Shoppers are demanding a ‘quieter’ kind of loyalty and want to receive fewer mobile notifications from brands, says new research from Apadmi.

Its study of 1,000 global shoppers revealed that a third (32%) cite ‘too many notifications’ as their biggest source of friction when using mobile loyalty apps, followed by reward values being too low (26%) and poor connectivity in store (21%).

Value remains the top motivation for shoppers when it comes to signing up to loyalty schemes, with 30% saying exclusive pricing was the biggest incentive, followed by first-purchase discounts (28%).

The research also indicated that retailers risk focussing on the wrong areas, with 78% of brands believing customers want more personalisation, yet only 13% of shoppers said that was the most important factor in them being loyal to a brand.

“The brands pulling ahead aren’t necessarily those with the biggest budgets or the most sophisticated technology; they’re the ones that understand their customers well enough to build experiences that earn a permanent place on both their home screens and in their routines,” Marcus Hadfield, Chief Strategy Officer at Apadmi, commented.

Apadmi’s research showed that shoppers are also becoming more selective in which loyalty schemes they sign-up to and engage with; 7 in 10 consumers are members of three or fewer loyalty schemes, rising to 84% of 18-24-year olds.