as they move up the ranks. You can replicate that success by presenting aspirational rewards with every tier – like a limited-time burger, dessert, or commemorative cup – and keep mentioning how close users are to unlocking it.

💡 Pro Tip: You can amplify these benefits by connecting them to your Arcade feature – for example, offering Arcade point multipliers exclusively to Gold members. This creates a powerful feedback loop: play more games to reach higher tiers, then use those tiers to earn rewards faster through gameplay.

Ensure Cross-Channel Consistency

If you’re offering a loyalty program through an app, customers expect to earn and redeem points with it whether they’re in the store, at the drive-thru, or on their couch. Research consistently shows that omnichannel customers have higher lifetime value.

The more consistent your brand experience is, the more likely customers are to stay locked into your loyalty ecosystem. Avoid channel-specific restrictions that will frustrate customers or limit program participation. 

On the other hand, channel-specific perks will drive the adoption of channels that are being underappreciated. To bring more users to the app, offer limited-time double points for app orders, or a special discount on the first app order.

💡 Pro Tip: Use bonus rewards for combining channels (e.g., mobile order with in-store pickup) or introduce a “channel-hopping” bonus that rewards customers for using multiple ordering methods within a set timeframe – the goal is to create a seamless loyalty ecosystem regardless of how or where a customer chooses to interact with it.

Conclusion: Take a Holistic Approach to Your Loyalty Program

Consider these strategies not as individual tactics, but as interconnected components of a larger engagement machine:

• Personalization re-engages the users. 
• Gaming drives retention. 
• Simplified userflows keep the experience frictionless. 
• Tiered systems create aspirational paths. 
• Omni-channel integration ensures consistency.

The market is hyper-competitive. Brands that can weave these elements into a cohesive digital experience will not just retain customers, but transform them into active participants in their brand ecosystem.