15+ Customer Loyalty Statistics That Matter in 2026

Loyalty has quietly become the largest line item in the modern marketing budget. The 2026 Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report, distributed via Businesswire in early February, finds marketers now spend 51.5% of their total marketing dollars on loyalty and CRM, with 92.7% of program owners reporting a positive return and an average ROI of 5.3x. EY's Loyalty Market Study pegs US enrollment at roughly 92% of consumers, and Bond Brand Loyalty's long-running data set places the average American at 17.4 memberships.

The output metrics tell a more complicated story. The same average American is only active in 8.8 of those 17.4 programs. Roughly $10 billion in US rewards goes unspent each year, 49.1% of global respondents say it takes too long to earn anything worthwhile, and McKinsey finds 76% of consumers get actively frustrated when brands fail to personalize. Loyalty in 2026 is no longer a problem of getting people to sign up. It is a problem of closing the gap between the wallet of cards and the wallet of share.

The Loyalty Program Landscape in 2026

1. Marketers now spend 51.5% of total marketing budgets on loyalty and CRM.

For the first time in Antavo's tracker, more than half of the marketing pie sits inside the loyalty and CRM bucket. The 2026 report, drawn from a survey of 3,000 marketers and 10,000 consumers globally and distributed via Businesswire in February, frames this as the start of a loyalty Golden Age. Another 59.8% of marketers running loyalty programs say they would shift even more budget from short-term promotions into loyalty if given the chance. (Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026, via Businesswire)

2. 92.7% of loyalty program owners report a positive ROI, averaging 5.3x.

Antavo's panel of program owners is almost unanimous. 92.7% report a positive return, with the average sitting at 5.3x, slightly up from 5.2x the year before. 83.0% say they are satisfied with how their program is performing, up from 69.2% in the prior survey, and 89.4% say the program is delivering value they could not capture any other way. (Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026, via Businesswire)

3. 92% of US consumers are enrolled in at least one loyalty program.

EY's 2025 Loyalty Market Study, based on a survey of more than 1,600 consumers and 350 corporate loyalty leaders, finds that 92% of US consumers are enrolled in at least one program and nearly half are members of more than five. 92% also report spending more with brands that have a loyalty program attached. There is effectively no net-new enrollment audience left in the US. (EY 2025 Loyalty Market Study)

4. The average American is enrolled in 17.4 loyalty programs but actively uses only 8.8.

Bond Brand Loyalty's long-running Loyalty Report finds the average US consumer carries 17.4 loyalty memberships, near a record high, but is only actively engaging with about half of them. The 17.4 vs 8.8 gap has been remarkably stable for years and is the cleanest single picture of the engagement problem the entire category is now trying to solve. (The 2025 Bond Loyalty Report)

Enrollment and Engagement

5. 43.2% of consumers say they are more likely to join a loyalty program than last year.

Antavo's consumer survey finds 43.2% globally say they are more likely to join a loyalty program now than they were a year ago, and only 3.4% say they actively opt out of programs. 65.9% say loyalty programs are now part of everyday life. With acquisition costs climbing, shoppers are using loyalty programs as a personal margin tool. (Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026)

6. 49.1% of consumers say it takes too long to earn rewards.

49.1% say it simply takes too long to earn anything meaningful, 41.1% are frustrated by points that expire before they can use them, and 38.9% say the rewards on offer are unattractive in the first place. Together those three figures explain almost all of the unspent-rewards problem. (Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026)

7. 27% of US loyalty points were left unspent in 2025, worth roughly $10 billion.

The companion Businesswire release from Antavo's 2026 report puts the number on the engagement gap. In 2025, 27% of points US consumers earned were left unspent and 12% of all points earned expire. Against a US loyalty program market valued near $27 billion, that maps to roughly $10 billion in savings consumers never claim. (Antavo / Businesswire, 2026)

8. 38% of shoppers say their biggest loyalty frustration is that purchases are the only way to earn.

Yotpo's State of Brand Loyalty survey of 2,000 US consumers, last updated August 2025, finds 38% of shoppers cite transactional-only earning as their biggest loyalty pain point. Programs that layer in non-purchase actions like reviews, referrals, and profile completion consistently see materially higher active rates. (Yotpo State of Brand Loyalty)

Retention Economics

9. A 5% increase in retention is associated with a 25% to 95% lift in profitability.

The original Bain & Company finding from Frederick Reichheld and W. Earl Sasser still anchors every retention business case. Harvard Business Review puts the range at 25% to 95%, depending on industry. The same body of research notes that acquiring a new customer costs five to 25 times more than retaining an existing one. (Bain & Company via Harvard Business Review)

10. Loyalty members who redeem rewards spend 2.5x more than non-members.

LoyaltyLion's benchmark data, drawn from its own portfolio of ecommerce brands, finds that customers who actually redeem points spend 2.5x more than non-members and 1.5x more than members who never redeem. Members are also 47% more likely to make a second purchase than non-members, and that figure rises to 68% for members who redeem. The first redemption, not the first sign-up, is the real activation event. (LoyaltyLion benchmark data)

11. Loyalty program members generate 12% to 18% more incremental revenue per year than non-members.

LoyaltyLion's aggregated benchmark across hundreds of programs finds members generate between 12% and 18% more incremental annual revenue than otherwise-comparable non-members. That range underpins the average 5.3x ROI the Antavo panel of program owners reports. (LoyaltyLion benchmark data)

Personalization and AI in Loyalty

12. 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions and 76% get frustrated when they do not get them.

McKinsey's The value of getting personalization right or wrong is multiplying finds 71% of consumers now expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get actively frustrated when that does not happen. The same research finds personalization most often drives a 10% to 15% revenue lift, with the range stretching from 5% to 25% depending on sector and execution. (McKinsey, The value of getting personalization right)

13. Fast-growing companies drive 40% more of their revenue from personalization than slower-growing peers.

The same McKinsey research finds that the companies growing faster than their industry pull 40% more of their revenue from personalized experiences than their slower-growing counterparts. Personalization is no longer an upgrade. It is now the operating system of loyalty. (McKinsey, The value of getting personalization right)

14. 75% of retailers say AI agents will be essential by 2026, and 84% of loyalty members say programs make them more likely to repurchase.

Salesforce's sixth Connected Shoppers Report, based on dual surveys of 8,350 shoppers and 1,700 retail decision-makers, finds 75% of retailers consider AI agents essential to staying competitive in the next year. 84% of loyalty members say their program increases their likelihood to repurchase, 73% of shoppers plan to participate in more gamified loyalty experiences in the coming year, and Gen Z is 3x more likely than baby boomers to value exclusive experiences as a loyalty benefit. (Salesforce Connected Shoppers Report, sixth edition)

15. 51.4% of marketers now use AI inside their loyalty program management.

Antavo's 2026 report finds 51.4% of marketers already use AI somewhere in loyalty program management, and 50.9% of program owners say they are offering AI-driven personalization to members. The shift from "piloting AI" to "running on AI" happened inside one survey cycle. (Antavo Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026)

FAQs About Customer Loyalty in 2026

The 2026 loyalty data tells one clear story. Enrollment is solved, ROI is proven, and budgets are flowing. The remaining work is closing the gap between the 17.4 programs the average American joins and the 8.8 they actually use, and between the points members earn and the rewards they redeem. Coupons are the most efficient bridge across that gap, especially when personalized to a real purchase intent. That is exactly the surface 99coupons.ai is built for.