The 2026 Bond Loyalty Report indicates the growing gap between the loyalty that brands can measure and the loyalty that drives growth.
TORONTO, ON – June 3, 2026
Bond, the customer-intelligence driven engagement company, released the 2026 edition of The Bond Loyalty Report™ in collaboration with Visa today, combining Bond’s loyalty expertise with Visa’s deep payments knowledge to deliver a wide-ranging view of how consumers engage, spend, and stay loyal. Now in its 16th year, the 2026 edition of the Bond Loyalty Report introduces the theme, Loyalty Decoded: a deep examination of the forces reshaping loyalty, and the critical codes brands must break and rewrite to transform programs into true growth engines.
The 2026 Bond Loyalty Report shows that loyalty continues to look stronger year over year. Engagement is at peak levels. Programs are expanding their reach across an increasingly complex “known customer” landscape—one that spans loyalty members, subscribers, app users, cardholders, and partner-linked audiences.
At the same time, the brands surveyed are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to scale personalization and optimize every interaction, but beneath the surface, a different reality is emerging that raises an important question: are brands building loyalty, or just activity?
“In this year’s Bond Loyalty Report, we set out to decode what’s really driving loyalty today, and what isn’t,” said Sean Claessen, Chief Innovation Officer at Bond. “What the responses show is a growing imbalance. Brands are getting better at generating participation, but not necessarily preference. Bond believes closing that gap is where the next wave of growth will come from.”
The 2026 Bond Loyalty Report found that, across the marketplace, loyalty programs are outperforming prior benchmarks and playing an increasingly influential role in shaping customer behavior—from likelihood to stay and spend, to willingness to share and advocate. 85% of consumers are more likely to continue doing business with a brand if they have a loyalty program, with 73% spending more as a result. But as performance rises, so does the baseline expectation.
The stakes are high, but the opportunity is also significant. Across the brands reported on this year—from retail, quick-service restaurants, fuel, convenience, telco, and media—, Bond’s internal research estimates that approximately $94 billion in annual consumer spend is still up for grabs between competing brands. Capturing it means that programs must move away from static value propositions and rigid structures and, instead, move to create genuine preference rather than just participation.
The drivers of loyalty are evolving. Year-over-year, Access (i.e. first-looks, last calls, front of the line) has held its position as the top loyalty driver, leading in both 2025 and 2026, even amid ongoing macroeconomic pressure. Customers are placing greater value on how brands recognize and prioritize them, not just how they reward them.
Yet even as digital capabilities accelerate, a critical imbalance is forming. Investment in AI-powered engagement is scaling rapidly across digital channels, while in-person and human-centered experiences lag. One observation that Bond can draw from this lag is a disconnect in how loyalty is being delivered and felt.
Significantly, the 2026 data also point to a growing divide between emotional loyalty and what Bond is coining ‘artificial’ loyalty. Artificial loyalty is enabled by data, automation, and AI delivering precise, timely, and personalized interactions; it drives efficiency and short-term engagement at scale. Emotional loyalty, by contrast, is built in moments where customers feel genuinely valued: through human service, meaningful recognition, and experiences that reinforce a relationship beyond the transaction—perks that are ranked as a top value driver for members in this year’s data set.
While AI is a powerful tool for enabling relevance, when it replaces (rather than supports) human interaction, satisfaction and long-term loyalty may be at risk. By contrast, when AI is used to support human connection, the results are meaningful: the 2026 data set indicates that brands who utilized this approach reported lifts in engagement (2.4x), spend (~$500 more per year, per member), and advocacy (1.6x).
The 2026 Bond Loyalty Report highlights a trend emerging: the gap between loyalty that drives growth and loyalty that’s at risk has never been wider. Over the last five years, consumers’ attitude towards loyalty programs have held their peaks in Say, Stay, Spend, and Share year over year, and programs falling behind face an accelerating risk: wallet consolidation. Consumer dollars are concentrating among fewer preferred brands, leaving more programs competing for less.
Loyalty Decoded challenges brands to rethink not just how their programs operate, but what they are designed to achieve. Because, in today’s environment, loyalty isn’t defined by participation alone—it’s defined by impact.
The Public Executive Summary is now available for free here. For a custom diagnostic on your specific program, reach out here.
To learn more, visit The Bond Loyalty Report. Contact the VCA team to learn how VCA helps brands strengthen loyalty performance with insights and customized versions of The Bond Loyalty Report.
Visa and Bond have collaborated for more than a decade to deliver a data‑driven view of loyalty and engagement. Together, they uncover, contextualize, and bring these insights to life to help turn payments and loyalty intelligence into strategies that drive meaningful growth.
Visa contributes analytics‑informed perspectives to help validate and contextualize key trends through its own data lens through Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA). VCA’s global network of consultants, data scientists, and product experts helps clients identify trends and make more informed, data‑driven decisions. Their expertise, combined with the power of VisaNet data, which represents over 300 billion transactions annually, helps turn insights into actionable business decisions.
About Bond
Bond is the global customer-intelligence driven engagement company that creates growth by building lasting connections between brands, their employees, and their customers. Powered by Bond Intelligence, Bond’s work produces stronger brand loyalty, more advocacy, and lasting growth.
Report Methodology
Bond maintains a database of aggregated data that it acquired or received consent to use for research and analysis. The Bond Loyalty Report is a subset of this larger data set which provides a snapshot of findings. Examining nearly 400 loyalty and rewards programs across 20+ categories such as hospitality, travel, retail banking, fuel, automotive, grocery and more, it serves as a diagnostic and benchmark tool, helping brands understand what their customers are thinking, saying, and doing. It translates that understanding into actionable prescriptions to close gaps amongst competitors, improve activation, and overall performance.
All data points referenced in this press release are sourced from The 2026 Bond Loyalty Report, unless otherwise noted. The 2026 Bond Loyalty Report surveyed 20,591 loyalty program members across United States between January and March 2026. Results are statistically representative of target population with a margin of error of ±1% at a 95% confidence level. Any other data referenced herein is derived from Bond’s proprietary internal research, analytics platform, and Bond’s IQ data set. All figures are subject to rounding.
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