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2025 EY Loyalty Market Study: Evolving consumer expectations and marketer priorities

The 2025 EY Loyalty Market Study shows the power of loyalty programs: Consumers told us that loyalty programs were the top reason why they stayed loyal to a brand, even more so than having high-quality products and services. 

In today’s omnichannel landscape, where mobile apps are rapidly gaining dominance and in-store experiences are transforming, the ability to deliver the right reward to the right person through the right channel is more crucial than ever. 

More than 80% of customers express a willingness to download mobile apps for loyalty programs. Our 2025 study indicates that they aren’t just downloading and then deleting them to free up storage; these consumers are using these apps weekly and sometimes even daily. 

This frequent usage paired with enrollment in more programs signals strong engagement across loyalty programs overall — however, that also means there is stronger competition for customers’ attention and dollars. So, how do brands stand out from the crowd and create greater resonance with customers?

Access the 2025 Loyalty Market Study

Building successful loyalty programs is challenging

Last year’s study found interesting differences in consumer preferences by age generation. This year, the study aimed to looked deeper into these differences and revealed not only interesting distinctions in preferences across age cohorts, but also insight into how these behaviors have evolved.

When brands were surveyed about their primary challenges related to loyalty programs, a notable shift emerged from last year. Following a time of inflation and economic instability, the leading challenge is no longer measuring impact; it is making sure the programs and rewards are enticing to all buyer personas. 

To enable hyper-personalization at scale and create uniquely tailored experiences for each customer, brands need to define their target customers and understand how their unique preferences change over time. See how.

Download our previous report: 2024 Loyalty Market Study

Understanding the loyalty divide between brand and consumer.

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