15 tips for launching a customer loyalty program

Fast Company

2 days ago

For businesses, loyalty programs are a great way to encourage repeat purchases and strengthen customer relationships. Yet, launching a successful one takes more than offering discounts or points.
The best programs are designed with the customer in mind—what they value, how they interact with your brand, and what makes them feel genuinely appreciated. To help, 15 members of Fast Company Executive Board discuss what it takes to build a loyalty program that drives not only sales, but genuine customer engagement.
1. PERSONALIZE REWARDS WITH EMAIL ADDRESS INTELLIGENCE.
Points and one-size-fits-all programs don't build loyalty. Customers need to feel seen. This level of personalization requires visibility into who customers are, how they behave, and what they value. Email address intelligence helps this, revealing real, active identities so you can act on what matters to them. Without it, you're guessing who deserves what, or possibly rewarding fraud. – Tom Burke, AtData
2. FOCUS ON EMOTIONAL CONNECTION, NOT JUST TRANSACTIONS.
Make your brand unforgettable in your customer's life. Don't just focus on driving transactions—build emotional connections. Celebrate unexpected milestones that your customers didn't even know they were working towards. Create personal, meaningful experiences, and reward loyalty in ways that show you truly know them. – Andrew Graff, A&G (Allen & Gerritsen)
3. CONSIDER THE CUSTOMER'S SIDE OF THE INTERACTION.
Think about how it feels for your customer. Will they find the rewards you offer and the commitment you ask of them to be a good value exchange? Too many loyalty programs make perfect sense for the vendor and ask too much of the customer. This means that in the end, it won't work out for you either. – Arar Han, Sabot Family Companies
4. USE TAILORED REWARDS AND GAMIFICATION TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION.
To build a loyalty program that drives real engagement, go beyond generic rewards. Align incentives with what your customers truly value. In logistics, we offer shower credits—more meaningful than cash. Tailored rewards create stronger loyalty. Add gamification elements to boost participation and make the program more interactive and sticky. – Mohan Kumar, AtoB
5. TURN ORDINARY INTERACTIONS INTO MOMENTS OF AFFIRMATION.
A great loyalty program isn't about points. It's about emotion. The most successful loyalty programs recognize and reward you in a way that serves an emotional need for people. They turn ordinary shopping interactions into moments of affirmation, making customers feel seen, understood, and valued. Design a loyalty program like that, and your most valuable customers will love your brand forever. – Barry Fiske, Merkle
6. RESEARCH CUSTOMER PREFERENCES TO ENSURE REWARDS ARE MEANINGFUL.
Make sure the rewards are meaningful to your target audience. A loyalty program only works if it aligns with what your customers truly value. Conduct research beforehand to understand their preferences—whether it's discounts, exclusive access, or early product drops—and keep the program simple and easy to use. – Maria Alonso, Fortune 206
7. REWARD BRAND ENGAGEMENT TO MAKE LOYALTY A HABIT.
Design your loyalty program like a two-way relationship, not a one-time transaction. The best programs reward spending and engagement, such as referrals, feedback, or education. When customers feel seen and valued beyond their wallet, loyalty becomes a habit rather than an obligation. – Albert Lie, Forward Labs
8. OFFER A RANGE OF REWARDS TO INCREASE VALUE.
Offer a mix of rewards—for example, discounts, free products, exclusive access, and early-bird specials—to cater to different preferences. To enhance the customer experience and make them feel valued, give out special rewards like members-only events or sneak peeks of new products. Consider cross-promotions with complementary businesses to increase the value of the rewards program. – Britton Bloch, Navy Federal Credit Union
9. KEEP IT SIMPLE, RELEVANT, AND RESONANT.
When launching a loyalty program, focus on delivering real value. Align rewards with what your customers truly want, personalize incentives based on behaviors, and make enrollment effortless. Simplicity, relevance, and emotional connection are key to building long-term loyalty and engagement. – Scott Keever, Keever SEO
10. AVOID TRAPS AND OVERCOMPLICATED PROGRAMS.
First, avoid setting traps—for example, other than points, requiring additional fees to redeem rewards. Second, ensure high quality of the rewards. Do not use unsellable or expired products as rewards. Third, don't overuse the program to excessively promote other products. Finally, don't make the program too complex for customers to understand the direct benefits of their actions. – Chongwei Chen, DataNumen Inc.
11. MAKE THE PROGRAM A NATURAL EXTENSION OF YOUR BRAND.
Focus on alignment over generic offers. Ensure the rewards reflect what your customers genuinely value—exclusive access, unique experiences, or curated product perks. A well-designed program should feel like a natural extension of your brand, not just a discount engine. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
12. DON'T TRY TO BUY LOYALTY.
Earn loyalty. Don't buy it. Transactional loyalty is transparently obvious. The reward-based exchanges you broker will either build relationships or break them down. Understand that your intentions are more apparent than you think. – Jay Steven Levin, WinThinking
13. TIE BENEFITS TO BEHAVIORS THAT ALIGN WITH BUSINESS GOALS.
When launching a loyalty program, focus on creating real value for the customer. Make it simple to join, easy to understand, and genuinely rewarding. Tie benefits to behaviors that align with your business goals and ensure it feels personalized—loyalty is earned through relevance, not gimmicks. – Stephen Nalley, Black Briar Advisors
14. FOCUS ON WHAT YOUR CUSTOMER IS TRYING TO ACHIEVE.
Make it truly valuable. Don't just gamify, personalize it. At LambdaTest, we were focused on what the customer was trying to achieve and aligned our rewards to speed that outcome up. It has to feel like a thank-you gift, not a marketing tool. – Asad Khan, LambdaTest Inc.
15. REMEMBER TO 'TEND' YOUR PROGRAM CONTINUOUSLY.
Loyalty programs are designed to retain revenue and work on growing the share of spend; they are not acquisition tools. A program is not a project, it is a product. It lives and breathes and must adapt and grow. It needs an owner, a gardener. You don't build it and forget it. Finally, it is not a marketing function; it's an enterprise function with a leader who has a seat at the strategy table. – Maury Giles, Material