Zsuzsa Kecsmar recently shared something that caught my attention: "In the past 7 months we analyzed 500.000.000 member actions in the loyalty programs running on Antavo" - and she followed it with a simple, exciting milestone: "in 11 days we will launch the Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026".

That combo hit me for two reasons. First, 500 million actions is the kind of dataset that moves a conversation from opinion to evidence. Second, the post is not just a teaser for a report or a webinar. It is a reminder that loyalty is a living system, and the small design choices we make in points, perks, and messaging show up in real behavior at scale.

Zsuzsa also shared a few learnings that deserve more room than a social post can give. I want to expand on them, because each one maps to a problem I see brands struggling with right now: retention, perceived value, and the limits of marketing control.

What 500M member actions really represent

When someone says "member actions," it is easy to imagine just purchases and redemptions. In modern loyalty programs, actions usually include much more:

enrolling, updating preferences, and opting into channels
earning in-store and online
redeeming points, vouchers, benefits, or experiential rewards
engaging with missions, tiers, challenges, referrals, and reviews
responding to promotions, price changes, and seasonal campaigns

In other words, 500 million actions is a behavioral map of motivation. It can show where the program creates momentum and where it leaks it.

The most valuable shift here is not the size of the data. It is the ability to see loyalty as a product with a user journey, not a campaign with a calendar.

Loyalty is part of people’s lives (and that raises the bar)

Zsuzsa put it plainly:

"Being part of a loyalty program is part of people’s lives."

I agree, and I think the implication is bigger than we admit. If loyalty is part of daily life, then members compare your program to all the others they already live with. That means your UX, your value clarity, and your fairness cues matter as much as your brand.

A few examples of what "life-grade" loyalty looks like in practice:

Instant clarity: members know what they get and when they get it.
Low friction: earning and redeeming feels effortless across channels.
Predictability: people trust the rules will not change on them midstream.
Respect: communications feel helpful, not noisy or manipulative.

When a loyalty program becomes habitual, the job is no longer "drive enrollment." The job becomes "protect the habit." And habits are fragile when they are interrupted by confusion, delays, or a sense that the goalposts moved.

When rewards feel out of reach, loyalty breaks

Zsuzsa summarized a painful truth:

"The message is clear: when rewards feel out of reach, loyalty programs break down."

Notice the phrasing: "feel out of reach." This is perception as much as math. Two members can face the same redemption threshold, but experience it differently depending on how fast they earn, how clearly you show progress, and whether the reward feels worth it.

Here are the most common ways programs accidentally create the "out of reach" feeling:

1) The first meaningful reward takes too long

If the first win is months away, only the already-loyal will persist. Everyone else churns silently.

What to do:

Add early milestones (welcome perk, first-purchase boost, micro-redemptions).
Show progress visually and frequently.

2) Rewards are technically reachable, but emotionally weak

A $5 voucher after a long grind can feel like an insult, even if the economics check out.

What to do:

Match rewards to identity and intent (status, convenience, access, recognition).
Use variable rewards carefully (surprise-and-delight) to keep engagement, but do not replace core value.

3) Redemption is harder than earning

If redemption involves exclusions, blackout dates, complicated steps, or hidden rules, the member learns that points are not a currency. They are a coupon with strings.

What to do:

Treat redemption UX as a conversion funnel.
Audit drop-off points and simplify steps.

4) Inflation without explanation

If you quietly increase thresholds or reduce earn rates, members notice. Even if they cannot prove it, they feel it.

What to do:

If economics require change, communicate it like a partnership.
Add compensating value elsewhere (new perks, better flexibility, improved access).

Marketers overestimate their power (and that is liberating)

Zsuzsa wrote:

"Although marketers aren’t misguided, they (we because I am a marketer too) are always overestimate their power"

This is the line I keep coming back to. It is not a knock on marketing. It is a reminder that loyalty outcomes are constrained by reality:

product quality and availability
delivery speed and service recovery
pricing consistency and perceived fairness
store experience and employee behavior

Marketing can explain value, but it cannot substitute for value. A clever campaign might spike engagement for a week, but it cannot rescue a program whose rewards feel unattainable or whose rules feel unfair.

The upside of admitting our limits is that it forces the right partnerships. Great loyalty programs are cross-functional products. The best teams I see run loyalty like this:

Finance co-owns the value model and breakage assumptions.
Product and engineering co-own experience and performance.
CX co-owns service moments and goodwill recovery.
Data teams co-own measurement beyond vanity metrics.

When you treat loyalty as shared infrastructure, you stop trying to "market your way out" of structural issues.

Enrollment is not the hard part - retention is

Zsuzsa nailed the real challenge:

"The challenge for brands is not enrollment; it’s sustained retention"

A lot of programs can drive signups with a discount, a pop-up, or an in-store prompt. But then comes the harder question: what gives the member a reason to come back again and again?

This is where behavior-based measurement matters. Beyond active member rate, I look for signals that the program is becoming a habit:

time to first earn and time to first redeem
repeat redemption rate (not just one-off redemptions)
points liability aging (are points sitting unused?)
tier progression distribution (is it achievable for the middle?)
reactivation rate after inactivity

Zsuzsa referenced BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday) data, and it is a good example. Many brands see huge seasonal spikes, but the loyalty question is: did the program create repeat behavior after the promo ended? Or did it just subsidize a purchase that would have happened anyway?

Practical moves to keep rewards feeling close

If I had to turn Zsuzsa’s insights into an action checklist, it would look like this:

Design for the first 30 days

Give members a fast win.
Teach them how to redeem, not just how to earn.

Make progress visible everywhere

Show points, status, and next reward on site, in app, and in emails.
Translate points into plain value where possible.

Build a redemption portfolio

Mix instant perks (shipping, service priority) with aspirational rewards.
Avoid a catalog that looks impressive but rarely converts.

Protect trust with transparent rules

If there are exclusions, surface them early.
If thresholds change, communicate clearly.

Test perceived value, not just ROI

Combine data with member feedback.
Watch for frustration signals: abandoned redemption, support tickets, negative comments.

The report launch matters because it turns anecdotes into benchmarks

Zsuzsa mentioned the Global Customer Loyalty Report 2026 launch and the live streaming with Michael Mitchell (Bloomreach) and Andreanne Rondeau (stratLX). What I like about this kind of annual benchmark is that it gives teams a shared reference point.

If your stakeholders are stuck debating opinions, benchmarks help you answer:

Are our earn and redeem dynamics competitive?
Are we under-investing in early rewards?
Are we over-focusing on enrollment while retention is slipping?

And if you are planning for 2026, that is exactly the kind of grounding you want.

Closing thought

Zsuzsa Kecsmar’s post is a reminder that loyalty is not a tagline. It is a system of promises. When the promise feels reachable, people stay. When it feels distant, they disengage quietly.

If you are building or rebuilding a loyalty program this year, I would start with her simplest line and treat it like a product requirement: make rewards feel within reach.

This blog post expands on a viral LinkedIn post by Zsuzsa Kecsmar, International Loyalty Personality of the Year 2024 // Powering loyalty programs with tech. Proud co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Antavo (Gartner & Forrester Recognized Vendor) // Click FOLLOW #loyalty and #tech. View the original LinkedIn post →