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 behaviour, Gen Z expectations, and the future of personalisation. 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’, while growth director Elodie Rodriguez attended sessions, spoke with brands, and captured insights emerging across both events.

Meanwhile in Atlanta, speakers explored 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 surfaced again and again.

• Loyalty is becoming an emotional relationship, not just a transaction
• Relevance and personalisation 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.

If you 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 programmes have revolved around points and discounts, but increasingly, customers are disengaging because those rewards simply don’t feel meaningful anymore. They may be convenient, but they don’t appeal to the heart.

At Loyalty Connect US, Walmart powerfully opened with: “Loyalty is a behavioural outcome.”

It was a simple but important reminder that loyalty itself cannot be manufactured through the mechanics of interactions alone. Instead, it is earned over time through the provision of 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.”

This is a concept we know all too well at TLC Worldwide. Customers remember moments far more than they remember mechanics.

Emotional engagement, relevance, and meaningful experiences create stronger long-term loyalty than discounts alone ever can.

A consistent topic across both Amsterdam and Atlanta was the ongoing shift from transactional loyalty to emotional loyalty. Points, discounts, and incentives still have a role to play, but they are 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 particularly striking example came during a visit to World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta – right next door to the conference – where the opening brand film featured a line that perfectly captured the broader direction loyalty is heading.

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

As Mike Brinn and Iain Pringle also shared in their fireside chat, loyalty is increasingly about creating connection, not just driving the sale.

The head, wallet, 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 programme centred 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 the different moving parts involved, but the element that still resonated most was the heart.

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

Across both Amsterdam and Atlanta, the importance of emotional engagement, community, and human connection came through repeatedly. Of course, rational value and incentives still matter, but increasingly they are 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 behaviour, but one of our 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 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 will mean that brands need to find 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 – if not expensive – but there are so many ways to affordably add value to customers’ everyday lives, if marketers get it right.

Gen Z was a major focus across the events, showcasing that loyalty among the 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 clever messaging or surface-level personalisation. Value, honesty, and relevance all need to be there consistently to win their favour.

It’s no longer enough to simply 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 experience.

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

Across both Amsterdam and Atlanta, speakers repeatedly emphasised 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 simply to target customers better, but to create genuinely more valuable experiences.

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

From program structure and personalisation to the ever-changing role of AI, many open questions still remain, as does the recognition that there’s no single “right” answer. But, when has there ever been?

As always, taking the time to test, learn, evolve, and continually respond to market and customer shifts, will be key.