Customer Newsletter | July 2026 | 4 minute read
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The AI Trends Redefining Customer Loyalty
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AI is changing how customers discover brands, compare offers, and decide who deserves their loyalty.
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The AI Marketing Trends We're Watching
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AI is changing how customers discover brands, compare offers, and decide who deserves their loyalty. Here are some trends worth paying attention to:
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Trend #1: Generic rewards are losing their impact
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Customers increasingly expect incentives that reflect their relationship with your brand. Instead of asking "Who should receive this campaign?", leading brands are asking "What's the next best offer for this individual customer?"
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Try this in My.Extole:
- Test reward values by audience segment—not just campaign
- Use the AI reporting tool to compare reward performance across segments
- If you're using the Extole MCP, ask it to brainstorm messaging themes for different audiences
- Deliver your tailored promotional messages to each audience segment with the "Email Audience" feature
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Trend #2: AI can predict customer behavior before you do
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AI excels at predicting its users' needs—which means it also excels at finding the signals hidden in your customer data. While marketers have more information than ever, it's nearly impossible to spot every trend, risk, and opportunity manually. Use AI to identify untapped growth within your customer base, predict churn, and deliver the right offer at the right moment.
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Leverage the Extole MCP to surface opportunities by asking:
- Who looks likely to churn but still has strong advocacy potential?
- Is there a pattern amongst our least engaged customers? How can we use the data we have to better reach them?
- Which month did we see the highest referral conversion rate, and what was notable about the campaign?
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Trend #3: Consumers want more reliable experiences
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Research has found that trust in AI remains relatively low in certain areas—notably, most consumers don't trust AI to provide good customer service. Even consumers who embrace AI still want brands to provide the reliable experiences they expect, from making a purchase to clicking a link to receiving a reward on time.
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Here's what we're doing to power reliable, trusted experiences:
- Keeping program execution and reward decisioning in your control—not governed by AI
- Providing AI tools that solve WISMRs faster for better CX outcomes
- Ensuring offer eligibility is transparent and explainable for marketers and customers alike
- Using trusted customer data to power personalization, not AI assumptions
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Leveraging the Extole MCP
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The Extole MCP can help you stay ahead of consumer trends and expectations. Here are some things you can ask the MCP in plain language to improve customer experience and maximize program effectiveness.
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Looking for more guidance on how best to leverage AI to optimize your Extole programs? Don't hesitate to reach out to your CSM for help or inspiration.
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ICYMI: How to connect to the Extole MCP
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In case you missed our MCP announcement last month, we wanted to share where you can find info on how to setup and begin using the Extole MCP from your AI
workspace.
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Linked below is a comprehensive setup guide that covers how to configure the MCP connector in ChatGPT, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, and other MCP-compatible tools. For additional setup assistance, please reach out to your CSM.
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Coming soon: In-app AI chat panel
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My.Extole will soon have an AI-powered chat panel to serve as your dedicated platform sidekick. The chat will help users monitor program performance, navigate the platform, pull reports, troubleshoot, and more. We are working internally to test and improve this feature before releasing it to customers. Here's a sneak peek!
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You will be notified as soon as this feature is available! Feel free to reach out to your CSM for more details.
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Talking tech: Takeaways from Shopify DotDev
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What agentic commerce means for Shopify brands
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Agentic commerce was one of the biggest themes at Shopify.dev this year. As AI agents become part of the shopping journey, conversations are shifting from static promotions to dynamic offers that can adapt based on customer behavior and context. Brands are viewing incentives less as fixed campaigns and more as programmable experiences that can respond to signals about what buyers and their agents are looking
for.
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As the ecommerce ecosystem evolves, we're continuing to invest in the developer tools and APIs that make it easier to build flexible offer experiences, while ensuring marketers retain the control and visibility they need to optimize program performance.
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Marketing buzz: AI Edition
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Our industry is evolving at a rapid rate—all thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence. Here's what marketers actually need to know about AI this month, compiled from LinkedIn, the Extole blog, and leading industry sources.
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- How AI is transforming loyalty programs in 2026 (Extole)
- Meta is pushing advertisers to use its new AI tools—but it might be helping them more than it's helping you (Extole via Marketing Brew)
- New consumer data says 70% of 18-64 year olds use AI for product research (Roland Berger)
- Loyalty data is AI's new favorite currency (Pymnts.com)
- AI isn't changing consumer search habits as much as you might expect (The Current)
- How your team can close the so-called "AI accountability gap" (Marketing Dive)
- Google just announced new tools for agentic commerce (Marketing Brew)
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2026 conferences: Come say hello!
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We'll be at a few conferences this Fall and would love to connect. Please reach out if you're in the area—coffee's on us.
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10-12: eTail East (Boston, MA)
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15-17: Marketing Association of Credit Unions Conference (Scottsdale, AZ)
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28-29: Digital Travel Summit (Orlando, FL)
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28-30: Braze Forge (Las Vegas, NV)
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19-21: Jack Henry Connect (Kansas City, MO)
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Have questions about a new feature? Want to share feedback on this newsletter? Just reach out to your CSM or reply to this email—we'll connect you with the right person!
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548 Market St #39231
San Francisco, CA 94101
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