How Many Loyalty Programs Are There in the US?

Introduction

Loyalty programs have become one of the most ubiquitous tools in retail and services—so much so that consumers often have more memberships than they know what to use. The question many merchants and executives ask is simple: how many loyalty programs are there in the US, and what does that mean for your retention strategy?

Short answer: There isn’t a single, fixed tally you can point to, but the reality is clear—loyalty programs are everywhere. More than nine out of ten companies in the U.S. operate some form of a loyalty program, and U.S. consumers collectively hold billions of memberships. That wide distribution creates both opportunity and noise: customers may belong to many programs but actively engage with very few.

In this article we’ll answer the core question, unpack how that count is estimated, and translate the landscape into practical recommendations for merchants. We’ll explain what saturation means for retention, show which program formats are most common, and offer specific, ready-to-use strategies to launch, relaunch, or optimize a loyalty program that actually increases repeat purchases and lifetime value. Along the way we’ll show how a unified retention platform can replace multiple point solutions and help you turn loyalty into sustainable growth.

Our thesis: sheer quantity of loyalty programs doesn’t equal effective retention. The winning brands are those that simplify the member experience, personalize value, and run loyalty as a strategic, measurable pillar of growth—not as an isolated marketing stunt.

How Many Loyalty Programs Exist — The Big Picture

Why a precise count is elusive

There’s no central registry for loyalty programs. Programs exist at multiple scales and in many legal forms:

• National retailers and large chains with enterprise-grade programs.
• Regional players and specialist retailers with local loyalty offerings.
• Restaurants and quick-service chains running digital or stamp-card programs.
• Financial institutions with card rewards and partner ecosystems.
• Airlines and hotels with tiered loyalty models.
• Subscription services and software providers that bundle membership benefits.
• Small businesses and independent merchants operating in-store punch cards, email clubs, or SMS-based rewards.

Because programs range from global corporate offerings to a single-store punch-card, any single number is an estimate. What we can rely on are strong supporting data points that reveal scale and behavior.

Reliable indicators of scale

Several recurring market signals help us infer the scale:

• A vast majority of companies (over 90%) offer some loyalty or membership benefit, across categories.
• U.S. consumers collectively hold billions of loyalty memberships—estimates commonly cited put this figure in the multiple billions.
• The average consumer belongs to well over a dozen loyalty programs but is active in far fewer.
• A large share of issued loyalty currency (points, miles) goes unredeemed each year, indicating many dormant or low-utility programs.

From these signals, the practical takeaway is not an exact program count but the recognition of extreme proliferation: millions of distinct loyalty opportunities exist across industries and merchant sizes.

What “proliferation” looks like in practice

Proliferation produces two measurable realities for merchants:

• High membership volumes: Many consumers will sign up when asked. Membership acquisition is relatively easy.
• Low active engagement: Most memberships are inactive or rarely used. Activation, redemption, and ongoing relevance are the hard problems.

These two realities are what make the loyalty landscape both promising and challenging.

How Consumers Experience the Ecosystem

Average memberships vs. active use

Consumers commonly belong to many loyalty programs, yet they tend to actively use only a fraction. Typical patterns include:

• A consumer might belong to a dozen or more programs but regularly engage with fewer than half.
• Mobile access, instant discounts, and perceived value drive active participation.
• Points that are hard to redeem, complex rules, or benefits that are hard to claim lead to program abandonment.

That mismatch—lots of sign-ups, few active users—creates "membership bloat" across the market.

What members actually want

Customers join programs for practical value. Clear, recurring themes in member preferences include:

• Meaningful, easy-to-redeem benefits like discounts, free shipping, and instant savings.
• Simple earning mechanics and mobile accessibility.
• Personalized offers based on behavior and preferences.
• Exclusive access to products, events, or early promotions.
• Transparency on points, status, and expiration.

If your program doesn’t deliver these basics, it will be one of many that customers sign up for and forget.

Types of Loyalty Programs You’ll Find in the US

Transactional points and tiered systems

Points-based programs with tiered benefits remain common. They reward frequency and spend, and tiers create aspirational goals for customers.

Benefits:

• Clear progress signals
• Scales with customer spend

Challenges:

• Complexity in earning/redeeming
• Risk of inactive balances if redemption is difficult

Paid memberships and subscription loyalty

Paid memberships that bundle ongoing benefits (free shipping, member-only discounts) create consistent revenue and higher engagement when the benefit is immediate.

Benefits:

• Predictable revenue and strong retention patterns
• Higher average order value among members

Challenges:

• Need to demonstrate clear ongoing value to justify fees

Coalition and partner networks

Some programs work across many brands via partnerships (credit card networks, coalition loyalty). These can increase perceived value by widening redemption options.

Benefits:

• Broad reach and flexible reward options

Challenges:

• Less brand-specific loyalty; customers may prioritize the coalition currency over the merchant brand

Emotional and experience-driven programs

Increasingly, programs combine transactional rewards with experiential perks: early access, curated content, and community.

Benefits:

• Stronger brand affinity when executed well

Challenges:

• Requires investment in non-transactional benefit management and personalization

Local and small-business approaches

Punch-cards, SMS clubs, and email-based rewards remain effective for local businesses. These solutions are straightforward but require consistent execution.

Benefits:

• Low friction and easy to understand

Challenges:

• Harder to scale beyond the local footprint

Why So Many Programs? Market Forces Driving Growth

Competitive pressure and customer expectations

As loyalty expectations rose, nearly every merchant felt pressured to launch a program. Customers increasingly expect some form of membership or reward as a baseline.

Data and personalization ambitions

Loyalty programs are a reliable way to collect first-party data. Brands use programs to understand purchase behavior and build personalized reactivation strategies.

Diversification of formats

Not all loyalty requires points: subscriptions, VIP tiers, community-driven experiences, and referral incentives expanded what “loyalty” can mean. With more formats came more programs.

Low barrier to entry

Modern platforms make launching a program far easier than it used to be, lowering the barrier for merchants of all sizes to offer membership benefits.

The Problem: Saturation, Inactivity, and Utility Loss

Membership clutter and diminishing attention

When customers belong to many programs, attention is scarce. That drives engagement down and increases the cost of keeping members active.

Inactive points and wasted spend

Large volumes of loyalty currency go unredeemed each year. That signals poor program design or a disconnect between what members want and what brands offer.

Churn in program participation

High churn in program membership—customers joining and later disengaging—reflects programs that emphasize acquisition but under-invest in lifecycle value.

How Merchants Should Respond

We recommend a practical, four-part approach that balances strategy, experience, measurement, and technology.

Strategy: Make loyalty a growth lever, not a vanity metric

Design loyalty to drive measurable outcomes:

• Focus on repeat purchase rate, customer lifetime value (LTV), and retention cohorts.
• Choose metrics that link loyalty activity to revenue growth, not just headcount of members.
• Target resources at activating the most valuable customers rather than chasing sign-ups.

Experience: Simplify and make benefits immediate

Create clear, accessible benefits:

• Offer instant, mobile-accessible discounts or credits to reduce friction.
• Use tiered incentives sparingly—each tier should be clearly valuable and achievable.
• Make redemptions straightforward and always visible to the member.

Personalization: Use member data responsibly and effectively

Members are willing to share data when they receive value in return:

• Reward profile completion with points and personalized welcome offers.
• Use purchase history to send targeted rewards that feel relevant.
• Respect privacy and be transparent about data use to build trust.

Measurement and iteration: Test, measure, and optimize

Run experiments across channels and offers:

• Test simple changes first—instant discounts, zero-expiration points, or mobile push reminders.
• Track activation, redemption rates, repeat purchase behavior, and churn.
• Use lifecycle cohorts to measure long-term impact.

Tactical Plays That Work (and Why)

Welcome and onboarding sequences

An effective onboarding sequence turns sign-ups into repeat behavior. Key elements:

• Immediate reward for joining (discount or points).
• A short sequence of triggered messages that show how to earn and redeem.
• Mobile-friendly access to balances and offers.

VIP and tier strategies

Well-designed tiers reward loyalty without alienating lower-tier members:

• Provide exclusive access or early product drops to higher tiers.
• Ensure lower tiers still see consistent value so they don’t churn.

Anniversary and event-driven promotions

Using birthdays, anniversaries, and purchase anniversaries drives personal relevance:

• Send surprise credits or targeted recommendations.
• Make offers time-limited to encourage quick action.

Points expiry policy—lean toward no-expiry or simple policies

Expiring points frustrate members and increase abandonment. If you must have expiry:

• Keep the policy simple and well-communicated.
• Offer reminders and micro-redemption paths.

Referral and advocacy mechanics

Referral programs turn satisfied customers into a scalable acquisition engine. Keep them simple:

• Reward both referrer and referred customer for first purchase or sign-up.
• Track referrals cleanly to avoid disputes.

Multi-channel activation: email, SMS, onsite, and social

Members engage across channels. Coordinate messages so each channel reinforces the program without overwhelming:

• Email for deeper content and statements.
• SMS and push for timely, high-value alerts.
• Onsite reminders and widgets for easy access at checkout.

Choosing Technology: Less Stack, More Growth

Why consolidation matters

Brands often use multiple point solutions for reviews, referrals, loyalty, wishlists, and social commerce. That leads to data siloes, messy integrations, and rising costs. A consolidated retention suite simplifies operations and improves results.

Benefits of a unified platform:

• Single customer profile for better personalization.
• Cross-functional campaigns that combine rewards, referrals, and UGC to amplify ROI.
• Lower maintenance overhead and faster time to value.

We build our platform to deliver exactly that: a retention ecosystem that replaces 5–7 discrete solutions so merchants can focus on growth, not integrations. If you want to evaluate pricing and plan fit for your store, you can explore our plans and start with a free trial by viewing our plans here.

What to look for in a retention platform

When evaluating platforms, prioritize:

• Out-of-the-box loyalty mechanics plus the ability to customize rules.
• Integrated reviews and UGC capture to amplify social proof.
• Referral and VIP program support.
• Easy-to-use campaign builder and pre-built templates for common use cases.
• Reliable analytics that connect loyalty activity to revenue outcomes.

If you prefer to test installation and see the platform in action, you can install Growave from the Shopify listing to get started quickly.

How Growave Maps to Your Needs

Core pillars that reduce tool count

Our retention suite centers on five core pillars that many merchants need in one place:

• Loyalty & Rewards to drive repeat purchases and build long-term value. Learn more about building a points-based loyalty program that scales here.
• Reviews & UGC for collecting and displaying social proof and improving conversion. See how to collect product reviews and UGC with less friction here.
• Wishlists to capture buyer intent.
• Referrals to turn customers into advocates.
• Shoppable social integrations to convert visual content into purchases.

These features are designed to work together so you don’t have to stitch separate solutions and data together manually.

How a unified approach solves common problems

A single platform makes it easier to:

• Reward customers across channels (email, onsite, and mobile) with consistent messaging.
• Use review content as rewardable UGC, creating a feedback loop between advocacy and rewards.
• Track member behavior and apply segmentation logic across loyalty, reviews, and referrals without manual exports.

If you want to see specific pricing tiers or compare features that match your growth stage, take a look at our plans.

Implementation Roadmap for Merchants

Quick launch checklist

When you’re ready to launch or relaunch a program, follow a practical checklist:

• Define clear program goals and KPIs (repeat rate, LTV uplift, redemption rate).
• Select the benefits mix: immediate discounts, points-per-dollar, or membership perks.
• Create an onboarding flow with an immediate incentive for joining.
• Set redemption rules that are simple and mobile-friendly.
• Build cross-channel messaging templates for activation, reminders, and special offers.
• Add review collection and UGC capture as part of the lifecycle flow.
• Launch a measured pilot, then iterate based on cohort data.

Keep the checklist visible to everyone involved and avoid feature creep on day one. Start simple, measure, then expand.

Migration and data considerations

If you’re moving from multiple solutions to a unified platform:

• Map the customer identity across systems (email, phone, customer ID).
• Import balances and reconcile any outstanding points or credits.
• Communicate clearly to members about how benefits will be maintained or improved.
• Run parallel tracking to measure parity before fully switching off legacy tools.

Legal, tax, and privacy basics

Loyalty programs involve data, value, and sometimes taxation. Key steps:

• Be transparent about data usage and secure consent where necessary.
• Understand tax treatment for certain rewards in your jurisdiction.
• Publish clear terms and conditions for your program and communicate major changes in advance.

Measuring Success: KPIs That Matter

Choose metrics that link loyalty to revenue and activation:

• Active Member Rate: Percentage of members who make at least one purchase in a given period.
• Redemption Rate: Percentage of issued points that are actually redeemed.
• Repeat Purchase Rate: Frequency of subsequent purchases by members versus non-members.
• Average Order Value (AOV) Lift: Comparison of AOV for redeeming members vs. non-members.
• Customer Lifetime Value (LTV): Long-term revenue contribution of members vs. non-members.
• Referral Conversion Rate: Conversion percentage of referred customers.

Measure these over time and use cohort analysis to understand durable changes rather than short-term spikes.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Mistake: Prioritizing sign-ups over activation

Fix: Design onboarding and immediate reward flows to get members to redeem quickly, creating a habit loop.

Mistake: Making redemption difficult

Fix: Offer low-friction redemptions early on and ensure balances are visible on mobile and at checkout.

Mistake: Splitting data across multiple tools

Fix: Consolidate to a single retention platform to centralize member data and build coordinated campaigns.

Mistake: Overcomplicating rules

Fix: Keep earning and redemption rules intuitive. Simplicity increases engagement and reduces support volume.

Advanced Strategies for Long-Term Retention

Earn-and-learn programs

Create micro-actions that reward customers for helpful behaviors—leaving a review, sharing a wishlist, or completing a profile. These actions generate first-party data and build engagement beyond purchase occasions.

Partner benefits and ecosystem extensions

Where relevant, partner benefits with aligned brands can increase perceived value without increasing marginal cost. Partner choices should feel natural to members and deepen the customer relationship.

Elastic loyalty currency and dynamic offers

Experiment with dynamic rewards that adapt to member behavior. Use analytics to issue micro-incentives to at-risk segments or to accelerate repeat behavior among new members.

Case for Integration: Reviews, UGC, and Loyalty

Reviews and user-generated content are retention multipliers. Verified reviews increase conversion rates and trust; combining review prompts with small loyalty incentives increases collection rates and provides fresh social proof to drive new purchases.

We make this operational by enabling rewards for reviews and UGC within the same retention suite, so you can collect content and reward the contributor without manual coordination. Learn more about how to collect social proof and reward reviews effectively.

Pricing and Plan Considerations

When choosing a plan or platform, consider your stage and scale:

• Startups and early-stage merchants need an easy-to-launch plan with flexible benefits and low setup friction.
• Growth-stage merchants require advanced segmentation, API access, and cross-channel orchestration to scale personalization.
• Enterprise merchants benefit from dedicated support, custom integrations, and advanced analytics for complex loyalty economics.

If you’re evaluating options, review the available plans and features to find the right fit for your roadmap by visiting our pricing page.

You can also try the platform directly through the Shopify listing to evaluate how it integrates with your store experience.

Final Checklist Before You Launch

• Goals and KPIs set and agreed upon by stakeholders.
• Member benefits defined and prioritized.
• Onboarding and redemption flows designed and tested on mobile.
• Analytics and attribution set up for cohort tracking.
• Cross-functional team aligned: marketing, product, customer support, and finance.
• A plan for iteration and ongoing testing.

Conclusion

There isn’t a single definitive count of how many loyalty programs exist in the US, but the evidence is unmistakable: loyalty is pervasive and increasingly noisy. That environment rewards clarity. Programs that simplify benefits, make value immediate and mobile, and connect loyalty data to revenue performance are the ones that win.

We believe loyalty should be a growth engine, not a checkbox. By consolidating reviews, referrals, wishlists, and loyalty into one unified retention suite, you reduce tool fatigue and unlock compound value—More Growth, Less Stack. We’re trusted by over 15,000+ brands and carry a 4.8-star rating on Shopify because we build for merchants, not investors, and we focus on outcomes that matter: retention, LTV, and sustainable revenue growth.

Explore our plans and start a 14-day free trial to see how Growave can turn retention into your growth engine.

FAQ

How many loyalty programs does the average US consumer belong to?

On average, U.S. consumers belong to more than a dozen loyalty programs, but they are actively engaged with only a small subset. Membership counts are high, engagement is lower—so activation and relevance matter more than raw enrollment.

Are loyalty programs still effective given the saturation?

Yes—when executed well. Programs that focus on immediate, easy-to-redeem value, mobile accessibility, and personalized communications produce measurable lifts in repeat purchase and lifetime value. Poorly designed programs, however, become dormant memberships.

What should small merchants prioritize when launching a loyalty program?

Start simple: an immediate joining incentive, clear earning mechanics, mobile access to balances, and a basic redemption path. Tie program KPIs to repeat purchase behavior and iterate based on member cohorts.

How quickly should merchants expect to see results?

You can measure early signs of success (activation, first-time redemptions, short-term repeat purchases) within weeks of launch. Durable LTV improvements typically show up over multiple months as cohorts accumulate repeat behavior.