America's Best Loyalty and Rewards Programs 2026: See the full list
- Loyalty programs significantly influence consumer purchasing decisions.
- USA TODAY and Plant-A Insights Group have ranked "America's Best Loyalty & Rewards Programs" for a second year.
- Top-rated programs include CVS, Amazon, and IKEA.
A strong loyalty program can make or break a consumer's decision to buy from one brand over another.
A 2021 study by global management firm McKinsey & Co. found that more than 1 in 3 shoppers (35%) are more likely to choose a brand that offers them loyalty benefits over a competitor that doesn't. A similar percentage (31%) is even willing to pay a higher price for that brand.
So, which loyalty programs might actually be worth spending your money on?
To determine this, we brought back "America's Best Loyalty & Rewards Programs" rankings for a second year.
This year's list, a partnership between USA TODAY and Plant-A Insights Group, spotlights programs across more than 30 industries based on their standout customer experience. Pharmacy giant CVS, e-commerce retailer Amazon, and furniture superstore Ikea are among the 350 companies that earned top ratings this year.
To determine this ranking, Plant-A reviewed public data and conducted a large-scale confidential online survey of more than 19,000 U.S. customers who were asked to evaluate rewards programs across five key categories: ease of enrollment, ease of use, clarity of rewards, safety of personal data, and reward value.
Respondents were asked to evaluate programs they were familiar with or had personally used to ensure their responses reflected real-world experience.
The final list excludes companies involved in consumer data protection incidents and other allegations within the past two years. To screen for these incidents, Plant-A used the monitoring platform Onclusive. Results were then validated through a joint review by Plant-A's research team and USA TODAY’s editorial team.
While loyalty and rewards programs continue to be a great source of profit for companies, they also help consumers save and spend more wisely. So, if you're looking to get more value while you shop, there might be a program listed here to help you out.