5 Trends that will Shape Loyalty Programs in 2022

As customer interactions get more fast-paced, brands overhaul their loyalty programs, making traditional ones outdated. Indeed, customers expect more each day; brands have to keep up to their expectations and offer customers instant and rewarding benefits.

Hence, brands have to come out of the vacuum and strategize as per new trends and current circumstances to retain customers. As we will be entering a new year, key trends in loyalty programs will make customers feel more valued. Let’s take a deeper look at the future trends in customer loyalty programs.

Gamification
Engaging customers through gamification is an effective way to interact with customers. Millennials and boomers don’t want just rewards or discounts for their purchases, but they want to be closely associated with their favorite brands. Perhaps, loyalty program solutions will embrace gamification to run campaigns, which will urge customers to behave in a specific way. Similarly, engaging customers in loyalty programs through mobile gaming apps is expected to grow in this field.

Automation in Loyalty Programs
Automation is making strides in each industry. In loyalty programs, too, brands should embrace automation to serve customers faster. Brands can ensure more personalization and streamlined operations when manual processes are automated. Moreover, customer loyalty is an altogether different process – it starts with gaining loyalty, maintaining, sometimes losing, and reviving it. Automation in this process can help brands understand consumers’ purchase behavior and ensure a good consumer service experience.

Loyalty Programs Focusing on Convenience
The Covid-19 pandemic has definitely ensured more convenience to customers. It is simple – when brands make the process of buying and selling pretty straightforward, they usually are the market leaders, for instance, Amazon. Studies show that consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that offers convenience.

Loyalty programs play a more significant role in offering convenience to customers. Using digital tools and cutting-edge technologies, brands can develop innovative ways to engage with customers through loyalty programs, offer comfort, and not mere rewards. And this is expected to grow in the coming years.

Personalization Using Data will Gain Importance
Customers with personalized customer experience show higher satisfaction levels. While offering personalized experiences is not new, using customer data and different technologies to deliver such experiences will become more advanced. Brands can use customer data and data analytics to predict customers’ actions and offer relevant promotions to them. Using customer data to run innovative personalized campaigns is very promising, resulting in more open rates, clicks, and conversions.

Mobile Apps & Social Media Engagement
Dependency on mobile phones has increased, and brands should leverage this to increase their customer engagement and sales. Using mobile apps, brands can track in-app activity, and through advanced analytics, they can understand the kind of content customers like. Similarly, social media is ubiquitous. We can expect companies to integrate social media interaction into their loyalty programs. Loyalty programs that will be a part of a customer’s social media journey will deliver more personalization and increase sales.

The Future
Brands that focus on non-purchase engagement activities will lead the race of the highest customer retention. Virtual experiences, digital engagement, and redemptions will grow, making loyalty programs more responsive and data-driven.