Lessons for Loyalty Leaders from CRMC 2025

CRMC is one of the best places to hear the latest and greatest tactics from brands innovating CRM and loyalty. This year was all focused on what actually moves the needle for brands: practical strategies, measurable results, and the realities of engaging today’s customers.

For loyalty leaders, the key question is: how do these lessons translate into real value for your brand? Here’s what’s working, what’s not, and what brands should consider when applying these lessons to their program.

Lowe’s: A Data-Driven Loyalty Ecosystem

Lowe’s is running segmented loyalty programs for different customer types (homeowners, DIYers, professionals), but tying them together through a single ecosystem. This unified approach lets them collect data across a broad member base and use it to inform marketing, in-store experiences, and checkout.

Why it’s working:

The value isn’t just in sign-ups or engagement rates—it’s in the data. Lowe’s leverages engagement data to personalize experiences and measure what actually drives repeat visits and higher spend. The seamless journey is a byproduct, not the goal.

What brands can learn:

Unify your programs, siloed initiatives fragment data and limit actionable insights.
Create opportunities to engage customers in-store that generate higher loyalty conversions and create reasons to interact with your brand.

Pizza Hut: AI Personalization

Pizza Hut is using AI (predictive and generative) to drive targeted campaigns and real-time engagement—like their March Madness chatbot. The result: higher revenue and more effective messaging, but only when the tech actually fits the audience and campaign.

Why it’s working (and when it doesn’t):

AI can drive results, but only when it’s relevant and efficient. Not every AI solution will resonate, and not every audience wants it – Pizza Hut created a memorable experience for the customers interested in engaging.

What brands can learn:

Start with one use case. Don’t roll out AI everywhere—pilot, measure, and iterate.
Align with your brand and customer, test and learn to ensure success before scaling.

Carter’s: Celebrating Customer Milestones

Carter’s is doubling down on their loyalty personalization. They’re using loyalty data to personalize offers and communications, driving a 10% increase in member activation.

Why it’s working:

Personalization should deliver a relevant offer or message at the right time. Carter’s scales what drives actual customer action and resonates with their customer’s lifestyles.

What brands can learn:

Test everything. Only expand what’s proven to work.
Be ruthless with metrics. If it doesn’t move the needle, cut it.

Key Takeaways for Brands

Data is only valuable if it drives action. If you’re collecting it, you should be using it.

Pilot, measure, and iterate. Don’t be afraid to pivot when something isn’t working.
Unify your loyalty efforts. Fragmented programs make for lost insights and missed opportunities.

Want to see how your brand can put these lessons into practice? Annex Cloud helps global brands unify loyalty data, personalize at scale, and drive measurable results. Get in touch.