Loyalty Program Branding

The world preaches loyalty, but how many brands actually live it? Last month, I got an invite to something called Summer Smash, 1st Phorm International's invite-only community event in St. Louis. Think three days of HQ tours, private pre-parties, high-energy workouts, rides, and live music from artists like Ludacris, Lil' Jon, Pitbull, and Steve Aoki. The whole thing sells out in under a minute each year. Pure community building at it's finest. I couldn't make it due to personal obligations, but here's what blew me away: they still sent me a surprise box packed with over 10 of their top products (proteins, apparel, energy drinks, protein sticks), plus a handwritten note that felt genuinely personal, not like a marketing ploy. We've gotten so caught up in digital tactics that we've forgotten about the power of high-touch moments that forge actual emotional connections. This kind of follow-through is almost unheard of in today's brand world. Most companies would've moved on to the next person on their list. But 1st Phorm gets something that a lot of brands miss: real loyalty isn't built through campaigns or offers, it's built through experiences that make people feel like they belong to something bigger. That's where lifetime value really takes off. Summer Smash is far beyond just an event; it's the kind of experience that flips the loyalty script entirely, where customers don't just buy, they simply belong. Here's what I think other brands can learn from this approach: ➟ Send unexpected value for no reason. A surprise product or handwritten note shows customers they matter beyond their purchase history. ➟ Build exclusive communities around shared values, not just products. Whether it's in-person events or virtual experiences, give your best customers something they can't get anywhere else. ➟ Create moments people actually talk about. A few hours with A-list talent or behind-the-scenes access beats another discount code every time. ➟ Lead with gratitude, not growth metrics. When thank-you moments drive your strategy instead of the other way around, authenticity follows naturally. The bottom line: loyalty is earned through emotion, experience, and belonging. If your brand isn't building that, you're just another transaction in someone's day. When did you last surprise your customers with something that wasn't even on your roadmap?

Luxury’s New Loyalty: From Clients to Believers In the world of luxury, loyalty is no longer a reward. It’s a relationship. And that relationship now depends less on what clients buy than on how they feel before, during, and after they buy. True loyalty in luxury has moved beyond retention. It’s about turning clients into advocates who believe in the brand’s story, live by its values, and share its world with others. This shift is visible across the industry. Christian Dior Couture’s Dioriviera pop-up in Penang transformed a pattern into a physical experience, a space to linger rather than just shop. Coach’s new café at Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport turns a travel stop into a brand encounter. Louis Vuitton’s recent beauty line extends its aura beyond fashion into daily ritual. These moves are not marketing tricks; they are carefully designed experiences that invite repeat engagement without diluting prestige. The most effective loyalty programs today are built on emotion rather than discounts. They rely on personalization, access, and recognition that feels personal and deserved. Brands that understand this are designing experiences that make clients feel seen and valued. Exclusive events, private previews, and small gestures of appreciation now matter more than traditional points systems or seasonal promotions. But there is a fine line to walk. Extending into lifestyle or hospitality can create powerful new touchpoints, yet the farther a brand moves from its craft, the easier it is to lose authenticity. The strongest houses stay rooted in what they do best while leaving room for emotion, culture, and imagination to enter. They create belonging without compromise. Luxury loyalty today is a balance between precision and warmth, between protecting the brand and inviting participation. It is less about selling and more about sustaining fascination. If your brand is ready to move from transactional loyalty to emotional engagement, I help leadership teams design experience ecosystems that connect clients to your story for the long term. Let’s talk about how to build loyalty with intention. #LuxuryStrategy #BrandLoyalty #ClientExperience #ExperientialRetail #LuxuryMarketing

I’ve always found Target Circle an interesting loyalty program. At first glance, it looks like a standard discount program.But the structure is more thoughtful than that! 🎯 The offers customers see are shaped by their purchase history, which makes the deals highly personalized. 🎯 Over time, it influences how people interact with the program. 🎯Instead of browsing for coupons, customers open the app expecting to find something relevant and personal to their everyday life. Target also layered in a few mechanisms that go beyond discounts. For example, early access to sales creates a sense of priority. The community voting feature, where members help decide where Target donates, adds a key sense of participation in the brand. What stands out to me is how heavily the program relies on first-party data! The more customers shop, the better the program gets at anticipating what matters to each one of them. ∞ Many loyalty programs still rely on broad promotions that look the same for everyone. Target Circle takes a different direction where loyalty feels more personal, because the brand is actually paying attention to customer behaviour at a ‘Segment of One’ level. It’s a good reminder that the real advantage of first-party data is not in targeted ads. It’s in designing experiences that feel tailored rather than promotional. #Appstle #Loyalty #Rewards #Subscriptions #Memberships #Bundles #Shopify #ShopifyPlus

Not all repeat customers are loyal. Just because someone shops with you regularly doesn’t mean they’re emotionally connected to your brand. That’s the difference between habitual behavior and emotional loyalty. 𝗛𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘆 is convenient, automatic, is easy to lose and replicable by competitors. 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘆 is intentional, values-driven, sticky, and hard for others to replicate. The problem? Most dispensary loyalty programs are built to reinforce habit, not emotion. Discounts build patterns. Points create incentive. Emotion builds attachment. If you want to turn a regular into a loyalist, start here: ✅ Make recognition personal Celebrate milestones. Say thank you. Make customers feel seen. ✅ Reward more than just purchases Give points for opting in to your messages, adding information to their profile and brand engagement—not just spending. ✅ Design memorable experiences Surprise gifts. Early access. Unexpected perks. Create moments worth remembering. ✅ Align with identity Your customers choose brands that reflect who they are. Speak to that. ✅ Remove friction If earning and redeeming rewards isn’t effortless, it’s forgettable. Make it seamless. Who do you think is doing this well? p.s. Name the movie.

Unpopular opinion: Offering brands a point system ≠ customer loyalty Point systems: X Lack emotion - Loyalty is an emotion, points are a transaction X Feature discounts - Leading with a discount devalues a brand X Undermine intimacy - Customers like exclusivity & personalization Whereas consumers want: - To never look at a coupon again - A simple system that’s easy to use - Communication that feels personalized to them Brands who want to build lasting loyalty need to foster — ✓ Trust ✓ Familiarity ✓ A sense of belonging. The key is connecting these emotions to behavior. Collecting points won’t do that. Instead, meet customers where they are by aligning the brand with their existing values and behaviors. Innovative loyalty vendors like Epsilon, Antavo Enterprise Loyalty Cloud, and Annex Cloud do this with social selling and clear communication. They offer: - Games & quizzes - Customized rewards - Personalized messaging And leverage multi-platform data to individualize each customer’s experience. Brands like Dunkin', BMW Group, and Walgreens chose this approach because they know… Point 👏 Systems 👏 Are 👏 Not 👏 Loyalty 👏 Programs 👏 Thoughts?

👀 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲-𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 The brand loyalty game is changing. Gen Z swipes, samples, unsubscribes — then repeats. ❗ BUT: 𝙂𝙚𝙣 𝙕 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 60% 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙗𝙪𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨. So let's look at the bigger (loyalty) picture: 📉 Beauty brand loyalty is down 20% in the last two years. 📉 90% of Amazon beauty purchases? Unbranded. In a category obsessed with newness, retention is now the most underrated growth lever. Now what's the winning playbook? Connection > Coupons. Ritual > Rewards. Participation > Points. Here’s what smart brands are doing: 🪐 OSEA Malibu reduced churn by 40% just by improving its subscription UX based on customer feedback and conducting frequent A/B testing to optimize the customer journey. 🪐 REFY doesn't just reward customers — it recruits them. Its product development strategy invites the community to shape the brand's future, creating co-ownership through direct engagement. 🪐 Medalist Skin rewards customers for real-life actions like attending women’s sports games or signing up for a 5k run — loyalty as lifestyle. 🪐 Face Reality focuses on strategic product bundling to successfully increase loyalty among their B2B partners and B2C customers simultaneously, resulting in 90%+ B2B retention rates. 🪐 Charlotte Tilbury Beauty turned loyalty into lore. Its “Beauty Universe” rewards fans with surprise gifts, quizzes, and access to the mysterious Magic Vault — a program that feels more like a fantasy game than a transaction. 🪐 Glow Recipe knows loyalty lives on social. “Glow Rewards” rewards referrals, shares, and follows — treating community actions as valuable as purchases. 🪐 Aveda leans into accumulation. Its paid “Plus Rewards” program unlocks everything from robes to spa days, doubling down on experiential aspiration. Across the board, the brands winning on loyalty all share one trait: ❗ 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘. So what should you be doing? 🔺 Design community into your product, not just your Instagram. 🔺 Design your loyalty program like a universe, not a discount bin. 🔺 Reward values, not just volume. 🔺 Swap point-hoarding for co-creation, access, and honest reward. 🔺 Make engagement feel like access, not effort. ❗ 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 2025, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨? 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢. Thoughts? Drop them below! 😍 #BrandLoyalty #BeautyMarketing #RetentionStrategy #CommunityBuilding #BrandStrategy #BeautyIndustry #BeautyTrends #MarketingStrategy #BeautyBusiness #GrowthMarketing

Holiday shoppers are like shooting stars—bright, exciting, but often fleeting. The real challenge? Turning those one-time buyers into loyal customers who stick around long after the decorations come down. Chances are you're about to get a significant influx of new customers. Here's how to keep them engaged for the long haul: 1.) Send Customized, On-Brand Post-Holiday Emails The time right after a customer makes a purchase is when their affinity for your brand is at its peak. They're excited about their decision and can't wait to get their hands on your product. So why do so many brands use dry, boring follow-up emails? This is an opportunity to send a personalized message, share tips and tutorials, or surprise and delight them with an exclusive offer. Pretty much anything other than a plain, boring "Thanks For Your Purchase!" email would be an improvement. 2.) Build And Promote A Customer Loyalty Program This may seem obvious, but having a customer loyalty program can do wonders for your repeat purchase rate. Where most brands get things wrong is they cut corners by using off-the-shelf platforms that have bland default settings. This is a time to lean into your customer research and build a meaningful loyalty program that offers customers incentives they actually want in exchange for buying products they actually need. Once you get the terms and offers dialed in, use behavior-based email marketing to keep your loyalty program top of mind and generate repeat purchases on a regular basis. 3.) Create Personalized Offers That Build A Brand Community By now, you're probably sensing a trend – using cookie cutter templates is killing your brand. Don't treat your subscribers and customers like just another transaction. Remember, there's a real person behind that screen, and they're experiencing many of the same wins, frustrations, concerns, and emotions you are. The more you can personalize your marketing messages to their unique situation, the more they'll feel like they're part of a community, not a customer base. Don't sell to them. Make them feel like they're a part of your brand journey. At the end of the day, building customer loyalty is about creating meaningful relationships through consistent communication. Here's your checklist for maximizing the long-term impact of your BFCM efforts: ✓ Make a solid first impression with a personalized post-purchase experience ✓ Create and promote a customer loyalty program that's actually appealing ✓ Treat your customers like members of a community ✓ Use hyper-relevant offers to stay top of mind Do all of this, and you'll not only improve your repeat purchase rate, you'll also recruit a large (and growing!) army of lifelong brand advocates.

I analyzed 100+ loyalty programs in the last 30 days. Most brands still run loyalty like it’s 2009: Earn points, get a discount, repeat. The top 10%? They’re using loyalty to change behavior- not just reward it. If I were Head of Loyalty at a $10B+ brand today, here are the brands I would copy to build a program that drives LTV, repeat purchases, and real retention: PAYMENT-LED: 1/ STARBUCKS: 34M members, $1.78B stored value, 3x higher spend from rewards members. My kids love their hot chocolate and cake pops - so Starbucks has a special place in my heart 2/ TARGET: Circle members spend 5x more, with $4B processed through their payment rails in Q1 alone. Huge creds to Efrain Irizarry 3/ 7-ELEVEN: 55M+ members, 38% of transactions through their app 4/ DUNKIN': Wallet reloads driving 2.5x visits, 20% higher AOV 5/ CHASE SAPPHIRE: Premium card driving aspirational loyalty with travel and dining rewards aligned with luxury lifestyle; strong partner ecosystem SUBSCRIPTION-BASED: 6/ AMAZON PRIME: Loyalty disguised as convenience 7/ RH MEMBERSHIP: Luxury subscription boosting margins 8/ COSTCO: Unbeatable renewal rates and loyalty lock-in 9/ PANERA UNLIMITED SIP CLUB: Daily engagement via low-cost subscription AIRLINE & TRAVEL: 10/ UNITED: Loyalty program generated $1.8B in EBITDA (26% of total) 11/ DELTA: Loyalty now constitutes 57% of total revenue 12/ AMERICAN: 61% of flight revenue from AAdvantage members (used as $10B loan collateral) 13/ JETBLUE: Loyalty program worth $5.5B, more than half their financeable assets RETAIL AND FASHION: 14/ ADIDAS ADICLUB: 240M+ members, 2x higher LTV, 50% more frequent purchases 15/ UNDER ARMOUR: Members 2x more likely to make repeat purchases within 90 days 16/ KITH: Early access, raffles, skip-the-line, exclusive events 17/ SEPHORA: Tiered rewards building emotional connection beyond discounts QSR & FOOD SERVICE: 18/ CHICK-FIL-A: Loyalty tied to brand values, not just points 19/ SWEETGREEN: Personalized spend challenges over traditional points ~~ While many brands still hand out points like it’s 2009, top performers are building payment-loyalty loops that shape behavior- not just reward it. Less old-school points. More embedded wallets, subscriptions, and emotional incentives to drive customer engagement and brand loyalty. The best brands don’t see loyalty as a marketing tactic, they treat it like a strategic financial asset. PS: DM me “loyalty” to get the full Top 30 breakdown + our Loyalty Program Launch Checklist we use with leading fintech, retail, and QSR brands.