What Insight & Data Should Be Considered When Developing a Loyalty Programme Strategy?

But with so many brands offering rewards, discounts, points and exclusive benefits, simply having a loyalty programme is no longer enough. The challenge is creating a loyalty programme strategy that genuinely connects with customers, encourages engagement and gives them a reason to stay loyal.

Mando has written regularly about the Top 21 Best Loyalty Programmes, but these businesses represent only a small proportion of the strong programmes we see today.

In such a crowded market, the key question is: how do you stand out? More importantly, how does your loyalty programme connect with your customers in a way that creates an emotional response and keeps them engaged? A strong loyalty programme is not one size fits all, nor is it simply a case of adding rewards that appear popular elsewhere.

A strong loyalty programme starts with a clear strategy, a deep understanding of your customers and the intelligent use of data and insight to build a programme that genuinely connects with them.

My name is Anya, I joined the Partnerships Team in Mando in June 2026 as an Account Manager. My role is quite unique as not only do I work on client accounts and partnerships, but the other half of my time is spent working in the strategy team helping to pull together research and insights for clients Reward Programmes.

This part of my role has been insightful as I have always had a passion for loyalty and partnerships but more so the ‘why’ and ‘what’ in understanding how businesses compile the range of rewards offered to their customers.

Personally, I am someone that has always taken the opportunity to sign up to a loyalty scheme if there is one. Whether it be an app, taking a physical card to swipe when I pay or something as simple as a card you stamp every time, I get my nails done! I enjoy exploring the benefits businesses have to offer us as consumers from a free coffee or snack, I can enjoy when commuting into the office, discounted in store items or free items in exchange for the points I have gained from money already spent or the opportunity to win a big prize!

That being said, my first few months with the business has given me a front row seat into all the planning and strategy that goes into building a loyalty program from an idea into something much more tangible.

Working in the strategy team has shown me the importance of a clear strategy, and the types of data and insight that help shape decisions during the development phase.

When developing a loyalty programme strategy, there are many different sources of insight that can help businesses make more informed decisions – from understanding customer behaviour and preferences to looking at competitors, market trends and the performance of existing programmes.

Here are some of the insights and data points I believe are important when developing a loyalty programme strategy:

Understanding key demographics and interests is pivotal to ensuring your loyalty programme speaks to your customers in a relevant way. YouGov specialises in market research and opinion polling, allowing us to build a picture of key interests, attitudes towards loyalty, interactions with major UK brands and seasonal behaviours. These data sets are then benchmarked against the general population to provide an overall score.

This creates a strong starting point for understanding the customer and identifying the rewards and brands most likely to resonate with them. For example, YouGov shows that currently 52% of Brits agree that loyalty programmes are a great way for brands and businesses to reward their customers and 40% are more likely to join loyalty programmes that demonstrate they understand them and offer personalised experiences.

A thorough market analysis is key to understanding how you can differentiate your loyalty programme and add value in ways your competitors do not. So, you could look at elements like accessibility: what qualifying factors must a customer meet to access rewards and are there any barriers your programme could remove?

For example, let’s say you’re in the Telco industry we already know the big players in the UK all have a loyalty scheme, but they all differentiating factors making each unique in their own way.

O2 Rewards, have Priority by O2 offering its customer early bird access to popular music events as well as exclusive discounts. Vodafone VeryMe Rewards focuses on offering its customer base weekly rewards having a constant mixture free to claim offers and prize draws enticing their customers to return to their app to take part.

Here we see 2 different approaches a big staple reward offering in Priority tickets helping O2 hold on to their customers by offering something exclusive vs VeryMe who may be offering customers something smaller in value BUT on a much more frequent basis keeping their customer base engaged.

Another insight you should assess is the overall feel of competitor programmes. If others in your industry feel bland or uninspiring, there may be an opportunity to introduce more fun, excitement or personality. A good example is Club Lloyds in the banking sector, which offers customers a free lifestyle benefit; this a distinctive reward approach within that industry. Club Lloyds benefits offer customers the opportunity to claim a reward they can access all year, they can choose from Disney+ (standard with ads) Subscription, Gourmet Society Membership, 6 Cinema tickets from Vue or ODEON and a Magazine subscription.

To access customers simply sign up to Club Lloyds the basic account is £5 a month which is wavered (providing the customer pays in a certain amount), so the customer gets to choose one of the 4 options every year your free, No other bank currently has something like this making this offering totally unique. Also, in this climate it gives customer a way of accessing something that some people may see as a ‘treat’ enjoyable to an individual or something that can benefit an entire family.

A strong understanding of trends in the loyalty landscape can give businesses an advantage, especially when trying to stand out. These trends inform decisions around rewards, mechanics, propositions and how best to create emotional, memorable responses for customers.

For example, in 2026, we are seeing more businesses gamify their loyalty platforms to add fun and excitement when delivering rewards or surprise-and-delight moments. Keeping pace with these trends helps ensure you are not creating a loyalty programme that feels outdated or blends in with the rest. Some of my favourite uses of gamification in loyalty programmes are a scratch card mechanic.

A recent example of this is Octoplus Monday Magic where you can scratch to reveal a prize. I would also give them extra brownie points for the customer journey as one of the prizes on offer is a free Lidl Bakery Goodie and once you claim (if you already have the Lidl plus app) it takes you straight through to the Lidl plus app showing as a coupon!

Another example of fun gamification is the AA’s game to win a Sony Home Cinema Package through their loyalty app. They tied this into the current Spider Man movie coming out to create a puzzle game called ‘The Web of Pieces’. This gave customers the challenge of putting together the puzzle in a 45 second time frame you be entered into the prize draw, creating an element of excitement for customers.

To wrap things up, there are many ways to access the insights and data points that matter. At Mando, this is something we specialise in through our the Insight’s Engine, which brings together a wealth of information from data, podcasts, blogs and whitepapers covering all things loyalty.

A strong-performing loyalty programme should always be built on a clear vision and strategy from the outset. By focusing on your customers, the UK economic climate, the wider loyalty landscape and what your competitors are doing, you can create a strong foundation of data and insight to shape a programme that genuinely connects with your audience.

These insights help you to shape and build a loyalty programme that truly connects with your customer base giving you a clear vision for your reward programme.