From Amsterdam To Atlanta – 9 Key Loyalty Trends Shaping 2026

The TLC Worldwide loyalty team has been on the road recently, attending two major industry events on both sides of the Atlantic – Loyalty Summit CXM Amsterdam 2026 and Loyalty Connect US in Atlanta.

Across both events, it was repeatedly stated that loyalty is evolving rapidly. Customer expectations are shifting, AI is reshaping discovery and engagement, and traditional reward mechanics alone are not enough to create lasting relationships.

In Amsterdam, conversations focused heavily on emotional loyalty, AI-driven search behavior, Gen Z’s expectations, and the future of personalization. Our Global Loyalty Director Mike Brinn joined New World Loyalty Managing Partner Iain Pringle in a fireside chat titled “From Points to Connection – Building Emotional Loyalty That Lasts,” joined at the event by TLC’s Growth Director Elodie Rodriguez.

Meanwhile in Atlanta, Mike and Paul De Bonis, TLC’s Chief Commercial Officer for North America, heard about how loyalty programs must become more relevant, more useful, and more emotionally meaningful if brands want to remain part of customers’ everyday lives.

Despite the different locations, industries, and speakers involved, the same themes kept surfacing across events:

• Loyalty is becoming an emotional relationship, not just a transaction
• Relevance and personalization are now expected, not optional
• First-party data is becoming critical to delivering meaningful experiences
• Customers increasingly expect brands to provide everyday value and utility
• Brands that create memorable moments will outperform those relying solely on discounts and points.

Missed the events? Here are some of our biggest takeaways.

This theme sat at the heart of Mike’s session in Amsterdam and was echoed repeatedly in Atlanta.

For years, loyalty programs have revolved around points and discounts, but increasingly, customers are disengaging because those rewards don’t feel meaningful anymore. They may be convenient, but they don’t appeal to the heart.

At Loyalty Connect US, Deepak Maini, SVP & GM of Walmart+, powerfully opened with this statement: “Loyalty is a behavioral outcome.”  

It was an important reminder that loyalty itself can't be manufactured – it must be earned over time through consistent value and positive customer experiences.

This was reinforced further by motivational speaker Tomeka B. Holyfield, who delivered one of the event’s standout observations:

“Loyalty is not built in a transaction – it is built in how people feel, remember, and return.” 

It’s a concept our team at TLC knows inside out: Customers remember moments far more than they remember mechanics. Emotional engagement, relevance, and meaningful experiences create stronger long-term loyalty than standalone discounts ever can.

The ongoing shift from transactional loyalty to emotional loyalty consistently came up. Points, discounts, and incentives still have a role to play, but they’re rarely what customers remember. What drives long-term engagement is how a brand makes people feel.

That might be through experiences, moments of surprise, or simple interactions that feel considered and human.

This theme was also reflected strongly in Atlanta, where several speakers discussed growing “transactional fatigue.” Customers already belong to dozens of programs, collect countless points, and receive endless offers. More of the same isn’t enough to stand out.

A great example came during a visit to World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, where the opening brand film featured a line that perfectly captured the direction loyalty is heading in:

“We do not remember days, we remember moments.” 

As Mike and Iain also shared in their fireside chat, loyalty is increasingly about creating those moments of connection – not just driving the sale. 

The head, wallet, and heart concept went one step further at the Amsterdam show, with Nacho CARNÉS, international senior marketing advisor, coach, lecturer, and speaker, introducing a simple framework for building a successful loyalty program centered around four elements:

• The soul – brand identity and purpose
• The brain – data, technology, and AI
• The heart – community and members
• The fuel – media and channel activation.

It stood out as another clear way of capturing all the moving parts involved, but the element that still resonated most was the heart.

The idea that community, connection, and emotional engagement sit at the center of effective loyalty programs came through strongly. Because while rational value and financial incentives still play an important role, they’re rarely enough on their own. More and more, they’re simply the starting point.

Another major takeaway from Atlanta was the growing importance of utility within loyalty strategies. Walmart summarised this particularly well.

“Scalable loyalty begins with utility, not aspiration.”

Customers increasingly expect loyalty programmes to provide practical, everyday value – not just occasional rewards or long-term redemption goals. Across both events, there was therefore a growing acknowledgment that loyalty programs need to earn a place in customers’ core routines through relevance, convenience, and usefulness.

We know from TLC Worldwide’s own approach, the most effective programs are often those that integrate naturally into customers’ lives, delivering value consistently and affordably at scale.

We didn’t need reminding that AI is constantly reshaping consumer behavior, but one of the biggest takeaways was just how fast this shift is happening.

37% of consumers start searches with tools like ChatGPT and Gemini – often without ever visiting a website. That means fewer clicks, fewer touchpoints, and a much shorter path to a decision.

A session from Nike reinforced this shift, showing how visibility is becoming less about search ranking and more about being part of the answer itself.

This means that brands need new ways to be visible and relevant – whenever and wherever decisions are being made. When considering what this means for loyalty specifically, “always on” rewards and daily brand interactions may sound intense (not to mention expensive), but the reality is that there are many ways to affordably add value to customers’ everyday lives. All it takes is the right solution for your brand.

Gen Z was a major focus across events, showcasing that loyalty among younger generations hasn’t disappeared – it’s simply been redefined.

Research shows that while around 70% of Gen Z consider themselves loyal, more than half would switch brands for a better deal, and many actively search for offers before making a purchase. 

A Gen Z audience is highly aware, highly selective, and quick to disengage if something feels inauthentic or low value.

So, to earn and keep their attention, brands need to offer more than smart messaging or surface-level personalization. Value, honesty, and relevance must all be consistently present to win their favor (and ultimately, their loyalty). 

It’s no longer enough to just use a customer’s name or send more targeted emails. Customers expect brands to understand what they actually care about and to reflect that in the end-to-end experience.

Done well, personalization makes interactions feel relevant and effortless. Done badly, it becomes part of the noise. The gap between those two lines is where many brands are still figuring things out.

From Amsterdam to Atlanta, speakers repeatedly emphasized that brands can no longer rely on generic messaging or broad segmentation if they want to remain relevant. Collecting, understanding, and activating first-party data is fundamental to creating loyalty experiences that feel genuinely personal.

The brands succeeding are using customer insight and first-party data not only to target customers more effectively, but also to create more genuinely valuable experiences. 

Despite the big names in attendance, there was also a clear sense that many organizations are still working through what loyalty should look like today.

From program structure and personalization to the ever-changing role of AI, many open questions still remain – and so does the recognition that, as always, there’s no single “right” answer.

Taking the time to test, learn, evolve, and continuously respond to market and customer shifts will be key.