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America's Best Loyalty Programs 2022

In 1872, the Grand UnIon tea Company started giving tickets to customers every time they bought a pound of tea; collect four and you'd get a pound free. Now, practically every retailer has its own loyalty program.

Loyalty programs have now become an essential part of an enormous number of everyday transactions: During the conference call announcing the company's most recent quarterly financial results, for instance, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said, "Starbucks Rewards now represents 53 percent of the spend in our stores, which is at an all-time high...Rewards members... are spending at an elevated rate and visit our stores at three times the frequency rate versus our nonmembers."

By one estimate, the average U.S. household is enrolled in 18 different loyalty programs. The challenge for companies is not getting customers to sign up, but motivating them to become truly engaged program users; research shows that consumers only actively use half of the plans they're enrolled in. The challenge for consumers is to decide which of the crowd of programs vying for their attention are worthwhile.

For brands, it's a potentially huge payoff, since it's far more expensive to get new customers than to keep existing ones, and loyalty program members tend to spend far more than nonmembers. Hanging on to customers has become even more critical during the pandemic when a third of shoppers have indicated their willingness to switch brands.

Brands have adopted a number of different strategies in order to make their loyalty programs stand out. One important trend is gamification: introducing digital games into loyalty programs in a variety of ways to engage customers and develop a sense of community among them. Wendy's, for example, has its own channel on the video game livestreaming platform Twitch. Chipotle has done a Halloween promotion in partnership with the game platform Roblox, in which users are invited to try to navigate the "Boorito maze"—and visit its busy online restaurant—to win branded virtual items as well as real-life food.

Another trend has been to make loyalty programs an integral part of any purchase by merging them with payment systems. Last July, for instance, the Swedish fintech company Klarna, which offers customers "buy now, pay later" options, purchased Stocard, a German company that provides digital wallets that allow users to manage multiple loyalty program accounts.

The only constant in loyalty programs right now is change. To try to help make some sense of that and highlight the brands whose customers like their loyalty programs the best, Newsweek and Statista are proud to offer our list of America's Best Loyalty Programs 2022. We hope you find it useful whether you are a consumer looking for the best deals and support or whether you are a marketer looking to see which customer retention strategies really work.

Nancy Cooper Signature 5

America's Best Loyalty Programs 2022
Clothing
Food, Health and Beauty
General Reward Programs
Home Goods
Restaurants and Catering
Services: Banking
Services: Transportation and Travel
Sports and Leisure

CategorySubcategoryLoyalty ProgramParticipating Brands* (Selection)ScoreRestaurants and CateringBagel and Sandwich ChainsmyMike'sJersey Mike's Subs7.82Restaurants and CateringBagel and Sandwich ChainsShmear Society RewardsEinstein Bros. Bagels7.23Restaurants and CateringBagel and Sandwich ChainsSubway MyWay RewardsSubway7.14Restaurants and CateringBagel and Sandwich ChainsFreaky Fast RewardsJimmy John's7.02Restaurants and CateringBagel and Sandwich ChainsFirehouse RewardsFirehouse Subs6.39Restaurants and CateringCasual Dining Restaurant ChainsP.F. Chang’s RewardsP.F. Chang's7.83Restaurants and CateringCasual Dining Restaurant ChainsDenny's RewardsDenny's7.67Restaurants and CateringCasual Dining Restaurant ChainsMy Chili's RewardsChili's7.66Restaurants and CateringCasual Dining Restaurant ChainsFridays RewardsTGI Fridays7.59Restaurants and CateringCasual Dining Restaurant ChainsDine RewardsBonefish Grill, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Outback Steakhouse, Fleming's7.30Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsScooter's Coffee AppScooter's Coffee8.81Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsPeetnik RewardsPeet's Coffee8.31Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsThe Coffee Bean RewardsCoffee Bean & Tea Leaf7.88Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsCaribou PerksCaribou Coffee7.63Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsDDperksDunkin'7.62Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsStarbucks RewardsStarbucks7.48Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsBIGGBY NationBiggby Coffee7.47Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsTims RewardsTim Hortons7.21Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsDutch RewardsDutch Bros6.93Restaurants and CateringCoffeehouse ChainsThe Human Bean RewardsThe Human Bean6.04Restaurants and CateringFast-Casual Restaurant ChainsQdoba RewardsQdoba8.13Restaurants and CateringFast-Casual Restaurant ChainsRed Robin RoyaltyRed Robin7.82Restaurants and CateringFast-Casual Restaurant ChainsChipotle RewardsChipotle7.61Restaurants and CateringFast-Casual Restaurant ChainsMyPanera RewardPanera Bread7.33Restaurants and CateringFast-Casual Restaurant ChainsMoe RewardsMoe's Southwest Grill6.93Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsZax Fanz ClubZaxby's8.62Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsChick-fil-A OneChick-fil-A7.95Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsRoyal PerksBurger King7.70Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsSonic AppSonic7.53Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsMyMcDonald's RewardsMcDonald's7.51Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsWendy’s RewardsWendy's7.46Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsMyWhataburgerWhataburger7.27Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsTaco Bell RewardsTaco Bell7.12Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsPopeyes AppPopeyes6.91Restaurants and CateringFast-Food Restaurant ChainsDairy Queen AppDairy Queen6.58Restaurants and CateringIce Cream and Frozen Yogurt StoresYum SquadAndy's Frozen Custard9.73Restaurants and CateringIce Cream and Frozen Yogurt StoresmySmileageMenchie's8.21Restaurants and CateringIce Cream and Frozen Yogurt StoressweetRewardssweetFrog8.18Restaurants and CateringIce Cream and Frozen Yogurt StoresSweet RewardsBruster’s Real Ice Cream8.16Restaurants and CateringIce Cream and Frozen Yogurt StoresMy Cold Stone Club RewardsCold Stone Creamery8.13Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsRound Table Pizza Royal Reward AppRound Table Pizza8.48Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsHowie RewardsHungry Howie's8.23Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsRewardsDonatos7.91Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsPiece of the Pie RewardsDomino's Pizza7.75Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsMOD RewardsMOD Pizza7.74Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsPapa RewardsPapa John's Pizza7.56Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsHut RewardsPizza Hut7.48Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsCPK RewardsCalifornia Pizza Kitchen7.39Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsBlaze RewardsBlaze Pizza7.30Restaurants and CateringPizza ChainsMySLICE RewardsPapa Murphy's6.99

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METHODOLOGY

The 2022 ranking of America's Best Loyalty Programs was compiled based on the results of an independent survey of more than 4,000 U.S. customers who are members of loyalty programs of retailers or service providers in the U.S Customers were given the opportunity to evaluate various loyalty programs: around 20,000 evaluations were collected. The survey period ran from October to November 2021.

We defined loyalty programs as all reward programs that provided the customer with a benefit when purchasing or using the products or services of the associated brands.

The survey was conducted on retailers and service providers from 36 categories, providing results for a broad spectrum of loyalty programs in traditional retail, online retail, and service segments. The awarded loyalty programs each received an above average overall score.

The final assessment and rankings were based on six criteria:

1. Ease & enjoyment: Measures the value of the perks of being in the rewards program.(weighted 5 percent)

2. Benefit: Measures whether the rewards are – in the customer's perception – worth being part of the program. (weighted 20 percent)

3. Overall satisfaction: Measures whether personal expectations were fulfilled, and whether the customer is satisfied with the experience of the loyalty program overall. (weighted 25 percent)

4. Customer support: Measures the level of assistance provided to customers when signing up for the program or having trouble redeeming benefits. (weighted 10 percent)

5. Trust: measures the trust in the loyalty program around how they use the personal data provided through the program. (weighted 10 percent)

6. Recommendation: Measuresthe likelihood of recommending the program to friends and family.(weighted 30 percent)

The full methodology is available here.