The hidden risk in your loyalty program? Ignoring frontline employees

By: Max Kenkel

What you need to know 

  • Your loyalty program is only as strong as the frontline workers who deliver and promote it. 
  • Tech and strategy can’t make loyalty programs successful that are poorly executed at the point of sale. 
  • With the right tools, training and motivation, empowered frontline teams can be a powerful loyalty driver.   

 

convenience store frontline employee helping customer

Here’s a hard truth: Customer loyalty programs fail when the people interacting with consumers are left out. 

The average frontline retail sales employee earns $16.70 an hour. Yet for many customers, that person is the face of your brand and loyalty program. You can build the perfect tech stack, run smart campaigns and design world-class experiences. But if the cashier doesn’t understand your loyalty program, all that investment could go to waste. 

Many brands focus on systems, apps and offers, but fail to engage the frontline staff who interact daily with customers. That leads to confused or apathetic employees, frustrated customers and underperforming loyalty programs. 

Ignoring the frontline in a loyalty program isn’t a minor oversight. It’s a strategic failure. But it’s also a solvable problem. With a focused approach to frontline engagement, you can unlock the full value of your customer loyalty investment. Here are some practical steps to start. 

Related: Experts discuss the convergence of employee and customer experience 

8 steps to get your frontlines workers to engage with your loyalty program 

1. Communicate the strategy behind the program 

Go beyond just sharing what the program is by explaining why it matters. Give employees time to absorb the strategy before a campaign launches, so they can find their own language for sharing its value with customers.  

2. Train them on the loyalty program tech 

Equip frontline teams with hands-on knowledge of the systems behind your program. If they know how the tools work, they’ll be more confident helping customers and more likely to promote the program in the moment. 

3. Give the frontline focused priorities 

Store teams juggle dozens of initiatives. If loyalty is one of 10 things they need to do, it’s easy to get lost. In the weeks following a loyalty program launch or a new loyalty campaign, make it a top priority to help teams focus. 

4. Incentivize participation 

People support what they help create and what they’re rewarded for. Use gamification, spot bonuses, recognition programs and even performance metrics to encourage real ownership of your loyalty goals. 

5. Empower frontline employees with scripts and scenarios 

Give employees tools they can use in real situations. Offer sample customer interactions, role-playing guides and cheat sheets they can keep at the register or break room to build fluency and confidence. 

6. Align store leadership to the frontline campaign 

A campaign’s tone gets set at the top. If managers and shift leads aren’t aligned, the message doesn’t stick. Coach them on team enablement so they can share messaging to frontline workers.  

7. Create feedback loops 

Your frontline team hears more customer feedback in a day than your insights team might in a month. Set up check-ins or surveys to capture insights and then follow through to show that feedback leads to action. Conversely, if you aren’t ready to act on feedback, consider waiting to collect it until you are in a better position. It can be very demotivating for both customers and employees who provide feedback if nothing changes.  

8. Celebrate customer wins 

Share real stories where great service and loyalty experiences intersect. Use team huddles, internal comms or direct leadership recognition to reinforce frontline actions drive customer loyalty and brand advocacy.  

Related: 5 things top customer loyalty programs are doing differently 

Don’t let frontline employees be an afterthought in your loyalty program strategy 

Brands are investing millions in loyalty platforms, apps and marketing automation, but if frontline employees are out of the loop, the entire strategy is at risk of failing. 

Your tech stack doesn’t greet customers when they walk in the store. Your cashier does. And if that cashier or floor employee is confused, indifferent or unaware of the loyalty program, the customer will walk away frustrated and disengaged. 

This is a critical vulnerability that can erode trust, damage brand perception and turn loyalty investments into a sunk cost. 

If you want your loyalty program to drive real results, you must treat frontline employee activation as a critical part of your overall strategy. Train them, empower them and reward them. Because in the eyes of your customers, your employees are your loyalty program. 

Talk with our experts to learn how our loyalty platform, Horizon, can strengthen your loyalty strategy and build stronger customer relationships at scale. Schedule your discovery session today

Max Kenkel
Max Kenkel

As Customer Solutions Manager, Max leads our Customer Solutions line, ensuring all six components of a successful loyalty program deliver for our clients. With more than ten years of experience in strategy across customer, channel and employee loyalty programs, he’s seen a lot. You’ll often hear him talk about how important data is to brands. In his words, “It’s easy to make decisions on intuition, but it’s a lot easier to justify to shareholders when you can back it up with data.” Beyond his professional passions, Max plays bass in a pop punk band, visits as many national parks as he can and is an aspiring poet, publishing his first book in 2023.