Snapchat introduces loyalty badges for Snap Map locations
Snapchat is introducing place loyalty badges in Snap Map, awarding gold, silver, and bronze levels to frequent visitors (top 25%) based on their visit count over the past year. The badges are only visible to the user, but shareable stickers can be generated. This feature may enhance user engagement but also raises privacy concerns.
Snapchat has added a feature for places listed on Snap Map aimed at encouraging repeat visits - Place Loyalty badges. The badge is used to recognize each user's most frequently visited places.
If you've ever had a soft spot for Foursquare, this feature might be right up your alley.
Loyalty badges will show the places users visit most on the map and determine whether they are the "top visitor" to that place based on activity data. This could make the feature another competitive, addictive in-app feature similar to Snap Streaks.
Snapchat explained: "Place Loyalty highlights whether you've been one of the most frequent visitors to a place on Snap Map over the past year. Loyalty is determined by the number of visits, and if you're in the top 25% of Snapchat users who visit that place, you'll see your ranking."
Snapchat will award gold, silver, and bronze badges to top visitors at key places to recognize those who regularly frequent the same location.
Snapchat says: "Are you a gold-level regular at your local coffee shop? Or a silver-level airport expert? Now you can find out."
These badges will not be publicly displayed on Snap Map and will only be visible to the user themselves. However, top visitors can generate a shareable sticker to post within the app to show off their leading status.
Even without a public list of top visitors, this design could still create a competitive element.
However, this could also raise concerns about stalkers or those trying to track others' whereabouts. Snapchat is being cautious as always: users can only view their own top ranking and choose whether to share it with friends. But if this information is re-shared by people outside a user's circle, it could still cause problems.
It remains unclear whether the potential engagement boost can outweigh these concerns. But Snapchat clearly sees value in it, and the feature could prompt more users to enable location tracking, allowing Snap to provide brands with more data about visitors.
To emphasize this new feature, Snapchat also shared lists of the most frequently visited places in Los Angeles and New York to showcase where these badges will appear.
This seems like a small competitive element, but Snapchat clearly believes it will help drive visits, which in turn promotes more brand engagement activities.