Loyalty Program Benchmark Report 2026

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September 28, 2025

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📢 Coming soon

‍The Loyalty Program Benchmark Report 2025 will be published on 15 October.

Want early access and a reminder when it’s live? Join our event here: Loyalty Program Benchmark 2025 Launch Event

The Loyalty Program Benchmark Report 2026 is your definitive guide to understanding the state of customer loyalty and measuring the success of your loyalty program. In this report, we provide data-driven benchmarks and insights to help you unlock value from your loyalty program, measure ROI, and elevate your strategy.

About the report

The Loyalty Program Benchmark Report 2026 draws on insights from 230 loyalty professionals across 30+ countries. It covers industries ranging from retail and financial services to hospitality, technology, and manufacturing, offering a global perspective on how loyalty programs measure success, set goals, and face challenges.

Scope	Details
Respondents	230 professionals
Countries	30+ (global coverage, strong NA & MENA input)
Company size	Mid-sized to 10,000+ employees
Industries	Retail, Financial Services, Hospitality, Tech, Manufacturing
Method	Survey + practitioner commentary
Focus areas	Success metrics, improvement goals, challenges

The result is a credible reference point for loyalty managers, marketers, and product teams who want to benchmark performance, set realistic goals, and back their strategy with solid data.

Why benchmark your loyalty program?

In a saturated loyalty environment, benchmarking your loyalty program against industry standards is crucial. Our report serves as a benchmark guide for loyalty programs, ensuring you're not operating in the dark. By comparing your program's performance and features with those of others, you can identify areas for improvement and validate what you're doing well.

Find out why benchmarking is so valuable in the next years:

1. Learn from best practices

Discover what top-performing loyalty programs are doing right. From seamless omnichannel experiences to personalized rewards, the most successful programs offer insights you can emulate. Draw inspiration from proven best practices to save time and increase the chances of implementing a strategy that truly resonates with customers. The Benchmark Report distills tactics from brands that turned their loyalty programs into robust engagement and revenue levers.

2. Avoid common pitfalls

Equally important is learning what not to do. Many programs struggle because they are too complex, poorly integrated, or do not offer real value. Benchmarking lets you identify classic mistakes, such as low reward relevance or confusing mechanics, so you can course-correct before customer satisfaction suffers. We highlight the pitfalls that cause engagement rates to plummet, helping you sidestep these issues.

3. Gauge your competitive position

A benchmark shows how your loyalty program compares to competitors' programs. With the market saturated, analyzing what others offer is the best way to find the differentiators that will set you apart. Benchmarking reveals opportunities to differentiate your program and strengthen customer relationships for the long term.

4. Justify loyalty investments

For loyalty program owners and marketing leaders, having concrete benchmarks and ROI data is key to securing budget and support. When you see industry averages and best-in-class metrics, you can demonstrate the value of loyalty initiatives in driving retention and revenue, using data to back up your decisions.

Key insights from the Loyalty Benchmark Report 2026

This report is packed with data and findings that shine a light on what makes loyalty programs successful today. Find out some of the top insights and loyalty benchmarks uncovered!

🧠 Retention and LTV define success

More than 37% of loyalty leaders say customer retention and lifetime value are the ultimate measures of program success. The data shows loyalty programs are increasingly seen as long-term growth engines, not short-term engagement campaigns.

🧠Financial impact is the most tracked outcome

39% of programs measure loyalty success through revenue, ROI, or profit. The report highlights a growing expectation to link loyalty directly to business performance and prove impact in financial terms.

🧠Engagement remains a core signal of relevance

Around 32% of programs track engagement metrics such as active participation, redemption, and purchase frequency. Engagement is still one of the clearest indicators that members find a program valuable.

🧠ROI proof and resource allocation are major hurdles

Nearly 45% of loyalty professionals cite ROI demonstration and securing resources as their biggest challenges. Despite loyalty's proven impact, many teams struggle to get budgets and board-level buy-in without more unmistakable ROI evidence.

What's inside the Loyalty Benchmark Report 2026

Loyalty Program Benchmark Report 2026 is a comprehensive resource, combining industry research, benchmark data, and expert analysis.

What will you find inside?

Section	What it covers	Why it matters
Industry-wide benchmarks and KPIs	Participation rates, active members, redemption rates, repeat purchase frequency, and retention benchmarks compared to industry averages and top-quartile programs.	Lets you see where your program outperforms or lags behind peers.
ROI and financial impact analysis	Data on ROI, incremental revenue, average ROI multiples, and revenue uplift from loyalty members.	Shows the economic payoff and helps build the business case for investment in loyalty.
Consumer trends and expectations	Shifting preferences toward personalized, experience-based rewards, demographic differences, and the impact of external factors (economic, tech, etc.).	Keeps programs aligned with evolving customer needs and external forces.
Benchmark data by industry	Sector-specific loyalty performance (e.g., retail, travel, hospitality, food and beverage, fashion) with customer behavior insights.	Allows benchmarking within your vertical for more accurate comparisons.
Actionable recommendations	Expert advice and tactics: optimizing reward structures, boosting AOV, personalizing engagement, improving adoption.	Translates data into practical steps to increase program effectiveness and ROI.

All these components make the Loyalty Program Benchmark Report 2026 an invaluable tool for anyone involved in customer loyalty or retention marketing. It's both a snapshot of where loyalty programs stand in 2025 and a playbook for where to go next.