🚀 How Points Lead to Pathos - an interview with Zsuzsa Kecsmar about how Loyalty and Personalization Converge

In this week’s episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Zsuzsa Kecsmar, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Antavo, one of the most powerful loyalty management platforms. Together, we unpacked how loyalty programs can act as the glue between content, data and personalization, and how they’re helping brands build emotional connections with their customers.

Here are some key takeaways from our conversation:

1️⃣ The Role of Loyalty Programs in the Content Layer:
It’s clear that loyalty programs generate valuable transactional and preference data to the data layer, but they also contribute to the content layer by providing unique, loyalty-specific content – from tier communications to personalized reward messages. Zsuzsa shares how both the data and the content become the foundation for personalized experiences across channels.

2️⃣ Personalized Rewards = More Loyalty:
Antavo’s research shows that loyalty members who redeem personalized rewards spend 4x more annually than those who don’t. And customization matters: 8 out of 10 consumers prefer brands that allow them to tailor their rewards to their preferences.

3️⃣ Gamification as a Data Goldmine:
Gamified surveys and quizzes are a powerful way to collect zero-party data while keeping customers engaged. Zsuzsa highlights how these tools help brands quickly overcome the “cold start problem” in loyalty programs, making it easier to personalize communication early in the customer journey.

4️⃣ Transactional vs. Emotional Loyalty:
While transactional loyalty (points and discounts) attracts customers, it’s emotional loyalty that keeps them coming back. Zsuzsa shares examples from brands like Adidas, which rewards fitness efforts, and Rip Curl, which connects rewards directly to surfing activities – building loyalty tied to lifestyle and identity.

💡 The Generative AI Connection:
We also discussed how Generative AI is transforming loyalty programs by:

• Localizing content faster and more efficiently.
• Streamlining customer service to solve complex loyalty queries in seconds.
• Creating unique, scalable loyalty program content that feels personal and timely.

🎧 Don’t miss this insightful episode where loyalty meets personalization!
🎥 You can also watch this on YouTube

📥 Bonus: Download the just-released 2025 Antavo Global Loyalty Report for the latest loyalty trends and strategies.

As always the episode is based on Rasmus Houlind's book ’Hello $FirstName - Profiting from Personalization’ and in turn the Content Crisis Manifesto.

The Content Crisis Manifesto can be downloaded here.

The full book is available in print and kindle and can be bought here (or your local amazon in case it doesn't work...)

An written abstract of the book can be downloaded here.

The full audiobook can be downloaded here (courtesy of Agillic).

All models and illustrations from the book can be downloaded here.

Book me for a presentation, meeting or talk here!