Issue #10: What's In/Out for Loyalty 2026

This list is not what will magically vanish or appear this year, but rather where I think the energy and focus from brands (and attention from consumers) is shifting. It’s grounded in much of what I’m already seeing from top brands.

Here’s the lucky 13…

↕ IN: Smaller Programs OUT: Bloated Programs

More members does not equal more success. The obsession with total member count and “% of sales from loyalty” is fading. What matters now is who your members are and how engaged they actually are. In 2026, expect brands to talk less about scale and more about revenue contribution, active participation, and depth of relationship. The brag will be about the small group of customers that are having the most significant impact, with some brands intentionally shrinking their programs to focus their resources better.

↕ IN: Relationship-based Loyalty OUT: Calendar-based Loyalty

More brands will stop treating customers like Sisyphus—demanding the same rock be pushed up the hill each January. One-year earn-and-reset models are outdated. Loyalty is moving towards multi-year status, lifetime recognition, and soft landings.

↕ IN: Benefits Worth Paying For OUT: Free Benefits for Everyone

I wrote about the power of paid programs in issue #7. Essentially because free programs are now table stakes, and are often bloated with unfulfilled promises. More brands are shifting to premium benefits behind paywalls, sometimes stacked on top of a free program, such as what Accor did. Consumers are no longer asking “Is it free?” but rather “Is it worth it?”.

↕ IN: Promised Delight OUT: Surprise & Delight

Surprise-and-delight was all the rage…until it shifted to unpredictable and inconsistent, and consumers got wise to it. Brands like Jimmy John’s have already moved away from this model, and Panera’s free program is struggling. Consumers don’t want random rewards; they want confidence in the form of clear, promised benefits.

↕ IN: Loyalty Revenue Influence OUT: Loyalty ROI

Running a loyalty program is expensive. That’s reality. Not only the infrastructure, but the actual rewards. Trying to calculate the perfect ROI for the program (or even a promotion) misses the bigger question: What revenue would disappear if the program didn’t exist? Loyalty leaders— along with their finance partners— are shifting the conversation to incremental revenue influence, retention top-line impact, and how loyalty data is powering other revenue streams (hello, commerce media networks!)

↕ IN: Rewarding Brand Engagement OUT: Rewarding Brand Spend

It’s no longer just about the 💰 . Brands are moving beyond dollars spent as the sole metric for earning and instead rewarding how customers engage. Actions such as visiting, reviewing, recommending, posting, or just sharing information about yourself is rewarded. Money still matters, but it’s no longer the only signal.

↕ IN: Intentional Friction OUT: Frictionless Everything

Not everything should be easy, and that’s the point. The best customers will work a little harder for meaningful value. As an industry, we’ve made joining and earning almost too easy, watering down programs and throwing around discounts and points without consumers even knowing about it. Instead, the trend is towards more registration-based promotions, choice-based benefits, and engagement requirements.

↕ IN: Group Loyalty OUT: Individual-Only Loyalty

Family and community is where it’s at. Programs will win by designing for households, friends, and small groups with shared wallets. Pooling points, sharing benefits, group-level promotions, and better recognition of collective value more closely reflect how consumers actually live (and, in many cases, spend). Plus, it drives more word-of-mouth engagement!

↕ IN: Redeem Everywhere OUT: Earn Everywhere

There is no shortage of ways to earn points (is there any brand NOT partnering with Lyft or Uber??). But bloated point balances are just leading to point value erosion, worsening consumers’ perception of programs. Plus, consumers hoarding points is a bad thing. The real opportunity lies on the redemption side: Broader redemption ecosystems, greater flexibility, and greater relevance. I’m not talking about simple point transfers. I’m talking true redemption partnerships. Those will be the brands that win.

↕ IN: Merch as a benefit OUT: Discounts as a benefit

Discounts disappear. Merch sticks around. In issue #6 I wrote about the power of physical rewards to create emotion, visibility, and brand signaling. All things transactional savings don’t do. Brands from Cava onward are leaning into tangible rewards because they mean something to consumeres. No one shows off a 10% discount. They show off what they got.

↕ IN: Debit Cobrand Cards OUT: Credit Cobrand Cards

Credit cobrands are not going away (I have a few in my wallet too!), but debit is having a moment. Brands like Southwest and Wyndham have gotten into the Debit rewards arena, reflecting a broader shift. Gen Z is more credit-averse, and earning rewards (while less of them) without taking on debt is increasingly attractive.

↕ Loyalty-led pricing strategy OUT: Promo-driven pricing strategy

Brands will be moving beyond one-off promotions as their primary pricing lever for members. Instead of waiting for a sale to discount, loyalty is increasingly shaping always-on pricing, subscription access, and, even dynamic pricing (which, as we’ve seen, can provoke real backlash if handled poorly). A recent article by Moneywise gave a bunch of examples of brands testing this.

The throughline isn’t lower prices; it’s revenue optimization. Loyalty data is used to protect margins, reward the best customers differently, and decide who gets access to value rather than defaulting to broad, promo-driven discounts that train everyone to wait.

↕ IN: AI quietly running loyalty OUT: Loudly selling “AI-Powered Loyalty”

The louder a brand or vendor talks about AI, the more skeptical we are all becoming. I don’t think 2026 will bring us a flashy member-facing AI feature. Instead, it’ll show up behind the scenes with better forecasting, more intelligent benefit allocation, relevant and real-time messaging and promotions, customer service improvements, and less manual work for teams.

What did I miss? And what do you agree or disagree with? Leave a comment or shoot me an email.