Loyalty Learning Lab with Apadmi, Talon.one and Tecsa

The London edition of the Loyalty Learning Lab saw a strong showing of brands come together for a morning of insight, expertise and conversation - and it didn’t disappoint.

From football to finance, gift cards to golf, supermarkets to cinemas, the world of loyalty was well represented, hearing from Tecsa, Talon.One and Apadmi on what’s driving loyalty when it comes to strategy, platforms and mobile.

There was also a healthy dose of brand insight to finish, with a panel discussion with loyalty leaders from Lloyds Banking Group, Lush and Moonpig to get a perspective of what’s going on in the real world.

For those who couldn’t make it (and those who did but want a reminder), here‘s what went down.

The wisdom of trees

The Shoreditch Treehouse was the venue (complete with swing), so what better place to start than among the trees.

The wind does not break the tree that bends, so says both a Tanzanian proverb and Dr Ross White, a clinical psychologist who wrote The tree that bends. His book suggests that strong roots, a flexible trunk and a blossoming crown enable high performance and a sense of belonging, while also staying true to your personal values.

The same could be said of an effective loyalty programme so the analogy translates nicely, both into the world of loyalty when considering strategy (roots), platforms (trunk) and CX (crown), and also the three pillars of the event.

Strategy first…

Kicking off session one with a continuation of the triple theme was Tecsa co-founder and managing partner Koos Berkhout, who focused on three key areas for any loyalty strategy.

The first step is about trying to use data at every possible step in order to better understand your customer. Secondly, any insight must then be used to be more engaging and more personalised, because if it’s not interesting and relevant, then why should anyone come back? The third is making sure you then monetise your ecosystem, at every opportunity.

“It’s really about maximising and optimising the proposition,” Koos said. “By using the data, the reach and the channels that have been built to create combined value. It’s important to have a strong and comprehensive vision of what loyalty can do, not just by focusing on points and prizes, but a business model."

Platforms and people

The learning kept coming as Talon.One took to the stage with loyalty strategist Lena Kleinwechter being very clear about why the right platform should always be people and therefore insight-focussed. Being obsessed with ‘if this, then what’ should be an ongoing mantra. That, and keeping things simple. 

“We are in a phase where the earn and burn mechanics aren’t working as well anymore because people are bored by it,” said Lena. “So how can you make it more fun for the consumer without focusing on traditional points, while also being personalised and gamified? 

“What can brands really offer customers when it comes to loyalty - not just transactional value, but emotional value? You have to be talking to the brain and the wallet, but also to the heart of the customers.” 

The channel of choice

So customers want value and engagement. They also expect the same from a loyalty experience as they’re getting everywhere else, which means knowing who they are, what they like and don’t like, what they want and how often they want it. All of which is making mobile the channel of choice.

The audience were asked whether they had deleted a brand app within the last month and the answers were split exactly down the middle between yes and no, suggesting that some apps are inherently sticky, but many are also still getting it wrong enough not to warrant a place on this prime piece of CX real estate.

Across conversion rates, order values and retention rates, mobile apps consistently outperform mobile web, and app users generate more than triple the lifetime value compared to web-only users, driven by home-screen access and push notifications. 

“Mobile has become an enabler of extra loyalty because it’s where the customer spends time, lots of it - more than four hours everyday on average,” said Apadmi’s group marketing director, Jake Sargent. “It puts you in people’s pockets, but you can’t just expect to show up. You have to create relevant, useful and engaging experiences if you want to make the most of how mobile can help.”

Moving from transactional to emotional loyalty 

The panel discussion with experts from Lush, MoonPig and Lloyds, underlined the ongoing trend of moving away from traditional transactional loyalty, regardless of sector.

Experiences shared by all three echoed the sentiment that emotional loyalty is where the value is. 

MoonPig is a brand where emotion is already at the beating heart of its business. Transactions are made at many different moments of emotion, given the number of occasions marked by sending someone a card. Whether happy or sad, it’s about tapping into the moment even further with value that engages customers.

For Lloyd’s Banking Group, engaging customers with more emotional loyalty levers has involved building up a level of trust. Prize draws are a moment of emotional connection - but given ongoing customer awareness of security, getting a prize from your bank wasn’t something all customers trusted.

“We contacted customers to let them know they had been successful,” said Loyalty Proposition Manager at Lloyds, Katherine Jackson. “But they didn’t believe us, because I think if you get a letter from your bank, you might suspect it’s a phishing scam.”

To reinforce customer trust, the team took one of the winners of a trip to Disneyland for a photoshoot at a branch - they also allowed the winner to transfer the trip to her grandchildren, reinforcing the human element of the reward.

The other value of an engaged customer base, besides ongoing loyalty, is also understanding. Being able to listen to and connect with their customers enables Lush to not only create a stronger emotional connection, but also understand more about what they want and care about.

“What you want is that feedback loop in real-time that you can feed into your teams,” explained Rachel Kemp, Global Senior Marketing & Loyalty Lead at Lush. “It’s a priority for us to lean into our community of advocates on platforms like Discord and Reddit. It allows them to feel they have a voice and can influence the programme.” 

Listening to customers and continuously evolving its loyalty strategy has already enabled Lush to make progress by converting one-time Christmas shoppers to come back on a more regular basis. Sharing cross-continental learnings and successes from stores across the globe has also helped to cultivate buy-in from staff, who become important in-store advocates for loyalty. 

So what does loyalty look like for brands in 2026?

For Katherine, 2026 will be about keeping things as simple as possible and honing in on emotional loyalty levers. Lloyd’s will be looking at building trust by focusing on long-term customer recognition and rewards. 

This year at Moonpig will be about shifting from multiple loyalty mechanics to smart, simplified loyalty powered by data.

“I love loyalty and am a member of lots of programmes,” says Moonpig’s Lead Product Manager, Evie Mackie. “But I think customers will stop spreading themselves across so many programmes, experiences and apps and focus on the ones that offer the most value.” 

Predictions from Rachel from Lush focused on the potential of unlocking experiential opportunities in 2026 as high street retailers find new ways to connect digital and physical experiences by creating moments both in-store and online. A good example being using Lush’s mobile app to drive awareness of, and therefore visits to, unique in-store spa experiences. 

Mobile-led experiences to create ongoing customer engagement and in- store footfall - now there’s a thought…