Why POS-only loyalty programs fall behind

Compound your signups. Grow your loyalty. Win your market.

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AIQ has supported over 7,000 retail locations, powered presidential campaigns, and redefined regulated industry marketing for the world’s largest brands. We actively power relationships with over over 180 million consumers and today we are going to dive into what makes our customers outlast and out earn compared to competitors. 

The problem: 

Many retailers believe a loyalty program built by their POS system is enough. But relying only on in-store signups creates a bottleneck: your loyalty program can only grow as fast as your checkout line - and often, slower.

Meanwhile, churn is a constant. Unsubscribe rates, disengagement, and competition in your market eat away at your member base daily.

What’s at stake:

If your signup velocity (the rate you acquire new loyalty members) doesn’t outpace churn, your program can’t grow.

• POS-only programs are limited to one moment in the customer journey: checkout. They are also limited by highly erratic SOP’s from staff members who must convey your loyalty program effectively to generate signups. Most POS systems also do not have customer facing screens for them to input sensitive data, resulting in unfortunate events such as staff stalking behavior or data input failure that leads to the wrong or even non-compliant people receiving regulated content.
• AIQ-powered programs capture signups everywhere - before, during, and after purchase across your entire tech stack and digital footprint.

Compounding growth starts with more touchpoints:

AIQ helps brands grow their loyalty base exponentially by removing friction and activating multiple signup sources, including:

• POS (integrated across dozens of systems)
• Custom signup forms
• Website popups at moments of your choice
• Signup forms or survey embeds on any website  landing page 
• Terpli, AIQ’s AI Sales Agent widgets facilitating sales via product recommendations across your digital footprint
• QR codes on exit bags, digital displays, in-store signage, flyers, event infrastructure, merch, packaging & more 
• Mobile app signups
• AIQ or 3rd party marketing campaigns
• Collectible codes on product packaging or event materials 
• Importing historical customer data

Each of these entry points increases the chances of gaining a loyalty member before they ever reach the checkout, compounding your base daily.

The drop-off POS can’t catch

Most shoppers don’t make it to checkout.

Bounce rates on ecommerce sites can range from 60–90%. If you’re only offering loyalty at checkout, you’re missing out on converting nearly all of your web traffic.

AIQ’s tools—like website modals, in-page forms, AI sales agents—enable signup before the bounce and transform your entire tech ecosystem into a loyalty acquisition machine.

Churn doesn’t sleep. Neither should your signup strategy.

Even the best loyalty programs lose 2–3% of members monthly. With POS-only signup, you’re lucky to break even. AIQ’s multi-channel ingestion keeps growth ahead of churn.

The results speak for themselves

• 49% of revenue is generated by loyalty members
• 85% growth in loyalty member enrollment
• 15% increase in average ticket sizes
• 19% overall revenue growth with Loyalty Pro

*All stats are based on a 15-day attribution window by default (or less unless customized). Results reflect average client performance.

Real-world example

When expanding into new cities, AIQ clients have gotten creative, using street teams and field marketers to capture new loyalty signups before their stores even opened. By having them wear QR-coded t-shirts and distribute discount cards, retailers using this method are able to successfully encourage immediate signups. Customers could join loyalty before ever walking into a store.

This strategy helps customers rapidly build localized member bases and create brand awareness before day one.

In loyalty, speed wins.

The faster you collect signups, the more long-term value you can drive through repeat purchases, segmentation, and personalized campaigns. AIQ makes it easy to:

• Reach customers earlier
• Reduce signup friction
• Increase retention
• Outpace competitors

Don’t limit growth to the checkout line.

Compound your signups. Grow your loyalty. Win your market.

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