We’ve written about Loopt a number of times. If you’re not familiar, Loopt did location before Foursquare was ever a thought. However, it ended up getting passed and left in the proverbial dust some time ago.
The newest feature of Loopt? LooptStar.
Now stop me if you’re heard this before. You go to a business, you check in, as a reward for being the most checked-in person at that business, you’re given a reward. Sound familiar?
That’s the premise of LooptStar. However, the program does go a bit further, by allowing local businesses to customize the deals that they provide. Loopt says that LooptStar is different because it is an app in and of itself that was built from the ground up to support this type of “virtual loyalty card”.
We do like that it is built on Facebook Connect, which gives people a bit more reason to do social check-in, and ads another social media function to the light. Instead of having to connect your Foursquare with Facebook, native integration is a good move.
As for the money? Loopt will be paid by local businesses for each customer that is brought to their store via the application. This, also, is probably a good focus. As CEO Sam Altman states:
“It’s more about going to the local place you’ve been to before, like Starbucks or Burger King. It’s more about turning existing customers into better customers, rather than gaining new customers as in search”.
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