Customer Experience as the new currency of loyalty: CRM and AI strategy for real-time personalization

74% of consumers make purchases based on experience, not price—and 97% say it drives loyalty. Learn how CRM and AI fuel real-time personalization to meet rising expectations and give your brand a competitive edge.

Never before in history have we had so many tools for shaping customer experiences. And never before has it been so demanding! At the same time, the importance of this aspect is often underestimated, yet the numbers don’t lie. 74% of consumers are willing to make a purchase based solely on their experiences, while 97% state that customer service is crucial for brand loyalty. Even more striking, customers are ready to pay a 16% premium for great customer experiences.

What’s changed? Today’s consumers simply expect personalized experiences. And market leaders know this well. Currently, 86% of companies intend to compete primarily in the area of CX. Why should you join this race? Let’s find out!

Why customer experience is no longer optional

The stakes of neglecting customer experience have never been higher. According to the Qualtrics 2025 Consumer Experience Trends report, companies risk financial losses projected to reach a staggering $3.8 trillion globally.

These numbers reflect a harsh reality: 32% of customers will stop doing business with a brand they like after just one negative experience, and 78% have changed their minds about a purchase due to poor customer experience.

Perhaps most concerning, 67% of customers tell others about bad experiences, while 65% switch to a different brand afterward. This shift isn’t temporary or sector-specific. Regardless of your industry or company size, customer experience remains one of the main areas in which you must compete. But there’s also good news: outstanding customer quality can allow you to race even with market giants who have enormous budgets.

Though of course, you won’t be able to scale it if you don’t embrace the possibilities offered by AI and predictive analytics.

Designing value — how CX boosts loyalty program ROI

As you can see, investing in customer experience design is an absolute must in today’s market. Particularly when examining its impact on loyalty programs. In 2024, 80% of marketers and loyalty professionals worldwide reported positive ROI from their loyalty initiatives, with nearly 35% stating their programs generate 5-7 times more revenue than they cost.

Well-executed loyalty programs typically achieve ROI between 200% and 400%. This aligns with the well-established finding that increasing customer retention by just 5% can boost profits by 25% to 95%. The connection between CX and loyalty is direct and measurable. Customer experience accounts for more than two-thirds of the factors influencing loyalty—exceeding the combined impact of price and brand.

After positive experiences, customer spending increases by over 100%. The conclusions are simple: organizations focused on CX can almost double revenues! Exceptional experiences drive not just satisfaction but tangible business outcomes.

This is a clear indication for companies seeking to maximize their loyalty program investments: focus on designing experiences that create genuine value for customers.

The strategic role of CRM and AI in delivering real-time experiences

But here, from the perspective of many organizations, a problem emerges. How to deliver these personalized experiences at scale? Increasingly, the correct answer is the strategic integration of CRM systems and artificial intelligence. Because simply using CRM software is already obvious. According to various data, it’s used by even 90%+ of small, medium, and large companies.

After all, this type of software was created with managing customer relationships in mind. It’s time to make proper use of it, and without the support of AI, it’s difficult to think about development. Platform producers know this too. According to 4CRMS, in 2025, more than 70% of CRM systems should incorporate AI capabilities.

This fundamentally changes the way you can think about shaping user experiences. But don’t stop there. If you care about truly revolutionary solutions and building really strong relationships with your audience, you must opt for the most comprehensive systems and personalized tools that will allow you to achieve exactly what you need.

Instead of confining yourself to the frameworks provided by commonly available platforms, choose the right technology partner who will enable the implementation of ANY loyalty program at ANY scale.

Here’s a fact: today, there’s no talk of far-reaching personalization of experiences and loyalty programs without AI. Well-chosen technologies analyze customer behaviors to identify patterns enabling smarter, more targeted reward recommendations, transforming static loyalty systems into dynamic, personalized experiences. Such possibilities are provided by the integration of IoT with CRM systems. It is projected to increase by 60% by 2025, allowing you to leverage real-time data for even more responsive customer interactions.

And best of all: you can analyze all this in real-time. To measure the ROI of AI personalization, you can track stats including customer lifetime value (CLV), conversion rates, retention rates, customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), issue resolution times, and Net Promoter Scores (NPS). These indicators provide a comprehensive view of how effectively CRM strategy and AI-driven personalization are enhancing customer experiences and business outcomes. You have 100% verified knowledge all the time: something that until recently could only be dreamed of.

From insight to impact — building brand loyalty through experience

You might ask, what is the ultimate goal of investments in customer experience? The main objective is to increase brand loyalty, which directly translates to business results. And the correlation between improving CX and user behaviors is perfectly visible. According to G2, 86% of customers are willing to pay more for better experiences, while 91% say they’re more likely to make repeat purchases after excellent customer service experiences.

These positive interactions create a loyalty feedback loop. After good customer service experiences, your customers are more inclined to buy something else from the brand, and of course, they feel greater loyalty to the brand that addresses their pain points and cares about responding to their specific, individual needs in the best possible way.

Once established, this loyalty translates directly to revenue—loyal customers spend approximately 67% more on products and services than new customers. That’s an unimaginably large gain. And the alternative? Losing a customer, and thus also losing all lifetime profits. And the necessity to allocate an enormous budget to acquire new leads.

CXIndex indicates that organizations focused on experiences report nearly double the year-over-year growth in customer retention, repeat purchase rates, and customer lifetime value compared to competitors. Conclusions?

There is no exaggeration in the title of this article. Customer experience has become the new currency of loyalty. Companies that strategically leverage CRM and AI to deliver real-time personalization create meaningful connections that translate directly into superior financial performance. And most importantly: you can implement these solutions in your company as well.

Regardless of industry and scale of operation. All you need to do is connect with the right technology partner who has not only knowledge in the IT area but also experience in building valuable experiences.

AI-powered loyalty as a strategic imperative

AI-powered loyalty programs can improve campaign ROI by 35-40% through optimized targeting and resource allocation. They deliver increased operational efficiency through automated processes like data analysis, fraud detection, and personalized customer interactions. This translates into cost savings through optimized resource allocation, reduced manual work, and streamlined operations. And by providing hyper-personalized experiences, these technologies strengthen customer relationships and drive sustainable growth.

Perhaps most importantly, these technologies enable effective use of the massive customer data sets you already possess. By extracting actionable insights from this information, you can drive product innovation and create more compelling customer experiences.

The path forward is clear: traditional, boring loyalty programs have become obsolete. You need data-driven loyalty programs powered by predictive analytics and AI to truly engage your customers and give them exactly what they expect, exactly when they want to interact with you. If you want to REALLY satisfy your audience, you must join this transformation and embrace technology.

Warsaw, May 13, 2025

Interested in the best Loyalty Programs? Get in touch with us! At RITS, we know everything there is to know!

We’ll help you find the loyalty system that best fits your company’s needs and capabilities, run all the necessary tests, and handle the implementation, integrating your new loyalty tool with your existing systems.

Aleksander Zamoyski, New Business Account Manager at RITS Professional Services, will be happy to share his expertise: a.zamoyski@rits.center.

Let’s stay in touch!