The Curious Case of the Loyalty Scheme That Doesn't Feel Like One

What Greggs understands about getting customers to come back without constantly talking about loyalty

I have a slight problem with loyalty programmes.

Not because they don't work, because far too many of them feel like admin.

Download our app, create an account, verify your email, remember your password, scan this, activate that, collect 2,750 points and eventually discover they're worth approximately 83p off something you didn't particularly want.

By the time I've understood the reward, I feel I've earned it simply for perseverance.

Which is why Greggs caught my attention.

Its proposition is almost insultingly straightforward.

Buy nine products in a category, get the tenth free.

That's it.

No bronze, silver and titanium sausage-roll status. No calculator required to understand what your points are worth and customers appear to be responding. In 2025, the Greggs App was scanned in 26.7% of transactions in company-managed shops, up from 20.1% in 2024 and 12.5% in 2023.

So this week's case isn't really about Greggs.

It's about a question that matters to almost every business:

Why do some attempts to create loyalty become part of customers' routines, while others become another app quietly dying on their phone?

At the Scene

Imagine lunchtime.

You've got twenty minutes between meetings. You're hungry. Greggs is nearby.

You were probably already considering going there, which is important.

You buy your sandwich, scan the app and another stamp appears.

Eventually, the tenth item is free. Greggs currently applies the mechanic across six reward categories and lets customers earn stamps both in shops and through Click + Collect.

Nothing particularly revolutionary there, but look at what isn't happening. Greggs isn't asking you to significantly change your behaviour in order to participate.

The reward sits inside an existing habit.

That's the first clue.

Lots of businesses design loyalty programmes around what they want customers to do.

Spend more.

Visit more.

Download something.

Provide more data.

Buy across categories.

Greggs largely begins somewhere else. What are customers already doing?

Then it rewards them for doing it again.

Gathering the Evidence

There is more going on than free sausage rolls.

Greggs has gradually added Click + Collect, personalised content, promotions, special experiences and more playful elements such as Greggs Quests. In 2025 its personalised "Baked For You" messages generated more than six million clicks into articles, while Quests introduced time-limited challenges that can be targeted at different customer groups.

But notice the order.

The basic value proposition is still incredibly easy to explain.

Nine. Then free.

Everything else sits around it. That's a useful lesson because businesses often do the reverse.

They start with sophistication.

Segments. Tiers. Challenges. Personalisation. Gamification. Partner offers.

Eventually someone asks the awkward question:

What's actually in this for the customer?

And nobody can answer without opening PowerPoint. The cleverness of Greggs isn't that its loyalty mechanics are complicated. It's that the mechanics are simple enough for the cleverness to happen invisibly behind them.

Solving the Mystery

I think we've slightly misunderstood customer loyalty.

Businesses frequently treat loyalty as something they can manufacture with incentives, but a reward cannot create loyalty to an experience customers don't particularly like.

It can create repeat behaviour. Those aren't quite the same thing.

If I visit because you gave me £5 off, you've bought another transaction. If I visit because you're convenient, familiar, good value and reliably give me what I want and the £5 reward makes that relationship feel slightly better, you're strengthening an existing reason to return.

That distinction matters.

Because once businesses mistake bribery for loyalty, they become trapped.

Customers learn to wait for the discount.

The business sends another offer.

Customers wait again.

Soon the "loyalty programme" has trained people not to pay full price.

Greggs' core reward does something subtly different. It says:

You're already choosing us. We noticed. Here's something back. That feels less like bribery and more like recognition and recognition is one of the most overlooked ingredients in retention.

The Return Loop

Here's the framework I'd take from this case.

For repeat behaviour to become a habit, I think businesses need four things:

REASON → EASE → RECOGNITION → REMINDER

Reason: There must be a genuine reason to return before any loyalty scheme exists. Good product. Convenience. Expertise. Service. Community. Results.

Ease: Coming back needs to be easier than starting again somewhere else. Greggs is currently pushing this further with Click + Collect and is even trialling a self-service Greggs Express format aimed specifically at speed and convenience.

Recognition: Show returning customers that their continued custom has been noticed. That might be a free product.

But it might also be remembering their preference, acknowledging their history, giving members early access or simply treating a long-standing customer differently from someone you've never met.

Reminder: Give customers a reason to think about you again at the right moment. Not seventeen emails because somebody in marketing discovered automation.

A useful, timely nudge. When those four things reinforce each other, you create a Return Loop.

The customer has a reason to come back.

Coming back is easy.

Doing so is recognised.

Then something puts you back in their mind.

Round they go again.

Where businesses get this wrong

The interesting bit is that you don't need an app to create any of this.

Imagine a consultancy. A client finishes a project delighted with the work. Six months later, they have another problem you could solve, but you haven't spoken since the final invoice. There was a reason to return. Potentially plenty of recognition, but no reminder.

The Return Loop broke.

Or consider a membership organisation. Someone joins enthusiastically. The content is excellent, but they don't know where to start, there are dozens of resources and nobody notices whether they participate. There is a reason to stay, but ease and recognition are missing.

The loop breaks again.

Retention problems aren't always caused by one dramatic failure. Sometimes one part of the Return Loop is simply absent.

The Case File

The Clue

Greggs App usage has risen sharply, with an App scan accompanying more than a quarter of transactions in company-managed shops during 2025.

The Evidence

Its core reward is extremely easy to understand, sits inside behaviour customers already have and increasingly connects rewards with convenience, personalisation and playful engagement.

The Verdict

Loyalty schemes don't create loyalty.

They work best when they strengthen an existing reason to return.

The Next Move

Forget your loyalty programme for ten minutes. Pick a customer you would genuinely like to keep. Then investigate:

Why would they come back?

How easy have you made returning?

How do they know you recognise their loyalty?

What reminds them that you exist?

The missing answer is probably more useful than another discount.

Open Your Own Case

Find ten customers who bought from you twelve months ago. Don't start by asking whether they're loyal.

Look for evidence.

How many returned?

How long did it take?

What happened between purchases?

Did you recognise their previous relationship when they came back?

And what happened to those who didn't?

Because the most important customer in your business might not be the one you're trying desperately to acquire. It might be the perfectly happy customer who simply hasn't thought about you lately.

Perhaps retention isn't always about persuading customers to stay.

Sometimes it's about giving them a good reason to return and making sure you haven't made it ridiculously easy to forget you.