The Ultimate Guide To Loyalty
Programs
Each article in the series examines one best-practice loyalty program across industries, from global retailers to airlines, coffee chains to super-apps, and sets out exactly how it earns, rewards, and retains its members. Loyalty & Reward Co’s loyalty consultants review the tier structure, the points value, the redemption options, and the member experience of each program, then explain what makes it work and where it falls short.
Each guide reviews how members join, how they earn and redeem, what the program does well, and the lessons for anyone looking to design or optimise a loyalty program of their own. Recent guides in the series cover adidas adiClub, Starbucks Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, and GrabCoins, alongside other high-performing programs across retail, hospitality, travel, and quick service dining.
For a program operator benchmarking against a competitor, or a loyalty team looking for the best loyalty programs to model a new design on, this series is a single, growing reference point. Loyalty & Reward Co regularly add new Ultimate Guides with reviews drawing on our 13 years of loyalty program design experience.
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The Ultimate Guide To SHARE Rewards
SHARE is the loyalty program of Majid Al Futtaim, the Dubai-based shopping mall, retail, and leisure group. Darren Taylor, Senior Vice President of SHARE Rewards...
The Ultimate Guide to adidas adiClub
Since rebranding from the Creators Club in early 2022, adidas' adiClub has grown into one of the most recognised and awarded loyalty programs in global sportswear....
The Ultimate Guide To GrabCoins
Since Grab began rewarding riders for their everyday journeys, its loyalty program has become the beating heart of the largest consumer app in Southeast Asia. In...
The Ultimate Guide To Starbucks Rewards
When Starbucks global chief brand officer Tressie Lieberman addressed investors in January 2026, she offered a striking data point about the company's best...
The Ultimate Guide to the Marriott Bonvoy Loyalty Program
With 271 million members at the end of 2025 and member stays accounting for 75% of room nights across the US and Canada, Marriott Bonvoy is the largest...
The Ultimate Guide To DICK’S Sporting Goods ScoreCard
Editor’s note, May 2026: This guide has been updated to reflect current ScoreCard benefits, the relaunched DICK’S Credit Card program[40] and the latest reward...
The Ultimate Guide To Jersey Mike’s Subs – MyMike’s™ program
Editor’s note, May 2026: This article was first published in January 2025. We updated it to reflect Jersey Mike’s rewards program, MyMike’s and Shore Points....
The Ultimate Guide to the Raising Cane’s Caniac Club
The Ultimate Guide to the Raising Cane's Caniac Club From a single chicken finger restaurant near the North Gate of Louisiana State University in 1996 to nearly...
The Ultimate Guide to the JOE & THE JUICE Loyalty Program
Since opening its first store in a corner of Copenhagen's lifestyle shop Rue Verté in 2002, JOE & THE JUICE has grown from a single juice bar into a global...
The Ultimate Guide to Bass Pro CLUB
Editor’s note, May 2026: This article was first published in January 2025. This update reflects the current Bass Pro Shops CLUB Card offer, including the welcome...
The Ultimate Guide To My Bath & Body Works Rewards
Editor’s note, April 2026: This article was first published in January 2025. This update reflects current My Bath & Body Works Rewards mechanics, including...
The Ultimate Guide to Popeyes Rewards
On August 12, 2019, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen posted a single tweet comparing its new Chicken Sandwich to a rival's, and the response changed the fast food...
The Ultimate Guide To Chick-fil-A One
Did you know that 57% of consumers spend more on brands they're loyal to? That's exactly why Chick-fil-A One® has become one of America's most successful...
The Ultimate Guide to M&S Sparks
For over 140 years, Marks & Spencer has been one of Britain's most trusted and best-loved retailers. The business spans food, fashion, home and beauty, serving...
The Ultimate Guide to Discovery Vitality
There are loyalty programs, there are wellness programs, and then there is Discovery Vitality. Since its launch in 1997, Vitality has occupied a category of its...
The Ultimate Guide to Chipotle Rewards
Chipotle Mexican Grill debuts “Rewards on Repeat,” a relaunch of its loyalty program designed to deliver more frequent rewards, greater flexibility and a...
The Ultimate Guide to OneASICS
ASICS has long stood for something bigger than sport. The Japanese word "anima sana in corpore sano" ("a sound mind in a sound body") is the foundation on which...
The Ultimate Guide To AMC Stubs
Whether you're a casual moviegoer or a dedicated film buff, understanding the AMC Stubs membership options can save you significant money on tickets, concessions,...
The Ultimate Guide To MyMcDonald’s Rewards
Since launching points earn in Europe in 2019, MyMcDonald's Rewards has grown into one of the largest loyalty programs on the planet. By the second quarter of...
How Loyalty Programs Are Driving Financial Inclusion in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is home to over 650 million people, a young and digitally connected population, and one of the fastest growing loyalty markets on the planet. The...
What is the Purpose of a Loyalty Program?
Loyalty programs that work aim to improve customer retention and boost long-term engagement. By offering rewards programs, companies encourage repeat purchases, making customers feel valued. The loyalty program business model revolves around driving incremental revenue, increasing satisfaction and higher customer lifetime value (CLV).
Acquisition
Strengthen brand value proposition and improve the conversion funnel.
Spend
Stimulate spend via cross-sell, upsell, repeat purchase behaviour and improved share of wallet across multiple channels.
Engagement
Generate non-transactional engagement across different touchpoints, especially amongst higher-value members.
Retention
Proactively retain high value members and identify and target disengaged members.
Advocacy
Leverage members with high satisfaction to become promoters.
Data utilisation
Create a value exchange to incentivise greater data sharing to support analytics and personalisation of communications, offers and experiences.
What Makes a Loyalty Program Successful?
Drawing on academic research, consumer psychology, and the Loyalty & Reward Co team’s global experience, these eight essential principles define the success of loyalty programs that do work.
Loyalty & Reward Co’s Essential Eight™:
1. Simple: Easy to understand and use
2. Valuable: Rewards that matter to your customers
3. Stimulating: Encourage customers to discover and continue to engage
4. Emotional: Builds emotional connections with customers
5. Complementary: Seamlessly fits into your overall brand strategy
6. Differentiating: Stands out from competitors
7. Cost-Effective: Balances value for customers with profitability for business
8. Evolving: Constant adaptation to changing customer needs and trends
FAQs
The Ultimate Guide To series is Loyalty & Reward Co's collection of in-depth reviews of individual loyalty programs, covering how each one is structured, how members earn and redeem, and what makes the program successful. Each guide examines a single named program, such as adidas adiClub, Starbucks Rewards, or Marriott Bonvoy, and sets out the mechanics behind its success in detail.
Loyalty & Reward Co prioritise programs with genuine scale, member engagement, or design innovation, including programs that rank among the largest in their industry by membership or that introduce a mechanic other program operators have not yet tried. Programs are drawn from retail, hospitality, travel, quick service dining, and app-based loyalty, reflecting the industries Loyalty & Reward Co's 160 plus projects span.
Each guide covers how members join the program, how they earn and redeem the loyalty currency, the tier structure and any status benefits, the technology and partners behind the program where relevant, and an assessment of what the program does well and where it falls short. Every guide closes with a key takeaway for program operators.
The series includes guides on programs such as adidas adiClub, Starbucks Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, and GrabCoins, with new guides added as Loyalty & Reward Co review additional programs. The full archive of Ultimate Guides sits alongside the related Do Loyalty Programs Work? case study series.
A program operator can use an Ultimate Guide as a benchmark, comparing their own earn rate, redemption options, or tier design against a named program that operates in the same or an adjacent industry. The practical takeaway in each guide is written for this purpose, and Loyalty & Reward Co's Audit service can apply the same review approach directly to an existing program.
Loyalty & Reward Co add a new Ultimate Guide with each major program review and periodically update existing guides when a featured program changes its structure, tiers, or rewards significantly. The Latest Insights feed shows the most recently published guide.
Need help designing a loyalty program that works?
Looking to create a new strategy and business case for loyalty? Or struggling with engagement, program costs, or standing out in a competitive market? Our expert loyalty consultants can help you create a loyalty program that delivers real value to your customers and drives long-term business success.
Let’s work together to design a program that works for you.