3 Real-Life Examples of Loyalty Programs That Build Relationships

3 Real-Life Examples of Loyalty Programs That Build Relationships

Brandmovers is a firm advocate for relationship-based loyalty programs over purely transaction-based ones. The distinction is simple. Relationship-based loyalty is built on value, engagement, and mutual benefit, while transaction-based loyalty is determined only by how many purchases a customer makes.

The problem with the transactional version shows up the moment a customer is not buying: what reason do they have to keep engaging with your program at all? Even a program that is mostly transactional today can build in more relationship-focused engagement. Here are three real brands that do it well, and the relationship-building lesson behind each.

Key Takeaways

1. Chewy: relationships through surprise and delight

Chewy, the online pet retailer founded in 2011, has built one of the most admired customer relationships in retail without leaning on discounts. Its reputation comes from understanding its customers deeply, most pet owners consider their pets family, and reflecting that understanding in genuinely personal touches. New customers receive handwritten notes. Shoppers get holiday cards. When a customer’s pet passes away, Chewy has been known to send flowers and a condolence card.

In its best-known gesture, Chewy surprises customers with free, hand-painted oil portraits of their pets, a service it began in 2013 and now runs at more than a thousand paintings a week. Customers cannot request one, which is what makes it a genuine surprise, and the reactions, often shared widely on social media, turn grateful customers into advocates. None of this is a points mechanic, which is the point. Chewy pairs these gestures with around-the-clock human customer service and recommendations tailored to each pet’s profile, and it has since added a paid membership, Chewy Plus, alongside its long-running Autoship subscription, which drives roughly 70 percent of its sales. But the relationship is built first on customers feeling genuinely known and cared for. The lesson: a branded, personal experience does more to build loyalty than a discount code ever will.

2. myWalgreens: relationships through real customer value

Walgreens runs one of the largest loyalty programs in the United States, myWalgreens, and it is a useful example of building relationships by meeting customers’ actual needs rather than padding a program with perks that only look good on paper. myWalgreens replaced an older points system with a simpler currency, Walgreens Cash rewards, earned across the store and, notably, on pharmacy purchases: one percent on most purchases and five percent on Walgreens-branded products. Members unlock personalized “only for you” deals, and the program leans into Walgreens’ identity as a health and wellness brand, offering bonus rewards for reaching health goals, a 24/7 pharmacy chat, and the ability to book vaccinations and medical appointments in the app.

What makes this relationship-building rather than just a rewards scheme is the focus. Walgreens designed the program around what its customers genuinely need from a pharmacy, convenience, savings on essentials, and support for their health, rather than adding fluff benefits that carry no real value. When a program’s perks stop serving what members actually want, members start looking at competitors. The lesson: build the program around real customer needs, and revisit it as those needs change.

3. Dunkin’ Rewards: relationships through listening, and a smart mix of benefits

Dunkin’, formerly Dunkin’ Donuts, offers a good example of building relationships by listening to customers and balancing benefits everyone can use with status the most engaged can earn. In 2022, Dunkin’ replaced its older DD Perks program with Dunkin’ Rewards, a redesign the company says was driven directly by member feedback: members asked for more flexibility, more variety, and more recognition.

The new program delivered on all three. Members now earn points on every qualifying purchase regardless of how they pay, removing an old restriction that had tied earning to an enrolled payment method, and points can be redeemed for a wider range of food and drinks rather than beverages alone. That change, making earning easier for everyone, is paired with an exclusive layer: Boosted Status, a tier that rewards the most frequent members with a higher earning rate after they visit often enough in a month. The combination matters. Offering a genuinely valuable benefit to all members, rather than reserving everything for a select few, tends to build broader engagement, while an earned status tier still gives dedicated members something to work toward. The lesson: listen to what members actually ask for, and mix accessible benefits with earned ones so the program rewards everyone while still recognizing your best customers.

What these examples have in common

Three very different brands, three different tactics, one common thread: each engages the customer beyond the transaction. Chewy does it through emotional, personal gestures. Walgreens does it by meeting real, practical needs. Dunkin’ does it by listening and designing benefits that include everyone while still rewarding loyalty. How a brand builds relationships depends on its nature and its customers, a pet retailer, a pharmacy, and a coffee chain will each do it differently, but the underlying move is the same: give customers reasons to value the relationship when they are not actively buying.

One caveat runs under all three examples: relationship-building works on top of solid fundamentals, not instead of them. A thoughtful gesture will not save a product that disappoints, a price that is not competitive, or an experience that frustrates. Get the basics right first, and relationship tactics are what turn satisfied customers into loyal ones.

And you do not need a national brand’s budget to apply it. You do not have to commission a thousand paintings a week; you have to know your customers well enough to do something that feels personal and genuinely useful to them. The principle scales down to any program willing to treat members as people rather than transactions.

Conclusion

The three brands here could not be more different, but each builds loyalty the same way at its core: by focusing on the customer beyond the sale. Engage members when they are not buying, provide value that fits their real needs, listen to what they tell you, and recognize the people who show up most. Do that, and a loyalty program stops being a discount mechanism and becomes a relationship, which is the kind of loyalty that actually lasts.

Sources

• Associated Press: Chewy’s free hand-painted pet portraits (the surprise-and-delight program, begun in 2013, now more than 1,000 paintings a week).
• Walgreens: Reinventing loyalty with myWalgreens (Walgreens Cash rewards, health goals, and personalized deals).
• Dunkin’: Dunkin’ Rewards rolls out nationwide (2022 redesign, earning regardless of payment method, and Boosted Status).