Loyalty Blogs

Having a dedicated loyalty program is not just a choice but an essential aspect for a business to succeed as it helps to build stronger relationships with customers. Offering relevant and valuable rewards through your customer loyalty program motivates customers to continue purchasing.

Attracting and retaining customers is crucial for the business’s long-term growth, which is why, big brands are coming together to offer enhanced and better loyalty offerings and benefits to their customers. Recently, two big brands Starbucks Coffee Company and Bank of America (BoA) united to form a new loyalty partnership and provide additional rewards to their most loyal customers.

In this blog, we will learn about the loyalty partnership between Bank of America and Starbucks and how such coalition loyalty programs work together to offer enhanced benefits with better value and flexibility for customers.

Understanding BoA and Starbucks Loyalty Partnership Program

When we talk about a loyalty partnership program or coalition program, it can be defined as an approach where two or more businesses pool their resources to offer a combined loyalty program to customers. Recently, two big brands- Starbucks and Bank of America (BoA) joined hands to form a new partnership designed to offer extra rewards or additional perks to their most loyal customers.

· What are the Benefits for BoA & Starbucks Customers?

In this program, eligible BoA cardholders and Starbucks Rewards members in the US can link their accounts to earn 2% cashback from BoA, along with the existing rewards and benefits they were already earning on qualifying purchases and one star for every $2 spent at Starbucks.

· How to Join the Combined Loyalty Program?

For customers who want to join this program, all they need to do is visit either Bank of America or Starbucks official websites to link their accounts and start collecting rewards/ benefits from both programs.

· How to Start Earning Rewards?

Members can unlock benefits by making use of their linked BoA debit or credit cards to make a qualified purchase at a Starbucks store, which includes reloading their digital Starbucks cards, ordering items ahead, or making payment in the app at a register. Cashback will be automatically added to their Bank of America accounts and stars earned can be used for the redemption of free Starbucks drinks, food, merchandise, or whole-bean coffee.

Regarding this joint loyalty program, Ryan Butz, VP of Loyalty Strategy and Marketing at Starbucks stated – “This loyalty partnership is another example of how we continue to invest in our most loyal customers to boost engagement and connection by offering exclusive benefits and experiences that cannot be found anywhere else.”

How Does the BoA & Starbucks Partnership Program Maximize Brand Reach & Loyalty?

This loyalty partnership has been offered through BoA’s BankAmeriDeals program, which was launched in 2012 and enabled over 45 million customers to earn cash back on deals while making payments for everyday purchases with eligible BoA debit or credit cards.

In a statement, Shikha Narula, Head of Consumer and Small Business Product Strategy and Transformation at Bank of America said – “Partnering with Starbucks is a part of our commitment to invest in meaningful ways to express gratitude to our clients for choosing to do business with us.” She also added – “We are pleased to give Bank of America clients and Starbucks customers even more opportunities to make their everyday financial lives more rewarding.”

It can be noted that this isn’t the first time Starbucks has partnered with another company to boost its reach and increase purchase frequency. The company has previously partnered its loyalty program with Delta in 2022 and many more brands like Nike, which integrated its loyalty program with Dick’s Sporting Goods’ program in 2021 and Hibbett’s in October 2023.

Benefits of Launching Such Coalition Loyalty Programs

Launching a coalition-based enterprise loyalty program can offer immense benefits enabling customers to earn and redeem their points across a wide range of participating businesses giving them flexibility as well as value. By collaborating, businesses can tap into a more extensive customer base, drive cross-promotion and leverage shared valuable customer insights to deliver personalized loyalty experiences.

Here are some of the top benefits offered by such coalition or partnership loyalty programs-

– Boost Customer Engagement

More than 66% of consumers agreed that they modify their spending on certain brands to gain the benefits of loyalty offerings. Coalition loyalty programs keep focus on rewarding customers to stay engaged with multiple brands within the coalition program.

As customers are offered a unified rewards structure, customers are more likely to remain loyal to the program and continue to make repeat purchases across the participating businesses.

– Higher Customer Base

Businesses can unlock a larger customer base by partnering with other brands for a joint loyalty program. The best thing about a coalition loyalty program is that it helps to attract customers from each participating brand, thereby leading to cross-promotion and an increase in brand exposure.

– Valuable Customer Insights

Coalition loyalty programs provide benefits to all the participating brands as they can collect valuable customer data across multiple businesses. By making use of this shared data, valuable insights into customer preferences, shopping behaviors, and trends can be extracted, allowing businesses to deliver more enhanced and personalized experiences with targeted marketing campaigns.

– Enhanced Customer Experiences

Not just businesses, customers can benefit from the convenience & flexibility of earning and redeeming rewards in all the participating businesses. These seamless experiences not only enhance customer satisfaction but also encourage continued participation in the program.

– Shared Data

When businesses partner together for a joint loyalty program, they can share the costs to build and manage a program. This partnership enables all the partnership brands to combine their resources, skills, & marketing strategies, thereby promoting cost-effectiveness and advantages for all brands involved.

Concluding Statement

Novus is one of the top coalition loyalty software solutions that helps businesses grow with the help of a coalition program or a dedicated loyalty program. Having a successful track record of delivering high-quality loyalty solutions to engage customers in the right way to retain them for a longer time.

Book a demo today to see how our loyalty experts can help your business partner with multiple merchants & businesses under one loyalty program to gain immense profits together.