Personalized customer experiences are a priority for the loyalty industry today. The results of Sparta Loyalty’s latest report, “Loyalty Report 2026,” are clear: as many as 93% of marketers and sales professionals consider personalized interaction to be the most important trend in loyalty in 2025. What’s more, almost all respondents (93%) confirm that loyalty programs have a direct impact on consumer purchasing decisions.
For several years, Sparta Loyalty has been conducting regular market research to answer questions posed by brands seeking effective ways to build valuable relationships with customers. How can loyalty programs be designed and developed today to truly engage customers and build lasting relationships? How do advanced technologies support loyalty? What do today’s consumers expect from the programs they join, and how can their real impact on business be measured?
The latest edition of the Sparta Loyalty report is a comprehensive overview of the trends and challenges facing customer relationship specialists today. The survey was conducted on a sample of hundreds of marketers and sales specialists from many countries around the world, including Poland, Romania, Hungary, Greece, South Africa, the USA, Canada, Chile, and India.
– We compared this year’s data with last year’s, which allows us to see what has gained particular importance recently. Surveys and interviews with professionals leave no doubt – personalization is what matters most today. More than ever, consumers expect brands to understand their individual needs. That is why loyalty programs are evolving and becoming much more than just a simple points or discount system. How can you set up a system that builds individual relationships with consumers? Our report also includes a practical guide to help brands effectively build personalized relationships with consumers, says Alexander Kubicki, marketing director at Sparta Loyalty.
- Personalization as a driver of growth: As many as 93% of respondents indicated that personalized customer experiences are the most important trend in 2025. The increase in the importance of personalization compared to last year’s results is an impressive 40 percentage points.
- AI takes the wheel: Nearly half of experts (47%) believe that recommendations based on artificial intelligence (AI) have the greatest impact on customer loyalty today.
- Impact on purchasing decisions: The vast majority of respondents, 93%, admit that loyalty programs influence consumer purchasing decisions (31% “very influential,” 62% “somewhat influential”).
- Loyalty points still effective: Despite the evolution of programs, 74% of respondents believe that loyalty points are still alive and effective. However, it is important that they are part of a broader, personalized strategy.
Personalization – the key to lasting loyalty
The report emphasizes that personalization is now much more than just addressing the customer by name. It is a strategic approach that involves providing individually tailored experiences, offers, and communications.
At the heart of effective personalization is the collection and intelligent use of data. Such data is provided by the loyalty system. Thanks to integration with POS systems, the system collects vast amounts of transactional and behavioral data, which forms the basis for creating personalized strategies.
Advanced tools such as the Next Best Offer (NBO) algorithm play a key role in personalization. NBO uses data from loyalty programs, processing over 200 parameters in real time – from purchase history and demographics to location data and transaction habits – to predict and suggest the most appropriate product or service to the customer.
– Our system is based on a deep understanding of the customer that goes far beyond basic purchase history. We collect and analyze hundreds of data points—from what the customer has purchased (items in the shopping cart, coupons used) to how they behave in the program (surveys completed, interaction with messages). This combination of personal, transactional, and behavioral data allows us to create complex segments, accurate NBO recommendations, and marketing campaigns that are perfectly tailored to the individual needs of the customer. As a result, loyalty is no longer based on random discounts, but becomes a precisely designed, personal shopping experience, explains Filip Zajdel, Head of Customer Success at Sparta Loyalty.
The full Loyalty Report 2026, which discusses current trends in detail, explains how the NBO algorithm works, and includes a practical guide on how to ensure a personalized customer experience, is available on the Sparta Loyalty website: https://marketing.spartaloyalty.com/SpartaLoyaltyReport2026EN
About Sparta Loyalty
Sparta Loyalty offers solutions supporting the management and operation of loyalty programs based on its proprietary Sparta Loyalty Platform, as well as the Sparta Gift Card system for handling gift cards in brick-and-mortar and online stores. The group of companies using its solutions in the area of loyalty programs, coupons, gift cards, and marketing and promotional activities includes, among others: InPost, Empik, New Balance, KFC, SPAR, YES, Briju, Moya, AVIA, and Inglot.
