Tasti D-Lite’s award-winning loyalty program comes to the masses with Snap

For the past year, Tasti D-Lite stores have offered a loyalty program that lets users check in automatically on foursquare (and other services) when they swipe their loyalty card. These so-called passive checkins were powered by a startup called SNAP (Social Network Appreciation Platform) that has officially opened its doors today to allow other businesses to integrate the service with their loyalty programs.

For a monthly fee, SNAP provides a full rewards platform that’s designed to offer customers incentives for sharing their activity on Twitter and Facebook with automated, customized messages that extend the brand’s reach to the customer’s friends and followers. In the process it can also check users in automatically on foursquare and Facebook Places if they’ve linked their accounts through the SNAP portal. Users who share their activity can be rewarded with extra loyalty points, helping them to earn rewards faster.

Much like foursquare, businesses can choose to reward their customers with company-specific badges, medals, trophies and other custom rewards for completing certain achievements. These rewards can be configured to add extra loyalty points when they’re unlocked. Businesses can also inspire competition among regular visitors with a leaderboard that can be displayed in stores.

“This allows us to acknowledge and reward our customers for their brand loyalty and for spreading the word about Tasti D-Lite with their friends and followers within the most popular social networking communities,” says BJ Emerson, VP of Technology, Tasti D-Lite. “The SNAP platform now offers us greater flexibility and functionality where the potential for our success is limited only by our ability to creatively engage our customers and execute effective loyalty campaigns for our franchise network.”

SNAP offers an API that businesses can use to integrate SNAP into their existing loyalty card or gift card platforms. They have access to a corporate portal that provides reports showing the effectiveness of their loyalty campaigns, user activity by store and automated mentions on social sites. Customers can access their own branded portal that to track their progress toward accumulating rewards and badges as well as linking their social profiles.

There’s a cheesy video from SNAP included after the jump.