Stop Bribing Customers: Build a Membership Engine, Not a Points Program (2026 Guide)

Points are dead. In 2026, loyalty belongs to brands that build habit, utility, and membership. Stop bribing customers. Start rewiring behavior.

The Era of Points is Over: Why 2026 Loyalty Demands Habit, Not Bribes

Introduction

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: a customer walks into a store, spends $500, and earns enough points for a keychain. Two months later, they churn. You’re left with a liability on your balance sheet, and they’re left with a piece of plastic junk. The points economy is not just broken; it is actively destroying your margins.

For two decades, we’ve been sold a lie: that loyalty is a currency you can mint. We built complex earn-and-burn calculators, obsessed over breakage rates, and bragged about our millions of members. But look at the data. In 2025, 71 percent of loyalty programs are failing to integrate with the actual customer experience, and satisfaction is plummeting despite record investment. We are optimizing for transactions, not devotion.

The Brutal Truth: Points Are Pollution

Here is the brutal truth: points are pollution. They are a financial liability that sits on your books, waiting to be redeemed at the worst possible moment. The Great Devaluation of airline miles has taught consumers that your currency is unstable. When you devalue points (as Marriott and Delta have done), you are not just adjusting a spreadsheet; you are breaking a promise.

The stakes are simple. Irrelevance.

In a world of surveillance pricing, where algorithms set prices based on your desperation, consumers are becoming cynical. They know the data bargain is rigged. If your loyalty program is just a way to track them and serve higher prices, they will leave. The cost of a loyalty member is rising, but the value of their loyalty is crashing because it is based on a transactional bribe, not a habit.

Loyalty is Not a Reward

Loyalty is not a reward; it is a habit. The most successful programs of 2025 do not just give points. They rewire behavior.

Zomato Gold

Zomato Gold does not care if you save money; it cares that you stop thinking about delivery fees. By removing the friction of the delivery cost, they make ordering food a default action. It is not a reward; it is infrastructure for habit.

Myntra Insider

Myntra Insider uses gamification not to hand out discounts, but to get you to invest in the platform. You vote on designs, you build a profile, you share your looks. You are working for them, and the Ikea Effect kicks in: you love what you build.

Starbucks Odyssey

Starbucks failed with Odyssey because they added friction (NFTs, wallets) instead of removing it.

Utility vs Bribe: Tata Neu vs Amazon Prime

Consider the difference between Tata Neu and Amazon Prime.

Tata Neu offers a transparent 5 percent back in NeuCoins. Rational. Generous. But the app is clunky, the redemption is confusing, and the super app feels like a forced marriage of brands. Users are loyal only as long as the 5 percent exists.

Amazon Prime offers shipping. Fast. Invisible. Boring. But it removes the pain of waiting. You do not calculate the ROI of Prime every time you order; you just order.

One is a bribe. The other is a utility.

Bribes stop working the moment you stop paying. Utility lasts forever.

If You Are Building a Loyalty Program in 2026

Stop designing a rewards chart. Start designing a habit loop.

Ask yourself:

What friction am I removing? For example, free shipping, dedicated support, faster checkout.
What zero-party data am I collecting? Are you using data to serve the customer (sizing, taste profile) or just to price them?
Is my currency inflation-proof? If you can devalue your points overnight, you do not have a currency; you have a coupon.

The era of points for purchase is dead. It died when airlines turned miles into a dynamic pricing algorithm.