At Home Redesigns Loyalty Programme With Customer Input

What happened

US home decor retailer At Home is reshaping its customer loyalty programme by building customer input directly into the redesign process, according to reporting from CX Dive. Rather than rolling out changes unilaterally, the retailer is treating its loyalty members as active contributors to how the programme evolves, using their feedback to inform the shape of rewards, benefits and engagement mechanics going forward.

The move positions At Home's loyalty scheme as a live, iterative product rather than a fixed set of perks — one that is meant to be shaped in dialogue with the shoppers it serves rather than designed purely from the top down.

Why it matters

Loyalty programmes are one of the most direct levers retailers have for shaping repeat behaviour, and their effectiveness depends heavily on whether members feel the value on offer actually matches what they want. A retailer that solicits and visibly acts on customer input signals that its loyalty strategy is grounded in genuine member preference rather than internal assumption — a distinction that increasingly separates programmes that drive habitual engagement from those that quietly lose relevance.

For experience and loyalty leaders more broadly, At Home's approach is a reminder that co-design isn't just a research exercise; it can be a retention and trust-building mechanic in its own right. Customers who see their feedback reflected in tangible changes are more likely to stay engaged with a brand's rewards ecosystem, and more forgiving of programme adjustments that might otherwise feel like a reduction in value.

The Renascence take

Most loyalty "refreshes" are really cost or margin exercises dressed up as customer-centric storytelling — tiers get rearranged, redemption thresholds quietly shift, and the customer finds out only when the points don't stretch as far. Involving members in the design process, if done with real transparency, flips that dynamic and turns a potentially trust-eroding change into a trust-building one.

The behavioral principle at work here is the IKEA effect for loyalty: people place disproportionate value on things they feel they helped build. A loyalty relaunch that customers co-designed will feel fairer even if the underlying economics haven't fundamentally changed. The mistake most retailers make is treating "customer voice" as a one-off survey rather than an ongoing feedback loop — At Home's model only pays off if the input mechanism stays open after launch, not just during the redesign window. Operators watching this should ask whether their own loyalty governance has any standing channel for member input at all, or whether "customer-centric" loyalty design still means guessing on their behalf.