In the post-pandemic world, we are witnessing a digital transformation and the birth of a new customer reality. All of this has had a profound impact on marketing, customer retention, and, most importantly, loyalty. As organizations realize the importance of retaining and engaging customers, loyalty programs are being launched or revamped in a wide variety of sectors, including agriculture, automotive, fashion, transportation, and more. In order to help you navigate the changing landscape of loyalty programs, we’ve summarized the most relevant brand loyalty statistics from our Global Customer Loyalty Report 2022.
Everything You Need to Know About the Report
Antavo’s Global Customer Loyalty Report 2022 provides a comprehensive look into the current and future state of the loyalty market through the eyes of companies and loyalty experts. It features insight provided by:
- Over 320 corporate survey respondents from all regions of the world
- Data from over 25 million member actions tracked via Antavo’s Loyalty Management system
- Global loyalty trends, including N. America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
- Additional perspectives from loyalty experts
- Interviews with respected industry professionals
Think of it as your very own action plan with brand loyalty statistics that will help you compare your expectations to the current loyalty landscape and uncover the loyalty program trends and strategies that will shape how customers engage with brands in the coming years.
Here’s everything you need to know about the key findings.
The Current State of Loyalty Programs
Over the years, loyalty programs have become standard practice across all industries, from travel to fashion, and even banking. But how do businesses currently running a loyalty program view their program’s performance? What are their current challenges and motivations for running the program? According to the results in the report:
- 56.0% of program owners are satisfied or very satisfied with their loyalty program, while 42.3% of respondents reported neutral satisfaction
- Only 1.7% percent of respondents were directly dissatisfied with their existing program
- At the same time, when asked whether they would like to revamp their loyalty program, the majority of the respondents, 71.6%, claimed that they are “likely” or “very likely” to do so
- Increasing customer engagement has been the number one motivation for running a loyalty program for both current and future program owners
- Since Covid-19, the most important challenge for loyalty program owners has been the ability to offer seamless omnichannel experiences
Inside the report, you’ll find an in-depth comparison of the top five challenges of both current and upcoming loyalty programs, an analysis of the correlation of high satisfaction levels and the desire to revamp a loyalty program, as well as more loyalty statistics regarding these current state of loyalty programs.
Loyalty Programs in Time of a Crisis
The Covid-19 pandemic has not been the only crisis that businesses have had to deal with. In recent years, online privacy laws and the phasing out of third-party cookies have forced companies to re-evaluate their data strategies and find new avenues to collect customer information. The brand loyalty statistics from the report suggest that loyalty programs have provided vital help in both situations:
- During the pandemic, 60.5% of respondents said that they had either increased or significantly increased development efforts for their loyalty strategy
- 62.1% reported that their loyalty program has helped keep their customers engaged during the Covid-19 crisis
- Through Covid-19, members in a higher tier level had a 29.6% higher visit frequency than members in lower tiers
- Organizations with a loyalty program that includes tiers reported a 1.8X higher return on investment compared to those that do not offer tiers
- 66.4% stated that when it comes to their company’s overall strategic decisions, customer loyalty and loyalty marketing have an important impact
If you’re interested in actionable insights as well as expert perspectives about switching loyalty programs into ‘crisis mode’ then check out our report.
Today’s Industry Trailblazers
In order to get an accurate reading of how the loyalty market will look in the near future, all participants were asked to specify the loyalty program trends or program elements they believed will significantly grow or become more impactful over the next three years.
Respondents voted the following loyalty programs as the most inspirational (in descending order of votes):
- Starbucks
- Sephora
- Amazon
- Nike
- PC Optimum
In our report, you’ll find a comprehensive review of each of these loyalty programs, coupled with a look at why they’re so inspirational, so you can use the takeaways for your own loyalty concept.
Emotional Loyalty Is the Future
With such a large percentage of existing program owners planning to revamp their program, it begs the question: what kind of trends will they follow?
As it stands now, current loyalty programs tend to follow the transactional model. However, interestingly, the majority of programs in the planning phase seem to be putting a greater emphasis on emotional engagement and experiential rewards:
- Just 20.7% of respondents offering a loyalty program classified their program as more emotional than rational
- 53.6% of respondents planning a loyalty program specified that their program will be more emotional than rational
- 65.2% of those not offering experiential rewards stated that they plan to introduce this feature within the next three years
- 55.4% of companies planning a loyalty program reported that their program will offer experiential rewards
- The adoption rate for experiential rewards will grow universally, especially for early access benefits, which are forecasted to grow by 26.7%
- 40.5% of program owners reported that they utilize some form of personalized rewards or offers
For a better understanding of what kind of rewards make up an emotional program, and what the statistics regarding the adoption rate of personalized rewards are, make sure to download our report. It also features insight and brand loyalty statistics about personalized rewards.
The Time for Action Is Now!
In three years, what’s considered to be “the default” by loyalty program members will change forever. Companies that are planning to enter the loyalty market in the foreseeable future or wish to revamp their program need to act fast and with caution while considering which trends are gaining momentum.
Ready for a discussion about the future of your loyalty program? Our experts at Antavo are more than happy to help. Book a demo to learn what our technology is capable of, or send us an RFP.
And if you haven’t already, make sure to download our Global Customer Loyalty Report.
Zsuzsa is the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder of Antavo. She has experienced Antavo grow from a startup into a market-leading, global scaleup for loyalty program technology, serving global brands and retailers. She was named Personality of the Year at the 2024 International Loyalty Awards, and listed by Forbes as one of Europe’s top 100 female founders in tech, Zsuzsa is a former journalist recognized by the European Commission.
