Understanding the Digital Loyalty Index

We recently released our 2024 Digital Loyalty Index, which uses key statistics from high-profile brands like Google, Disney, Formula One, Airbnb and more, to help businesses build digital loyalty among their own customers.

In this article, we’ll help you better understand the Loyalty Index by highlighting some of the more vital insights in the document. As well as providing an overview of the Index, we’ll also look at how our analysis can help you build better loyalty schemes, utilise social media better, and create exciting, accessible digital experiences for your customers. Read on for more.

What is the 2024 Digital Loyalty Index?

We used our 2023 Index to present survey results from users of digital loyalty platforms. We asked twenty different questions, including: “Which loyalty scheme are you most satisfied with?” and: “How often do you use your favourite digital loyalty schemes?”. These answers helped us identify the best loyalty schemes out there, which we then analysed to explore what made them superior products.

In the brand-new Digital Loyalty Index, we’re focusing more on statistical analysis. The new Index collects engagement and customer satisfaction data, and uses these data points to better illustrate the value of digital loyalty. The Index also serves as a case study: we hope to help readers generate loyalty more effectively by demonstrating how some of the biggest brands on the planet create and leverage digital loyalty.

Four Key Takeaways About Digital Loyalty

1. The Importance of Value in Loyalty Schemes

One of the comparisons we make in the Digital Loyalty Index is which of the brands we are analysing has the most members in its loyalty scheme. Of the ten brands we analysed, HelloFresh currently boasts both the most members and the best rating for its brand app.

From our analysis, we think the key driver for HelloFresh’s success is that its loyalty scheme offers an immense amount of value to users. The HelloPerks loyalty scheme offers discount codes and free competition entries, and the value it offers is not tied to any sort of engagement with HelloFresh (e.g. length of membership, points accrued through purchases, etc). Benefits are available to anyone who has a valid HelloFresh subscription.

Loyalty schemes live and die by the value they offer their members: whether it’s discounts, free gifts, or exclusive product access, offering something of value to customers for signing up for your loyalty scheme is one of the best strategies for boosting customer loyalty.

2. Digital Simplicity

However, one of the less popular brand apps we examined was the Tour de France app (which links to the Tour de France Club, a loyalty scheme for the tournament). Their scheme had the lowest number of members, and the app also tied for the lowest star rating of the ten brands included in the Index.

Looking at users' reviews, they consistently mentioned that although the app has a wide range of features, the variety makes it complex to use. Simplicity is key when building a digital platform for a loyalty scheme, as useability links directly to the number of downloads.

At Future Platforms, our multi-talented team of designers, strategists, and engineers has years of experience successfully delivering impactful digital assets to high-profile clients around the world. Because of this body of past work, we know exactly how to fulfil client needs and expectations. If your key aim is to build loyalty, we can help you boost the relevant metrics to achieve that end.

For example, Future Platforms formerly worked with office space provider Workspace to design a new digital product for them. The result of the project was the development of a streamlined, accessible brand app that achieved a near-perfect rating of 4.9 stars on the App Store — helping improve Workspace’s image and solidify its customers’ loyalty. Simple apps get used more consistently, and the consistent use of your digital products is the foundation of digital loyalty.

3.Using Social Media To Boost Digital Loyalty

It’s important to analyse social media when discussing digital loyalty, as social media is one of the leading ways a brand can digitally interact with its customers. A growing social media following is directly related to the level of loyalty among their existing customer base. However, social media must be used wisely to create this kind of growth.

For example, we found that compared to its other channels, Formula One has a large number of followers on X.com (formerly Twitter). X provides a good platform for short news updates, so loyal followers of Formula One looking for race updates are more likely to follow on X.com than (for example) TikTok.

A key part of improving digital loyalty is appealing to the sensibilities of your audience. Businesses need to understand the kind of content their customers are looking for, and thus need to know which social media platforms are best suited to that content. Formula One provides a good example of a business that understands this.

4. Our Digital Loyalty Survey Results

While the 2024 Digital Loyal Index focused more on statistics gathered from key brands, we also used survey questions to gather further insights. Using social media, we posed questions about loyalty schemes and digital platforms to 800 UK-based consumers.

One of the most notable results of the survey was how it highlighted the value of loyalty schemes for brands: in survey Q6 - “After you joined the loyalty programme, do you think you use the brand more or less?”, a significant majority of respondents said they used the brand more (63%).

When we asked why (survey Q7 - “What has influenced you to change your behaviour?”), the financial value offered by the scheme was by far the biggest reason (specifically “Benefits like free items and money off” - 51%), while the next most popular answer (“enhanced membership status”) was only selected by 14% of respondents.

Building Digital Loyalty With Future Platforms

If you’re interested in more digital loyalty insights, then be sure to download your copy of the Future Platforms 2024 Digital Loyalty Index. It’s full of useful information and actionable insights that you can use to build greater loyalty within your business.

To download the 2024 Index, click here.