Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026: Marketers Are Spending More Than Half of Total Budgets on Loyalty
February 3, 2026
Loyalty programs enter a new Golden Age as budgets, satisfaction, and ROI hit record highs. Antavo, the AI-powered Loyalty Platform, has released its Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026, a survey of 3,000 marketers and 10,000 consumers globally that unpacks the trends shaping the evolving consumer loyalty landscape.
Data from this year’s report indicates that loyalty programs have moved from the sidelines to the centre of marketing strategies. Marketers are allocating more than half of their total marketing budget (51.5%) to loyalty and CRM, driven by rising returns, stronger customer engagement, and a growing focus on long-term retention over short-term customer acquisition.
The findings point to a new era for loyalty, characterised by compounding ROI, increased brand confidence in loyalty programs, and a shift away from promotions that rely solely on discounts toward more experiential, personalised, and data-driven rewards.
Attila Kecsmar, CEO and Co-founder at Antavo, commented: “Another year of rising satisfaction, ROI, and investment only goes to highlight the degree to which brands need to be laser-focused on their loyalty programs. Those investing in loyalty have seen strong results, but brands can’t afford to rest on their laurels. A new era in loyalty is coming, and consumers want more from brands in the form of personalisation, new kinds of offers, and seamless experiences. The brands that leverage data, meet consumers where they are, and harness the power of AI will be the ones that build truly meaningful, increasingly profitable consumer relationships in 2026 and beyond.”
Loyalty means customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction means ROI
Loyalty programs are proving their value more clearly than ever. ROI for loyalty programs has increased for the third year in a row, reinforcing loyalty as one of the most reliable growth levers for marketers looking to build long-term revenue streams. The overwhelming majority (83.0%) of loyalty program owners said they were satisfied with their program’s performance, and 92.7% reported a positive return, with an average ROI of 5.3x.
Nearly 9 in 10 brands (89.4%) say their loyalty program delivers value they would not otherwise capture, and 59.8% would shift even more budget from short-term promotions into loyalty if given the opportunity. Marketers also emphasised that technology choices matter: platforms must empower teams while keeping total cost of ownership low.
Freebies, Frictionless Experiences, Friends and Family: Consumers want more than discounts
From the consumer perspective, loyalty programs are increasingly influential: 31.3% of consumers reported being more likely to continue doing business with a brand that offers a good loyalty program. While savings remain a key motivator (for 70.8% of consumers), expectations are nonetheless expanding beyond simple discounts. Promotions continue to influence behaviour, with 68.6% of customers saying they shape shopping choices. They are not enough on their own, however. Discounts may attract attention, but meaningful loyalty requires ongoing value. Free products or services (46.3%) and personalised rewards (41.6%) were seen as indicators of more mature loyalty schemes that offer value beyond discounts.
AI can support loyalty, and loyalty can support AI
As third-party data declines and systems become more fragmented, loyalty data is emerging as one of the most valuable assets a brand can own. Over half (65.9%) of the consumers surveyed said loyalty programs are now part of their everyday lives. This sustained interaction is generating a steady stream of structured, permissioned, first-party data. Only 3.4% of customers actively opt out of loyalty programs, meaning disengagement doesn’t have to be permanent; the majority of dormant customers can be reached again with the right messaging.
With budgets rising and ROI consistently positive, loyalty data is emerging as one of the richest seams for both AI training and deployment. It provides consented insights tied directly to real outcomes such as repeat purchases, referrals, and reward redemption, making loyalty data one of the safest and most effective training grounds for AI pilots and broader deployments. Doing so evenutally leading to higher quality, more responsive programs, generating higher interest and more interactions.
The full Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026 is available here. It was sponsored by Bloomreach DataLab, EPAM, Digitas, and StratLX.
What is Antavo?
Antavo is the AI loyalty and incentives platform that brings together loyalty, promotions, and agentic AI to turn customers into regulars: the customers who come back on their own, buy more often, and bring others with them. For more than a decade, Antavo has powered identity-led loyalty strategies for brands including SKIMS, Paul Smith, KFC, Flying Tiger, and Hyatt’s Inclusive Collection. Marketers build, change, and launch programs and promotions themselves, without waiting on engineering. Learn more at antavo.com.
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Frequently asked questions about Antavo
What can brands build with Antavo?
Brands use Antavo to run the whole loyalty and incentives program on one platform: points, tiers, challenges, streaks, referrals, clubs, and rewards beyond discounts; promotions and incentives for members and non-members alike, from bonus points and promo codes to bundles and cart-level offers; and agentic AI built in. Everything runs online, in store, on mobile, and in wallet, and marketers launch it themselves.
Who uses Antavo?
Antavo works with mid-market and upper-mid-market brands across fashion, retail, beauty, travel, hospitality, restaurants, and sports in North America and Europe: multi-market, omnichannel brands with a strong identity and customers worth keeping, including Paul Smith, KFC, SKIMS, Rip Curl, Benefit Cosmetics, and Hyatt's Inclusive Collection.
How long has Antavo been around?
Antavo was founded in 2012 and has been building loyalty programs for more than a decade, with teams across Europe and North America serving brands worldwide.
Why do brands switch to Antavo?
Most loyalty programs get stuck: reduced to a discount engine, generic to customers, or too rigid to evolve. Antavo removes those compromises. Brands get a program that feels unmistakably their own, loyalty and incentives on one platform, and the depth to handle tiers, expirations, refunds, and many markets at scale. Their own marketers run it: a tier change in an afternoon, live when they press the button.
How does Antavo use AI?
Antavo's agentic AI is built in, not bolted on. Two named agents do the work: the AI Loyalty Expert, which turns your ideas into a build-ready program, and the AI Analyst, which turns your data into clear answers and reports. Both work inside Antavo or connect to Claude and ChatGPT, and every answer is grounded in your own program and data.
What does Antavo integrate with?
Antavo is API-first with real-time webhooks and deep pre-built integrations, from Shopify, Klaviyo, Braze, and Bloomreach to the CRMs, CDPs, ESPs, and POS systems you already use. Antavo plugs into the stack you already run rather than replacing it.
