How Lyntel eSim Drove Growth with Tiered Cashback and a Strong Referral Engine

Introducing Lyntel

Lyntel is a Dubai-based technology company specializing in eSIM solutions, providing seamless global connectivity for travelers and businesses across 200+ countries. Founded in 2023 by Kristijan Ilicic and Hasan Karisik, Lyntel has quickly established itself in the competitive eSIM market through its user-friendly mobile app available on iOS, Android, and Huawei AppGallery. The app allows users to activate mobile data plans digitally—eliminating the need for physical SIM cards while traveling internationally.

With over 65k downloads and a growing base of frequent travelers, Lyntel’s product is inherently transactional: customers purchase a data package before a trip, use it, and may not return until their next journey. This purchase pattern created a fundamental retention challenge that purely transactional eSIM providers struggle to solve.

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Challenges

Lyntel faced a retention challenge inherent to the travel tech industry. Unlike subscription services, eSIM purchases are typically transactional—customers buy a data package for a specific trip and may not return until their next vacation.

Without a dedicated retention layer, Lyntel risked losing customers to competitors between trips. The leadership team identified three critical needs to drive growth without burdening their engineering team with building internal tools:

• Increase Purchase Frequency: Give users a compelling reason to stick with Lyntel for every trip.
• Viral Acquisition: Leverage satisfied travelers to bring in new users through a structured referral program.
• Efficiency: Avoid a months-long in-house build of loyalty infrastructure to keep the tech team focused on the core product.

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Solution

Lyntel selected Gameball to deploy a comprehensive loyalty layer from day one. Instead of building from scratch, they integrated a specialized solution that allowed them to launch tiered rewards, referrals, and gamification immediately.

The strategy focused on three core pillars:

1. Dual-Sided Referral Program

1. Lyntel engineered a viral loop where both parties benefit, turning their user base into a growth channel.
2. The Mechanic: When a user shares their code, their friend receives a discount on their first purchase, and the referrer earns Lyntel credit (10% of the friend’s purchase or a minimum of $2).
3. The Impact: This created an organic acquisition channel that complemented paid marketing, rewarding brand ambassadors for driving new business.

2. Milestone-Based Cashback Tiers

1. To prevent users from shopping around for cheaper alternatives, Lyntel introduced a progressive status system.
2. The Mechanic: Users advance through levels based on spend. Higher tiers unlock significant value, such as "Zenith" (Level 3) offering 10% cashback and "Celestia" (Level 5) offering 20% cashback.
3. The Impact: This shifted behavior from one-off purchases to deliberate loyalty, as users can clearly see the value of consolidating their spend to reach the next tier.

3. Promotion Engagement

1. Lyntel utilized interactive mechanics to keep the app top-of-mind even when users weren't immediately traveling.
2. The Mechanic: Features like "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" (redeemable at 17 points) provided tangible short-term goals that encouraged repeat interaction with the platform.

Why it worked

The loyalty architecture worked because it addressed the core customer need for value and status in a high-value purchase:

• Incentivized Escalation: The tiered system with increasing cashback (10% for Zenith, 20% for Celestia)  provided a clear, aspirational path, encouraging customers to consolidate their spending with Lyntel to unlock maximum savings.
• Organic Growth Engine: The two-sided referral system was highly effective. By rewarding the friend with a discount and the existing customer with direct cashback, it transformed existing users into a powerful, low-cost customer acquisition channel.
• Transparency and Trust: Providing clear visibility of the rewards balance, transaction history, and how the referral program works directly in the app built trust and encouraged active use of the program's features.

Results & Client Feedback

The partnership has successfully transformed Lyntel’s user lifecycle, moving from purely transactional interactions to a relationship-based model. By consolidating referrals and loyalty into a single stack, Lyntel achieved operational efficiency and a seamless user experience.

Feedback on the Partnership: The collaboration with the Gameball success team has been a standout element of the partnership. Lyntel's leadership—including the CEO, CTO, and Marketing Manager—have noted the exceptional level of ownership and proactive support provided.

• Proactive Problem Solving: The Gameball success team actively helps identify root causes of technical challenges and implements fixes quickly to ensure zero disruption for users.
• Strategic Alignment: Whether setting up complex campaigns or defining technical configurations, the success team provides practical recommendations that align instantly with Lyntel’s business goals.
• Reliability: The team has proven to be a true partner, handling everything from fee waivers to urgent support with professionalism and speed, ensuring the loyalty system runs efficiently as Lyntel scales.

Key Takeaway

Lyntel’s story is a compelling example of how digital-first, transactional businesses can use loyalty as a retention weapon in markets where switching costs are otherwise near zero. In the eSIM industry—where dozens of providers offer comparable connectivity at similar prices—the differentiator isn’t the product itself but the relationship layer built around it.

By choosing Gameball over an in-house build, Lyntel deployed a full loyalty stack in a fraction of the time and cost, while gaining the flexibility to iterate on referral mechanics, tier structures, and campaign strategies as their business matured. The old CRM replacement further demonstrated that a purpose-built engagement platform can consolidate multiple vendor functions, reducing both cost and complexity.

For startups and digital-first brands operating in competitive, low-switching-cost markets, the lesson is clear: loyalty programs aren’t just for mature enterprises. Launching referrals, cashback tiers, and gamification early creates compounding retention advantages that become harder for competitors to replicate the longer they run. The best time to build loyalty infrastructure is before you need it—and Lyntel’s early investment with Gameball positioned them to scale retention alongside acquisition from the start.