AI and the future of loyalty programs – What’s new for 2025?
As we look toward 2025, we naturally anticipate marketing technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to continue to improve and influence the loyalty industry. In this article, we speak with Eagle Eye to uncover what the year holds for those wanting to leverage AI to drive better customer experiences and retain customers in new and innovative ways.
AI and ‘Real-Time’ Marketing
One major shift Eagle Eye CEO Tim Mason (pictured) expects to see is increasingly refined real-time marketing and customer engagement. This will affect issuance and redemption of offers, making loyalty marketing more immediate and effective.
“Advances in cloud computing and AI have increased businesses’ ability to collect and analyse data in real-time, enabling the creation of contextually relevant offers tailored to individual customer needs,” Mason said.
“Real-time issuance refers to the immediate creation and delivery of offers to customers based on their current behaviour, location, or context. These offers are generated and sent when the business detects a trigger, such as a customer entering a particular physical location, browsing a website, or making a specific purchase.
“Real-time redemption refers to the immediate execution of an offer at the point of sale (POS), in-store or online, so the offer or discount is instantly applied before the transaction is completed and payment is made.
“Given this is now possible, we expect to see the speed of the delivery of offers increasing and we are likely to see more brands take on true real-time marketing.”
Predictive and Generative AI Adoption in Retail
Mason adds that with generative and predictive AI expected to majorly change retail across supply chains, marketing, the omnichannel experience and beyond, 2025 will likely see strong adoption from leading brands.
“According to one study, AI adoption in retail is expected to surpass 80% in the next three years. Additionally, predictive and prescriptive analysis investments are expected to double over the same period of time,” Mason said.
“Customer expectations are changing, they expect more personalisation in their shopping experiences. The trend is towards a seamless omnichannel experience, integrating both physical and digital elements. Meanwhile, demand forecasting, price optimisation and personalisation will also benefit from increasingly sophisticated AI models.
“Retailers already make data-driven decisions, but predictive AI’s emergence can take it to the next level. For marketing, generative AI will rapidly enhance content creation and assist with automated personalisation.
“Both generative and predictive AI are going to be gamechangers for retail and in 2025 we’ll continue to see this future taking shape.”
