Antavo, the AI-powered Loyalty Platform, announces the launch of its Global Customer Loyalty Report 2025, the most comprehensive report in the market examining perspectives on the current landscape of customer loyalty programmes, upcoming trends and opportunities, including customer preferences, budget allocation and ROI benchmarks.
Antavo’s annual Global Customer Loyalty Report surveyed over 2,600 CMOs, Marketing, IT and Loyalty experts and 10.000 consumers from all over the world and analysed more than 230 million customer interactions, to help guide brands and retailers with data-driven investments in the age of AI. EPAM was the key partner in the development of the report, providing expert insights and sponsoring the research with 10,000+ consumers worldwide. This effort was further enriched by additional insights from VML (formerly Wunderman Thomspon), Capgemini, Deloitte, Havas CX helia, Acxiom, stratLX and Miltton Insights.
Key findings include:
- AI is here to stay: 37% of loyalty programmes use some form of AI, and 50% plan to use it – so when added up, over 9 out of 10 programme owners will use AI in the future. Also, nearly 7 out of 10 programme owners (67%) feel comfortable using AI-powered agents to support in the management of their loyalty programme
- Almost 30% of programme managers still need to learn how to use AI, risking being left behind and losing customers to competition.
- More than half of respondents see AI as an essential tool for handling consumer inquiries and providing support, enhancing and optimising loyalty programmes, and providing deeper insights into the performance of their loyalty programmes.
- Most programme owners agree that AI will allow them to save time by enhancing team productivity, programme performance, and saving money through increased efficiency.
- Loyalty marketing investment reached a new peak, with 31% of marketing budgets being dedicated to customer loyalty and CRM to improve their customers’ experience in 2024 (22.8% in 2022). The highest spend is coming from Belgium (39%), followed by Brazil (36%), and the US and UK catching up with 30% and 26% respectively.
- Given market inflation and rise in cost of living, this also aligns with Forrester’s 2025 predictions that even though brand loyalty will decline, usage of loyalty programmes will increase and investment to unify data for the loyalty and marketing tech stacks will triple.
- 83% of loyalty programme owners reported a positive ROI, with an average 5.2x ROI. Germany saw the highest ROI with 6.2X, followed by Canada (5.4X) and the US (5.3X).
- Ease of management is the #1 priority for companies when choosing a loyalty technology – coupled with innovative features, show that companies prioritise long-term value from technologies, as opposed to quick implementation, and highly value ease of use and independence from IT.
- Poor integration was identified as a major challenge for 71% globally: 100% for the US, 75% for Germany, followed by the UK (70%) and Canada 66%.
- A booming 69% of companies are satisfied with their loyalty programme, rising from 56% in the past 3 years. The leading cause of dissatisfaction is loyalty programmes not aligning seamlessly with the brand’s overall customer experience, presenting many opportunities for loyalty managers to invest in programmes that prioritise the customer experience to drive satisfaction and beat the competition.
- Reward customisation impacts customer engagement: 82% of loyalty programme owners who offer reward customisation features report a positive impact on customer engagement. Businesses need to act quickly because the competition already plans to tap into this opportunity, with almost 80% of businesses planning to launch a loyalty programme in the next two years with reward customisation.
- Opportunity to invest in rewards and family benefits: 85% of programme owners let members select rewards, but only 44% of loyalty programme owners reported offering point pooling and family accounts; 7 out of 10 loyalty programme owners who offer account sharing believe that the benefits of this feature outweigh the costs.
- Gamified data collection gaining traction: When done right, gamified data collection delivers ROI; 7 out of 10 loyalty professionals think the benefits of gamified data collection outweigh the costs, and 76% plan to implement gamification for data collection or enrollment in the next 2 years.
Attila Kecsmar, CEO and Co-founder, at Antavo, said: “Our report explores the best investment opportunities for loyalty programmes and how AI can be used to improve the experience not just for the consumer but also for the brand. Brands are doubling down on loyalty spend as a significant part of their growth and there is a clear focus on retention and offering consumers more personalised rewards, easier access to benefits and a seamless experience across brands. The time is ripe to capitalise on the massive promise of AI to save on resources, and drive hyper-personalised loyalty programmes at scale, profitability, and stay ahead of the competition.”
Andrew Doyle, Managing Principal & Practice Head at EPAM, said: “This year’s Global Customer Loyalty Report is much anticipated and more important than ever. AI is moving beyond the hype and into practical use. The focus is moving from ‘what’ to ‘how’, allowing brands to better enable hyper-personalisation, contextual engagement, and perceived value management for each and every member.”
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