Challenges

Challenges reward patterns of behaviour, not single visits. They're the playful layer on top of your core program — and the best tool for shaping when customers come.

The four challenge types

Frequency — lots of visits in a short window. Example: 5 visits in 7 days → free lunch. Use for: pushing a habit hard for one week, launch periods.

Streak — keep a rhythm going. Example: visit every week, 4 weeks running → free product. Use for: turning occasional visitors into weekly regulars.

Sprint — beat the clock to fill a card. Example: fill a 10-stamp card before Sunday → double reward. Use for: end-of-month pushes, seasonal urgency.

Quest — complete a set of goals. Example: visit 3 of our locations → reward. Use for: multi-premise businesses, product-discovery goals.

Settings

Each type has its own knobs (visits and window for frequency; cadence and length for streaks; deadline for sprints; goal list for quests) plus the usual name, reward and premises. Two more apply to every challenge:

• End date — required, like every program: it's the terms customers join under, shown on their card as Program ends. For sprints and quests the completion deadline is the end date; frequency and streak challenges pick theirs separately. See Start, end and archive.
• Join limit (optional) — how many times a single customer can play the challenge over its lifetime. Unlimited by default; set it to 1 for strictly one-shot challenges.

How visits are counted

Frequency, Streak and "visit different places" Quests are visit-based: a visit is logged automatically whenever a customer earns stamps or points at your place — no separate scan needed. Redemptions never count as visits.

For frequency and streak challenges, only one visit counts per day at each place by default, based on that place's local calendar day. Turn off "Only one visit counts per day" when you create the challenge if you'd rather count every earn.

A places quest counts differently: each of its places counts once, ever. The first visit to each place advances the quest; coming back to an already-counted place never does — while visiting two places on the same day counts both. The customer's card activity names the place each counted visit came from.

These challenges appear on a customer's cards automatically the moment they engage — their first stamp or points with you, or following your place — so there's nothing to join. Staff can still add a visit directly by scanning with the challenge selected — no daily cap; on a places quest it counts the scanned place only if it hasn't counted yet.

Sprints are stamp-based, so none of this applies — they fill on stamps like a stamp card.

Streak rules

A streak counts one visit per period, in consecutive periods, using your place's own calendar and time zone:

• Weekly streaks run on calendar weeks (Monday to Sunday); daily streaks on calendar days. Any visit inside the period keeps the chain.
• Extra visits in an already-counted period neither advance nor harm the streak.
• Missing a period breaks it: the next visit quietly restarts the count at one.

Progress and deadlines

Customers see exactly where they stand — "3 of 5 visits, 2 days left" — and that visible countdown is the point: progress plus a deadline is the strongest return-visit motivator in loyalty design.

A frequency challenge's window opens on the customer's first visit and runs for the days you set. If they fall behind — the window runs out, or too few days are left to still reach the goal — their next visit quietly starts a fresh window at visit one. No one is stranded watching a countdown they can no longer beat.

Frequency and streak challenges therefore run on two clocks: the customer's personal window or chain, and the program's own end date. The countdown always shows whichever runs out sooner; a far-off end date appears as a Program ends date in the card details instead, only turning into a countdown in the program's final month. Once the end date passes, cards show Ended — and any reward completed before it can still be redeemed at the counter.

Keep it winnable

A challenge nobody completes trains customers to ignore the next one. Aim for targets a good regular would hit anyway with one extra visit — the challenge should feel like a bonus on their life, not a second job.

For a frequency challenge with one visit per day, Sello won't let you set fewer days than visits — "5 visits in 3 days" can't be won when only one counts, so it's blocked before it goes live.