What Loyalty Expo revealed about the future of customer loyalty strategy
By: Sarah VanDerHart
What you need to know
- Customer loyalty strategy is shifting away from program design to relationship discipline, requiring brands to deliver value, relevance and emotional connection consistently over time.
- Customer retention strategy still depends on functional benefits like value and ease, but stronger growth materializes when customers feel recognized, understood and appreciated.
- Loyalty program platforms play a critical role in helping brands turn customer insight into personalized experiences, meaningful rewards and frontline moments that build lasting connection.
![loyal customers making purchase at coffee shop]()
For years, marketers have searched for the next feature, incentive, reward mechanic or program update to drive engagement at scale. But across conversations at Loyalty360’s 2026 Loyalty Expo, a different message emerged.
The clearest takeaway was that loyalty is rarely solved through a single innovation.
Discussions across the event, reinforced by ITA Group’s panel with Bank of America and Food Lion, point to a more complex reality that loyalty is built through sustained effort, deeper customer understanding and the ability to deliver personalized, meaningful experiences consistently over time. Loyalty is evolving beyond a program design challenge and into a relationship discipline.
Customer loyalty strategy is shifting away from macro-program design
That shift matters because one-size-fits-all loyalty strategies are no longer enough to create meaningful differentiation. Brands are moving away from generic, reward-led programs and toward more personalized approaches that reflect how customers behave, what they value and where the brand has the ability to create emotional connection.
Personalization brings new complexity, however. It’s now an expectation from today’s customers and delivering it well requires the right infrastructure, organizational alignment, tool flexibility, customer insight and ongoing commitment.
Key takeaway: The advantage now is being able to personalize your customer loyalty program consistently and meaningfully.
Customer retention strategy starts with value, but grows through emotional connection
Value and ease remain foundational to loyalty. Customers still need to understand what they receive, how to access it and why participation is worth their time. But functional benefits alone aren’t enough to maximize loyalty outcomes.
Our findings, in partnership with our market researcher CMB, show that advocacy is a clear signal of loyalty program success. Customers who advocate for a brand are significantly more likely to increase visits, spend and loyalty share.
The research also shows that a combination of perceived benefit, value, ease and emotional connection drive advocacy. Customers who feel emotionally connected show even stronger behavior. And customers who feel both deliver the highest level of value.
That finding reinforces an important evolution for any customer retention strategy: programs may win attention through value, but they drive growth (and sustain hurdles) by creating emotional connection.
Key takeaway: Loyalty programs need to deliver value customers can recognize and connection customers can feel.
Related: Why customer loyalty retention breaks down after the first purchase
![View our study on unlocking customer loyalty's hidden drivers]()
Customer loyalty programs need to make emotional connection actionable
The panel discussion brough our research findings to life through two distinct industries, showing that emotional connection doesn’t look the same for every brand (and more importantly: it shouldn’t). It depends on the category, customer expectations, brand relationship and moments where the brand can create value.
For Food Lion, emotional connection has its foundation in personal relevance and community impact. In the grocery industry, Nicole Hulstein, Loyalty Marketing Manager at Food Lion, shared that savings are often the entry point. But deeper connections are built when those benefits feel relevant to the individual and when the brand shows up in ways that extend beyond the transaction. Food Lion highlighted how personalization within loyalty and customer relationship management (CRM) helps deliver more meaningful value based on customer behaviors. The brand's Food Lion Feeds initiative extends that connection into the community, reinforcing Food Lion's role beyond the shopping trip through hunger relief, education and outreach.
SuAnn Carriero, Head of Loyalty and Rewards Program for Product and Channel Integration and Business Insights at Bank of America, shared that emotional connection is based on trust, consistency and credibility. In financial services, loyalty depends heavily on reliability. Customers need transparency, ease and confidence that the brand understands their needs. Recognition may come through moments that matter, such as acknowledging milestones, providing relevant benefits or offering value-added services. But those moments must feel appropriate, helpful and aligned with the customer relationship, not overly promotional.
Together, these examples show why loyalty program platforms need to do more than administer rewards. They need to help brands understand customers, activate relevant experiences and deliver the right kind of value in the right context.
Key takeaway: Emotional connection is the result of designing loyalty experiences around what customers value, expect and trust from the brand.
Customer loyalty strategy depends on frontline enablement
Another major takeaway from the Loyalty Expo was the growing importance of frontline employees in delivering loyalty experiences.
It’s not enough for frontline workers to know a loyalty program exists. They need to understand:
- How it works
- Why it matters
- How to communicate its value in real time
Brands are increasingly asking whether frontline teams can explain the program clearly, reinforce its value with customers and connect loyalty to relevant engagement or upsell opportunities.
Even well-designed programs can fall short if they aren’t activated during key customer interactions. A reward may be compelling, a program may be sophisticated and a campaign may be well-timed. But if the customer experience breaks down at the point of frontline interaction, the loyalty program loses momentum.
Key takeaway: Loyalty programs are best delivered through informed frontline teams and the technology platform.
Customer retention strategy is moving beyond points to meaningful rewards
Another emerging trend is the evolution of what constitutes value. Brands are moving beyond traditional points and discounts to more tangible, experiential and personalized rewards. This may include:
- Customer gifting
- Exclusive access
- Surprise-and-delight moments
- Personalized offers or segment-specific benefits designed to create stronger engagement
This shift recognizes that points alone may not always create emotional resonance.
For some customers, value comes from savings. For others, it comes from convenience, recognition, access, status, ease or feeling understood. Stronger customer retention strategy depends on knowing which type of value matters to which audience and delivering customer gifting in a way that feels intentional.
Key takeaway: The future of customer loyalty value is tied to more meaningful rewards and gifting opportunities.
Related: How to improve your customer engagement program with breakthrough touchpoints
Effective loyalty program platforms help brands start with what matters most
For many brands, this evolution can feel overwhelming. But meaningful progress doesn’t require a complete program overhaul.
Brands can start by strengthening the core elements that make loyalty easier to understand, easier to experience and more rewarding to continue. Simplify and accelerate the redemption path. Reduce friction. Make early interactions more intuitive. Use time-bound campaigns, surprise elements or dynamic experiences to create motivation. Demonstrate appreciation through personalized moments, exclusive access, thoughtful gestures or relevant gifts. Empower frontline team members to form real relationships with customers.
Loyalty program platforms support this work. The right platform centralizes data, activates personalization, supports frontline teams and measures what’s working. The strategy behind the program matters just as much as the platform technology. The strongest customer loyalty programs are built around a clear understanding of what customers value, how relationships deepen and what it takes to deliver consistently.
Explore ITA Group’s emotional connection research in our guide, "Quantifying customer loyalty’s hidden drivers," to learn how one of loyalty’s most underleveraged drivers can strengthen your customer loyalty strategy. Check out the guide now and see how to apply those insights across the moments that matter most to your customers.
![Download our study on quantifying customer loyalty's hidden drivers]()