This year asked a lot of loyalty leaders. Expectations kept climbing. Customer signals kept shifting. The pace of change did not slow down for anyone, and yet, in the middle of that intensity, we saw something encouraging: when teams stay grounded in outcomes, invest in the right data foundation, and keep pushing each other to raise the bar, real progress follows.
At Kobie, this year was defined by a few themes we’re proud of: Innovation that stayed practical, recognition that reflected real client feedback, and a culture that continued to show up in the work. Here’s our year, wrapped.
Forrester Named Us a Leader. Customers Named Us a Favorite.
Loyalty technology is only as strong as the outcomes it delivers. In The Forrester Wave: Loyalty Platforms, Q4 2025, Kobie was named a Leader AND received a Customer Favorite designation, a recognition based solely on client feedback… We’re proud of this one.
Forrester highlighted our vision for loyalty in an AI-driven world, including innovations like Bonnie™, our AI loyalty assistant, and Kobie Loyalty Interaction Cues (KLICs™), which help brands translate customer actions into real-time personalization. The evaluation also called out our strength in unifying data through our Panoramic Customer Profiles™, reinforcing a belief we’ve held for a long time: personalization works best when it is built on a holistic, trustworthy customer view.
Paired with our recognition as a Leader in Loyalty Services, we remain the only provider recognized by Forrester as a Leader across both areas.
Read the reports here.
Recognition after recognition…
We were grateful for additional external recognition this year – not because awards are the goal, but because they often reflect the consistency and rigor behind the work.
Kobie was recognized by Gartner as a Representative Vendor in the 2025 Market Guide for Loyalty Program Vendors. Our Kobie Contact Center (KCC) also earned Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, reinforcing our commitment to experiences that support loyalty in the moments where it can be won – or lost. We take these wins as proof points. Internally, we treat them as motivation to keep raising the bar.
This year, Kobie earned Top Workplace USA recognition again, another consecutive year that reinforces a culture we care about deeply and work hard to uphold.
When clients work with Kobie, what we want them to feel is the difference between a vendor relationship and a team that brings proactive guidance, consistency, and care. Our model is built on trust and accountability, giving teammates flexibility while staying relentlessly focused on delivering what brands need – especially when priorities shift quickly.
We’ve worked hard to build and sustain that culture across a remote team, including our expanding footprint in India. And while we can’t share everything yet, we have more exciting news coming soon.
Read more on why Kobie is a Top Workplace here.
We led a culture of innovation in an AI driven world
AI is only as effective as the quality of the data behind it. That’s why our product innovation continues to come back to one focus: helping brands build a holistic customer view across transactional, behavioral, emotional, and zero-party data – making personalization is precise.
Within our platform, Kobie Alchemy® Loyalty Cloud (KALC®), Bonnie™ helps marketers navigate complexity faster, from configuration to optimization, with guided support designed to make real work easier. And KLICs™ turn customer profiles into real-time engagement signals that can power individualized next best actions and offers across channels.
Just as important as what we build is how teams adopt it. This year, we continued investing in a culture where AI experimentation and learning are encouraged, because adoption only works when people feel equipped.
Explore our products here.
We hosted another unforgettable loyalty conference
OnPoint is where loyalty leaders and partners come together to challenge assumptions and reimagine what loyalty can be. In 2025, we hosted our 8th annual event, and the conversations went deeper than ever.
Sessions explored consumer expectations, data strategy, personalization through AI, and what it really takes to be ready for the future. More than anything, OnPoint is designed to leave leaders with a clearer perspective than they arrived with – and this year, we heard that repeatedly from attendees.
Read the OnPoint 2025 recap here.
Consumers told us what they want, and we told the market how to get it for them
In 2025, we expanded our consumer research globally, surveying 5,000 consumers across the U.S., U.K., and Canada. The headline finding was clear: uncertainty is up, and loyalty expectations rise right alongside it.
The report translates behavior into decisions. It explores how consumers respond to fee-based loyalty (including the value of “try before you buy”), what makes data sharing feel worth it, how brands can design for trust and relevance without crossing into “too much,” and more. If you want a practical read that ends with real answers to questions you can apply directly to your program, this is a strong place to start.
Read the research here.
Thought leadership, on stage and in headlines
As usual, we also showed up in the conversations shaping what loyalty becomes next – on stage and in the headlines. We joined our client Subway on the CRMC mainstage and shared our perspective at Loyalty & Awards and Loyalty Expo as well.
Beyond conferences, our ideas reached a broader audience through media coverage tied to our 2025 consumer research, including a Yahoo Finance release. Our Chief Customer Officer, Wendy Culpepper, was also featured in Forbes, breaking down a tension loyalty leaders are actively navigating: customers want personalization without feeling watched – and trust is earned (and protected) through how brands collect and activate data.
More from Forbes here.
Looking Ahead
Thank you for being part of our year, whether you followed along from a distance or built alongside us more closely. We’re heading into 2026 energized, focused, and committed to growing enterprise value through loyalty every day.
Questions? Comments? Let’s chat!
