At the halfway mark of the 2020s, consumer behaviour has changed significantly, with shoppers calling for recognition, trust and value-alignment from the brands they welcome into their lives.
Shoppers want their brands of choice to truly know them. As a result, brands are shifting their loyalty marketing strategies, evolving from transactional point-reward systems to complex tech powerhouses
that intimately interact with individual shoppers.
In the UAE, 87 per cent of consumers are more likely to shop frequently if they receive personalised special offers, according to research by Comarch. 37 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s respondents join loyalty programmes for the value of rewards.
Loyalty programmes have grown to become a brand’s frontline defence against customer churn.
Advancing personalisation
Industry leaders tell Campaign Middle East that the brands winning in 2025 are the ones engineering emotional connections through intelligence, authenticity and respect.
These brands genuinely reflect individual preferences – from style to values.
“Consumers don’t just want to be recognised; they want to be understood,” says Sue Azari, Ecommerce Lead, EMEA and LATAM, AppsFlyer.
“When a brand rewards sustainable choices or offers experiences tailored to a shopper’s habits, it moves beyond transactional loyalty and creates something more meaningful,” she says.
Anshuman Chaturvedi, Head of Data & Analytics, MRM MENAT, references Marshall McLuhan’s insight that ‘the medium is the message’. He says the best outcome of personalisation is when a smartphone stops being just a device and starts being a trusted companion.
“Niche segmentation and personalisation across any channels, be they CRM journeys or smartphone applications, becomes a customer’s owned safe space,” says Chaturvedi. “Consumers’ social feeds, next watched movie and skincare recommendations are all based on who they are.” Smart personalisation for digital channels allows the customer to fully own the brand experience when they consume products and services.
According to Penny McNamara, Head of Marketing, the ENTERTAINER, the ultimate objective is “creating a ‘this is just for me’ feeling, turning a transactional programme into an emotional one that understands their unique experience”.
“For us, personalisation isn’t about algorithms or data points, it’s about creating a sense of belonging,” says Rashmi Chittal, Vice President of Brand Marketing and Communications, JA Resorts and Hotels.
“Technology helps us understand our guests better, but it’s the human connection that ensures they feel genuinely seen, valued, and understood every time they stay with us.”
This shift from recognition to true understanding builds authentic loyalty – where customers feel valued for who they are, not just for what they buy.
Real-world application
McNamara says putting this refined personalisation into practice is easier said than done. She says that at the ENTERTAINER, the aim is to share relevant offers but still delight the user with surprises and the opportunity to discover new experiences,” which means opting towards more niche segments over large groupings.
Cemil Toksöz, Chief Strategy Officer, GoWit, says, “Programmes can adapt to life stages, shopping behaviours and cultural nuances so consumers feel represented as individuals, not cohorts.”
“For the customer, this removes friction, builds trust, and makes interactions feel less like marketing and more like a service,” he adds.
McNamara offers a real-world example: “Instead of mass emails, a customer who frequently uses offers for sushi and healthy restaurant options might receive a push notification for a new wellness centre offer nearby on a Monday morning.”
To her, the shift from generic like-for-like makes the ENTERTAINER experience feel like a useful, curated service, “which dramatically enhances the overall user journey and satisfaction.”
Brands must focus on providing consumers with value that adapts to their immediate context, while remaining relevant to their broader life circumstances.
“Personalisation becomes powerful when it enhances comfort and ease,” says Chittal.
She says JA Resorts and Hotels offers guests dedicated check-in desks, complimentary breakfasts and in-room welcome amenities that reflect the preferences and tastes of top-tier members of its JA DISCOVERY loyalty programme.
Leaders also recommend making the customer’s online and offline interactions with a brand more seamless. “In the UAE, where ‘phygital’ retail is fast becoming the norm, this connection is key,” says Azari.
“We cannot be loved back by an audience we don’t understand.”
“It makes customers feel recognised and appreciated wherever they shop, and that familiarity builds trust, stronger relationships, and ultimately, loyalty that drives return on investment (ROI).”
Chaturvedi agrees, saying that “real-time personalisation and dynamic content further streamline the experience”.
He says that brands should aim to meet their customers at the right digital touchpoint and at the right frequency, “making every interaction more relevant for the customer”.
Strategies for better brand advocacy
Marketers agree that brands can no longer churn out loyalty for the masses.
Instead, they suggest leaving the macro scale to connect with customers individually, on a tailored micro level.
Toksöz recommends building on emotional loyalty through shared values and consistent recognition. “This can mean co-creation with customers, exclusive access to communities, or sustainability-driven initiatives,” he says.
“When customers feel a brand reflects their identity and aspirations, they move from transaction to advocacy,” Toksöz says. He calls the strategy “a critical shift in an era when peer-to-peer influence often outweighs advertising.”
To build on this emotional loyalty, Azari suggests gamification – inviting customers to take part in challenges and experiences to redeem rewards that make them feel part of something special.
“That emotional connection is what turns a shopper into a brand advocate – someone who doesn’t just buy, but champions the brand,” Azari says.
On this note, McNamara says the ENTERTAINER’s organically grown customer base of brand advocates is one of its greatest strengths.
“Emotionally connected customers become authentic brand advocates who drive organic growth and referrals,” she says.
She believes word-of-mouth marketing remains hugely powerful for brands and urges them to harness it. “We use our communication channels to amplify these stories and connections beyond our user communities to the wider world,” she says.
Chaturvedi proposes the ‘segment of one’ ideology where a customer is “approached not just based on demographic, behaviour or transaction datasets, but context-rich predictive models which account for
external factors.”
For example, a solo traveller’s summer offer should change after they add a spouse to their loyalty profile; or frequently purchased nappies could result in a milk formula bottle as a gift.
“We cannot be loved back by an audience we don’t understand,” says Chaturvedi.
At JA, Chittal says, “true loyalty isn’t about creating followers; it’s about cultivating a sense of belonging that keeps guests coming home to us”. This sense of belonging is reflected in the numbers. “Some of our resorts see return guest ratios as high as 80 per cent,” she says, “proving that genuine relationships drive advocacy far more than incentives ever could.”
Loyalty that prioritises privacy
Now that marketers have defined hyper-personalisation as the foundation of customer loyalty, brands that use automation to scale these programmes must balance personalisation with privacy concerns. “Brands must be explicit and clear about what data is collected,” says McNamara.
She says automation is a key tool because it enables the use of anonymised or aggregated data where possible, “ensuring that personalisation is only executed within the bounds of explicit permission”.
Chaturvedi adds: “While many businesses seek cheat codes and loopholes around privacy laws, [the] misuse of customer data creates lasting consequences.”
“We cannot hold our customer data hostage,” he says.
Brands must prioritise transparency, processes and governance on the customer data lifecycle, “with clear stage-wise value exchange”.
“It’s all about trust,” says Azari. “Shoppers are happy to share data when they understand the value they get in return.”
“Guests trust us to protect their information, and we honour that by using data responsibly to create relevance, not intrusion,” says Chittal.
Marketers suggest achieving this balance between relevance and respect by using aggregated, privacy-safe insights to deliver personalised experiences without overstepping boundaries.
“Automation should be used to scale relevance without feeling intrusive,” says Toksöz. “Brands need to adopt a privacy-first infrastructure – consent mode, clean rooms, server-side tagging – while giving customers clear choices.”
He adds: “When people see the benefit of data use, and know they’re in control, personalisation becomes an enabler, not a threat.”
Personalisation drives incrementality
Marketers are in agreement that when marketing feels personal, every touchpoint becomes more effective.
With JA DISCOVERY, personalisation has delivered hard results. Revenue is up 25 per cent year-on-year; with 29 per cent of revenue from repeat members, and 7 per cent from partner-brand members.
“When guests feel genuinely recognised and rewarded, they return more often, stay longer, and engage more deeply,” says Chittal. “That emotional connection translates directly into commercial success – proving that when you invest in understanding your guests, they, in turn, invest in you.”
Further supporting this, Chaturvedi shares the following performance statistics:
- 90 per cent of marketers report positive returns on their personalisation efforts,
with personalised email campaigns generating more than double the ROI of generic messages. - Website personalisation can boost conversion rates by as much as 80 per cent, while tailored shopping experiences increase repeat buying and customer loyalty.
- Fast-growing companies leveraging AI for personalisation are seeing revenue rises of up to 40 per cent.
By tailoring engagement, brands see higher conversion, reduced churn, and increased lifetime value.
“At scale, this compounds into measurable ROI, making personalisation one of the most powerful levers for sustainable growth,” says Toksöz.
McNamara’s take is that, “Personalisation improves marketing spend efficacy.” She adds that delivering the right offer to the right customer at the right time minimises wasted spend and significantly boosts conversion rates.
“Incrementality comes from the fact that personalised offers motivate specific, higher-value behaviours, such as increased redemption frequency or higher average order value (AOV), that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise,” McNamara explains.
“When marketing feels personal, every touchpoint becomes more effective,” Azari says.
“With the right measurement tools, brands can see the true impact of personalisation,” she concludes, “proving that emotion-driven marketing doesn’t just feel good; it performs better too.”
