The 2025 SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index reveals that while True Loyalty is declining, a new era of emotional, trend-driven, and AI-powered engagement is redefining how brands earn lasting customer connections worldwide.
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SAPLoyalty is changing—fast. The 2025 SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index reveals a major shift in how and why consumers stay loyal to brands. Traditional “True Loyalty,” built on trust and consistency, has fallen by 5% since 2024—the first drop in five years. In its place, Trend Loyalty has emerged: loyalty that’s emotional, viral, and short-lived, fueled by TikTok reviews, influencer content, and cultural buzz.
Key Findings:
Despite 68% of consumers still identifying as loyal to brands, the report reveals that loyalty today is more fragile, emotional, and data-dependent than ever before. To thrive in what SAP Emarsys calls the “Engagement Era,”brands must evolve from transactional engagement to continuous, personalized connection.
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68% of consumers say they’re loyal to a brand—back to 2021 levels.
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14% now qualify as Trend Loyal, driven by social influence and virality.
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23% believe generic “batch-and-blast” marketing harms their loyalty.
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Only 16% of marketers feel equipped for the new engagement-driven landscape.
1. The Six Faces of Loyalty
SAP Emarsys identifies six distinct loyalty types shaping 2025:
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True Loyalty – Built on trust and love; the “holy grail” of loyalty.
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Silent Loyalty – Consistent purchasing without advocacy.
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Incentivized Loyalty – Driven by rewards and financial incentives.
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Ethical Loyalty – Rooted in shared values and purpose.
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Inherited Loyalty – Based on legacy or family tradition.
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Trend Loyalty (new) – Fast, emotional, and social media–fueled loyalty.
This new dimension of loyalty, led by Gen Z, shows that social influence and emotional resonance are now just as powerful as price and product.
2. The Rise of Trend Loyalty
Trend Loyalty accounts for 14% of consumers in 2025.
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15% buy products just because they’re viral on TikTok.
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19% trust trending items more than traditional ads.
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29% lose interest once the trend fades.
The lesson is clear: viral attention doesn’t equal enduring loyalty. Brands must use data and AI to turn short-term hype into long-term engagement.
3. The Generational Divide
Gen Z continues to redefine loyalty on its own terms:
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70% say they’re loyal to brands they love and trust.
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39% have switched brands over sustainability concerns.
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21% pay more for brands that reflect their identity.
In contrast, Boomers and Gen X remain loyal to quality and service, proving that brands must tailor loyalty strategies to generational expectations.
4. What Builds — and Breaks — Loyalty
Top Loyalty Drivers (2025):
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Product quality (59%)
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Customer service (53%)
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Discounts and rewards (50%)
Top Loyalty Disruptors:
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Poor product quality (54%)
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Rising prices (49%)
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Misuse of data (34%)
The data reveals a tension between value and values — customers still want good prices, but they expect brands to act responsibly and personalize experiences ethically.
5. Loyalty by Industry and Region
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Clothing & fashion, beauty, and tech lead in brand attachment.
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US (73%) and Germany (66%) show rising loyalty levels year over year.
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UK (67%) and Australia (65%) remain steady, while Taiwan (66%) enters the study strong.
Globally, loyalty thrives where brands balance emotional connection with consistent experience across every channel.
6. The Engagement Era
SAP Emarsys calls this the Engagement Era — a time when loyalty must be earned, not assumed.
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40% of consumers say brands don’t understand them as individuals.
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23% say generic, “batch-and-blast” marketing actively harms their loyalty.
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Only 16% of marketers feel confident navigating this new, emotionally driven landscape.
To survive, brands must connect AI-powered personalization, real-time data, and authentic storytelling into every touchpoint.
Global Loyalty Organisation (GLO) Take
The SAP Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index 2025 captures a loyalty landscape at an inflection point — where emotion, experience, and technology collide. The decline in True Loyalty is not a sign of consumer disinterest, but a wake-up call for brands to evolve beyond one-size-fits-all strategies.
From GLO’s perspective, this report underscores a major industry truth: loyalty is now earned through emotional intelligence as much as technological intelligence. Trend Loyalty’s rise shows consumers crave authenticity, speed, and relevance — but sustaining that requires data maturity, cross-channel alignment, and purpose-driven engagement.
GLO believes the next phase of progress depends on:
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Unified measurement frameworks that connect engagement data to business outcomes.
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Cross-functional collaboration between marketing, data, and CX teams to humanize personalization.
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Experience-led loyalty design — built on empathy, ethics, and emotional resonance, not just points and promotions.
In short, the Customer Loyalty Index 2025 validates GLO’s conviction that the future of loyalty lies at the intersection of science and storytelling — where brands use data to understand, emotion to connect, and consistency to earn trust that lasts.
Source: SAP
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