Reshaping loyalty programs in an era of value seeking

One of the biggest opportunities is just making it easier for customers to use their rewards. We hear that 40% of consumers say they sometimes forget to redeem, which signals a breakdown in the value exchange. When redemption is too difficult or when people don't understand how to follow through, it makes the value proposition more difficult to understand which for value seeeking consumers really erodess the value of a loyalty program. At the end of the day, the decisive lever is seamless redemption. It has to be easy like you said and uh the brands that do this most effectively are the ones that embed seamless redemption into the point of transaction. It doesn't just have to be earn and burn on currency. It could be, you know, redeeming a choice award from your digital wallet or a product sample. But the brands that do this really well make it easy, flexible, and infuse that clarity for their customers. When we talk about loyalty programs, we always talk about it as a mutually reinforcing value proposition between a consumer and a brand. And one of the best ways that programs do this is by infusing individuality and personalization. It makes it feel like a program is really serving my needs and not that I am one of many. And I just want to underscore that value does not equate to price. So what we see is that there is this value exchange that customers really want to opt into providing their own personal data to opt into more personalized experiences so that they can increase their perception of worth in the program. We see that nine out of 10 Gen Z's and millennials are willing to opt in to provide their data to get a more personalized experience. And over 50% of that same demographic will is willing to spend more with a brand if they feel like their experiences are personalized. So the first part of this is pretty obvious. We know that digital enablement is a critical lever for engaging younger generations. Over 50% of Gen Z and millennials find tech enable loyalty to be way more useful. And what we're seeing is that younger consumers really do like all of this to be seamlessly integrated. Payments, notifications, offers all to come in the same place. One of the places we're seeing a lot of success is in the credit card space where we're seeing that younger generations may not necessarily care that much about the payment product, but they are very motivated by all of the value that card might offer through promotions, through discounts, through exclusive access. And you're seeing how they are able to respond to what those consumers want across the journey. — And this suggests that traditional program mechanics may not align as well to those younger generations, right? You need features that enable real-time access, visibility, transparency, and digital investment is the common denominator.