Efficiency is not the ultimate goal of an AI strategy

Most companies think they are working on building loyalty. They have a loyalty programme, a CRM system and a customer satisfaction report. But to be honest, they are building habits. Habits don’t last in a world where AI agents are taking over purchases, comparing prices in real time and literally taking the customer out of the customer journey. For two years running, Forrester has noted that customer satisfaction in the US is at an all-time low; not because service has deteriorated, but because expectations are rising faster than companies can keep up. What is exceptional today becomes the norm tomorrow. The norm does not differentiate.

A number of simultaneous developments are undermining traditional loyalty. AI agents are taking customers out of the customer journey: fewer touchpoints, fewer opportunities to build a relationship. Perfect service becomes a commodity as soon as everyone provides it. For years, brands have underinvested in differentiation in favour of short-term sales activation: Kantar and Google show that 57% of retail growth is driven by differentiation, precisely the element that has been most neglected. Loyalty is shifting from brands to platforms. Vinted has 120 million loyal users: loyal to the algorithm, not to the sellers. The balance of power has shifted completely. In a world where AI drives choices, customer loyalty is shifting from brands to systems.

Three forms of loyalty, one strategic choice

The answer to this challenge starts with a clear distinction. In *Deep Loyalty* (to be published in October 2026), I describe three fundamentally different forms of customer loyalty that companies are building, whether consciously or unconsciously.

Transactional loyalty is the most common and the most fragile. The customer buys from you because it’s so easy. AI agents take this to a new level: in an Agent-to-Agent world, the customer’s agent carries out the entire purchase cycle without human intervention. Efficient, scalable, but the customer isn’t loyal to you; they’re loyal to the process.

Transformational loyalty goes further. Not ‘how can I buy faster?’ but ‘how can I live better?’ In 2025, the Harvard Business Review demonstrated that people are using AI in increasingly emotional ways: therapy, personal growth and finding a purpose in life are at the top of the list. Companies that respond to this are building a stronger relationship. L’Oréal’s Beauty Genius coach led to a 70% higher conversion rate in physical stores among customers who received AI advice beforehand. For 90% of its 713 million users, Spotify is ‘essential to daily life’. This is the Partner-in-Life strategy: adding value to the customer’s life, not to the transaction.

A sense of connection cannot be automated

Deep loyalty is the most enduring layer. Customers don’t buy from you because it’s convenient, or because you help them grow, but because they want to be part of your brand and community. The brand becomes part of their identity. Switching brands no longer feels like a rational choice, but like a break with their own narrative. In the 1970s, psychologist Tajfel described how group membership becomes a source of pride and self-esteem. In 2001, Muniz and O’Guinn demonstrated in the Journal of Consumer Research that the same applies to brands: brand communities share a collective consciousness, rituals and a sense of moral responsibility towards one another. Belonging comes before everything else; it is not the reward for loyalty, but its driving force.

Chewy, the American e-commerce platform for pets, proves that this works beyond the major iconic brands. Turnover in 2024: $11.86 billion, 82% via subscriptions. But the deep loyalty lies in what is not scalable: hand-painted portraits of deceased pets, letters of condolence, personal phone calls. In a world that automates everything, the unscalable is perhaps the most valuable. That is precisely why many companies will never get there: the obsession with scalability is the reason they remain stuck in transactional relationships.

The decision is strategic, not technological

It is not essential to achieve deep loyalty in order to be successful. You can build a strong business at any of the three levels. But you must make a conscious choice. Transactional loyalty requires you to be the fastest, cheapest or simplest – a never-ending race. Transformational loyalty requires unique data and expertise to stay ahead of the major AI platforms. Deep loyalty requires the courage to invest in what is not scalable and cannot be directly measured in a quarterly report.

The question I put to every management team is simple. If your company were to disappear tomorrow, how many customers would you miss?

Steven Van Belleghem is an international keynote speaker and the author of eight management books. *Deep Loyalty* will be published by Lannoo Campus in October 2026.