Beyond points: the 7 types of loyalty and how to design for them
Loyalty is not a programme. It’s a set of human motivations.
Most loyalty programmes start with the same belief. Reward customers enough and they will return.
So brands add points. Add tiers. Add birthday vouchers. Add member discounts. Then they wonder why it gets expensive, and why customers still drift away.
Discounting can still work in the short term. But the market has changed. Customers have learned to wait for 20% off, google “discount codes”, wait for the pop-up with 10% off, and switch the moment a cheaper option appears.
That isn’t loyalty. It’s bargain behaviour.
If loyalty is only built on discounts, customers stop paying full price. The moment another brand offers a better deal, customers move on.
Real loyalty is different. Customers return for different reasons, and you cannot design one solution that fits everyone. The job is not to add more benefits. The job is to build reasons to come back that match your customers and your industry.
In concept and design work, it helps to map loyalty as seven types, credited to behavioural science researcher Thomas Z. Ramsøy: habit, emotional connection, value perception, trust, identity, switching cost, and customer experience.
Most brands rely on incentives, usually discounts, to influence the next purchase and hope it will carry the whole relationship.
A better question is simple: what reason do we want customers to come back for?
The uncomfortable truth about “loyalty”
When brands say they need loyalty, they are often describing a familiar pattern: one-time purchases, weak retention, and too little reason to return.
You don’t have a high CLV. People buy, and then they’re gone. And you start asking: could I do something other than offering a discount? Discounts can trigger the next purchase. They rarely create a reason to come back after that.
When return behaviour depends on price alone, brands become reliant on promotions. Margins come under pressure, competitors respond, and differentiation disappears.
The seven types of loyalty and designing for each
Begin with what already drives repeat buying today. Then pick a few types to focus on.
Customers return because it becomes effortless. Familiar. Predictable. This is common in routine and replenishment-driven industries, and in e-commerce where reliability matters. The programme isn’t the hero. Operations are.
Design move: remove friction so repeat purchase becomes the default through simple flows, saved preferences, and predictable fulfilment.
Good examples are Lidl or Starbucks.
This is built when a brand creates a feeling that sticks. A moment becomes a memory, and the memory becomes a story customers retell. This tends to matter most in industries where experiences and brand storytelling carry real weight. You cannot discount your way into emotional connection.
Design move: create one signature moment customers want to share, such as an experience, event, or gesture that makes them feel involved.
Good examples are Lego Insiders or Sephora Beauty Insiders.
Value-perception loyalty is about the perceived exchange. Customers return when the total value feels worth the price, whether they prioritise convenience, quality, exclusivity, or sustainability. This shows up where customers weigh trade-offs and justify the choice.
Design move: make the value obvious for the segment you serve by turning it into a clear member advantage like a service, bundle, guarantee, or access benefit.
Good examples are Club Matas or MediaMarkt.
Trust can sound like the bare minimum, and in many industries it is. If you fail to deliver, customers won’t come back, and they will tell others. The difference is that trust-based loyalty is when people return because they expect you to be reliable across every interaction, even when several teams are involved. That is harder than building a loyalty programme.
Design move: make reliability consistent across the experience through dependable delivery, clear expectations, and consistent communication.
Good examples are IKEA or Hifi-klubben.
Identity loyalty happens when the brand fits the customer. It reflects who they are, or who they want to be, and it signals belonging. Here, loyalty is not a reward. It is recognition. This is becoming increasingly important, because many younger customers move on fast if a brand stops feeling relevant.
Design move: make membership feel like belonging through language, rituals, and community cues that reinforce “people like us”.
Good examples are Nike, Patagonia or Adidas.
Switching-cost loyalty is what happens when leaving feels like starting over. Customers have invested time, setup, routines, and history – it feels like natural behaviour. Done well, this is not lock-in. It is earned commitment, because the experience improves the longer you stay.
Design move: let personalisation and history build over time so the experience gets better the longer customers stay.
A good example is Apple.
Customers return because the experience keeps delivering small positives across the full experience, not just in one moment. The best brands design a few “magic moments” on purpose, so recognition and surprises happen at the right time. And when something goes wrong, the response can be the moment customers remember most.
Design move: design small positives into key moments like first purchase, anniversaries, and service recovery. Use playful elements only where they fit the brand.
A good example is Fnac.
Stop guessing. Stop being anonymous.
Most loyalty programmes do not struggle because they lack features, but because they are built on assumptions and end up copying the market.
“Too many brands design for what they assume customers want and default to discounts. The real starting point is understanding your customers better. Because if you stay anonymous, you stay replaceable.”
– Mira, Loyalty Consultant
Loyalty is feeling. If you stay faceless, you stay replaceable. The opportunity is to understand why your customers come back, choose the types of loyalty that matter most for your industry, and build around those reasons.
Looking for a head start?
Want help figuring out which loyalty types matter most in your industry, and what to prioritise first? Reach out to Mira to start the conversation.
