Never underestimate the value of a great first impression. First impressions matter, so when brainstorming loyalty program name ideas, consider simplicity, brand alignment, value offering, and customer feedback. In other words, you’ll have to choose the elements that are most important to your business. Here are ten strategies to consider when choosing great loyalty program names, along with examples of companies that have mastered them.
Key Takeaways – TL; DR
- Simple wins: Easy-to-remember names like “Club” or “Rewards” outperform complex alternatives.
- Brand alignment is crucial: Your program name should reflect your company’s core values and personality.
- Test with customers: Validate your top 3 name choices with real customers before finalizing.
- Consider your positioning: Decide whether you want exclusive (“VIP,” “Elite”) or inclusive (“Community,” “Family”) messaging.
- Think global: If expanding internationally, ensure your chosen name translates well across cultures.
Ready to look into the loyalty technology as well? Book a demo with our experts, who are more than ready to show you why Antavo AI Loyalty Cloud is the best solution for fast and reliable loyalty growth! You can also check out our worksheet for designing a rewards system for your loyalty program.
Table of Contents
10 Tips for Making Loyalty Program Names Truly Head-Turning
1. Keep it Simple
The first strategy is to choose a straightforward, no-frills name. Selecting a short and simple name is a great way to ensure that your customers remember your loyalty program name and associate it with your core products, which is a valuable benefit. “Club,” “Circle,” and “Rewards” are commonly used, straightforward terms. The perfect example here would be IKEA Family rewards program, quite literally simplicity and homesense at its best. Including flagship products in loyalty program names is also a great idea, often used by food and beverage, jewelry, fashion, and sporting goods brands.
2. Stay On-Brand, Always
Your loyalty program is not just an “elongation” of your brand — it fully reflects your company proposition and cannot be disassociated from it. So be sure to emphasize and highlight what you have to offer, your brand philosophy, values, and your audience’s common characteristics. Hilton Honors is a great example, showcasing the hotel chain’s highest regard for its guests. A general rule for every loyalty program is to always keep your brand roots in mind during the brainstorming session. If sustainability is your passion, for example, make sure to communicate it accurately!
3. Connect on Passion
Loyalty programs with a name that connects with their customers’ passions really hit the mark. Whether it’s self-care or infused with charitable actions, many companies employ this tactic when it comes to beauty items, athleisure wear, or pet products – see Paw Points. for example. If your brand revolves around a passion: a love of fashion, an obsession with sport, or a keen interest in investments, put it on full display in your loyalty program name.
4. Choose a Side: Inclusive or Exclusive
Consider your brand values carefully before deciding on a rewards program name. If your brand has always emphasized community and inclusiveness, then it might not be in your best interest to use terminology that implies your loyalty program is only for the privileged few. If you’re in the world of luxury, however, highlighting exclusivity works wonders; just look at LuisaViaRoma’s LVR Privilege program success. However, we’ve seen a rise in loyalty program names that put a more inclusive twist on loyalty and say “Everyone’s welcome!”
5. Make It Aspirational
The essence of a loyalty program is about getting more and going farther. This philosophy is especially well-reflected both in financial institutes’ programs and more traditionally “moving” industries, such as airline and fuel retail loyalty programs, with cleverly playing on words like “speed,” “distance,” “fuel,” and “far.” This aspirational structure is also a favorite amongst financial service providers, such as Wells Fargo, or credit card companies, and insurance companies.
6. Highlight Rewards
If your loyalty strategy will be centered around an amazing selection of rewards, then highlight that. Give your loyalty program a name that implies members will score big! Homesense and TK Maxx hit the nail on the head with their name, Treasure. This name, combined with their fun approach on the landing page, clearly implies a delightful reward. Further infusing a sense of adventure, member collectible elements are called keys. When you earn 5 keys, and you’ve got yourself an exciting new reward.
7. Get Creative
The next strategy on our list? The sky’s the limit! Your loyalty program could be an amazing stand-out moment. This is especially true for brands with a cult following. There’s always a risk involved in getting very creative unless there is an ultra-clear link to your brand, but putting a creative spin on important elements of your program, whether it’s the name itself, the tiers, or the program currency, will make it much easier for customers to remember it and simultaneously encourage word-of-mouth.
8. Be Cohesive
Don’t stop at simply naming your membership program. Ensure that all of your reward, point, and tier names align with your brand image. Anastasia Beverly Hills’ ABH Inner Circle loyalty program is centered around the brand’s premium beauty offerings. The program name already conveys exclusivity and inside privilege, and is further strengthened by the passion-centric tier names, which emphasize elevation in the relationship between the brand and its customer.
9. Analyze Your Audience and Gather Feedback
Pull accessible customer insights and available survey results, website, or app feedback. Make note of how your audience communicates on public forums and social platforms, and adopt any special lingo they use regarding your brand or products. Another very important, yet often overlooked source of feedback: your employees! We absolutely loved how Whittard of Chelsea surveyed their employees before choosing the loyalty program’s name, asking them to provide insights on what they think would click the best with customers. 10/10 for attention to detail!
10. Fun Factor as a Wow Factor
KFC UK & Ireland‘s award-winning, reimagined loyalty program, the KFC Rewards Arcade, is the ultimate testament to highlighting your loyalty program’s strengths in its name. It’s a fun, entertaining, yet value-driven gamified loyalty program, where customers can play to win every time they open up the app. The program’s Arcade-style design pops loud and clear in the name, immediately connecting the fun experiences and the stunning visual design with the widely recognizable name.
5 Best Tier Names for Loyalty Programs
Every word in a loyalty program name is powerful. Phrases like “inner circle,” “insider,” and “VIP” evoke a sense of exclusivity and privilege, while words like “community,” “family,” and “tribe” deliver a more inclusive message. Translate this philosophy to your tier system as well.
- e.l.f. Beauty Squad by e.l.f. cosmetics – Fan, Pro, Icon
- AMC Stubs by AMC Theaters – Insider, Premier Go, Premier, A-List
- HUDA’S VIPs by Huda Beauty – Hustla, Bombshell, Legend, Icon
- Scandic Friends by Scandic Hotels – New Friend, Good Friend, Close Friend, Dear Friend, Loyal Friend, True Friend, Best Friend
- The Collective by Girlfriend Collective – Mint, Jade, Sage
5 Creative Reward Point Names for Loyalty Programs
Points, rewards, and benefits drive any successful loyalty program. If that’s your program’s selling point, consider adding “gifts,” “rewards,” “perks”, “coins”, or “selection” to the name.
- Starbucks Rewards by Starbucks: Stars
- Charlotte’s Darlings Loyalty Club by Charlotte Tilbury: Loyalty Coin
- Delta SkyMiles by Delta: Miles
- Cult Status by Cult Beauty: Status Points
- Deli Dollars by Jason’s Deli: Deli Dollars
5 Fresh Names for Loyalty Program Clubs, and Family Accounts
Introducing points pooling and family accounts in your loyalty program as a fast track to better rewards is one of the hottest loyalty trends of recent years. If you’re interested, Antavo’s Clubs Module can easily help make your ideas come true, whether it’s teeny-tiny family pools, or huge clubs for motorsport fans or fashion lovers. Picking a creative yet descriptive name is the way to go.
While there are quite a few companies offering this concept, most of them use very similar names, like “Household account” used by both Virgin Atlantic‘s Flying Club loyalty program and British Airways’ The British Airways Club.
Name Suggestions for Loyalty Program Clubs:
- Fashion industry loyalty program clubs: The Runway Club, Style Circle
- Beauty industry loyalty program clubs: Edit Up (get it? – add it up, edit up), Beauty Tribe
- Hospitality industry loyalty program clubs: Guesthouse Collective, StayTogether
- Fuel retail industry loyalty program clubs: Roadtrip Rewards, Auto Buds
- FMCG industry loyalty program clubs: The Fresh Family, Harvest Circle
5 Catchy Names for Promotional Campaigns
While a classic “2-for-1” promotion name is not ineffective, we can do better! Let’s go beyond naming promotions for simply what they are. It’s time to introduce truly eye-catching loyalty campaign names that are much better connected to the program itself. Here are some loyalty program promotion names for your next campaign:
- Fashion industry campaign names: Haute Perks Week, Style Sprint
- Beauty industry campaign names: Beauty Boost Bonus, Flawless Faves Festival
- Hospitality industry campaign names: Check-In & Win, Suite Surprise
- Fuel retail industry campaign names: Fill-Up Frenzy, Roadtrip Rally
- FMCG industry campaign names: Cart to Heart, Pantry Points
Did You Know Antavo Can Do This? – Translating Loyalty Program Names Is No Longer a Problem!
Thinking about taking your loyalty program to a global level? Expanding into a multi-country scheme can be complicated sometimes, but not with Antavo’s flexible next-gen technology! After spending so much valuable time and energy on finding the most accurate and representative name for your new program, loyalty currency, and every membership tier — not to mention the entire reward structure — you need a solution that takes care of proper translations for you.
Antavo’s Multi-language module allows you to translate all aspects of the loyalty program functionalities so that you can display them on the membership site according to customers’ language preferences.
- Translate behind-the-scenes elements like the Dashboard, Customer insights, or Custom events to enable your local teams to process and analyze valuable data.
- You can also use this function to display every aspect of your program to your customers in their preferred language, effectively and quickly translating the names of Challenges, Tiers, Quizzes, or Rewards (among others).
Great Loyalty Program Names Strike a Perfect Balance Between Memorable and Fun
Effective loyalty program names achieve the perfect balance between memorable and functional. The most successful names for loyalty programs communicate value while reflecting brand personality. Whether you’re developing loyalty program names ideas for a startup or refreshing an existing program, remember that the name sets expectations for the entire customer experience.
Ready to take the next step and start designing a concept for your beautifully-named loyalty program? Leverage our enterprise-grade technology and expertise. Book a demo to witness our technology in action.
In the meantime, here’s a handy worksheet for designing a rewards system for your loyalty program.
Jess is a Loyalty Program Analyst and a Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional - CLMP, helping companies learn more about customer retention strategies, so they can launch successful loyalty programs. She has been writing about loyalty since 2016. Jess also enjoys ballet, travel, learning languages, and carrying out secret missions for loyalty intel.
