LoyaltyLion is a data-driven eCommerce loyalty and engagement platform that helps online brands build customized rewards (and referral) programs to increase customer retention and repeat sales. Pulse 2.0 interviewed LoyaltyLion CEO Charlie Casey to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
Charlie Casey’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Casey said:
“I started my career as an economics advisor at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. After that, I spent three and a half years as a technology consultant at Deloitte, which confirmed what I already knew deep down – that my passion lay in building something of my own. That’s when I knew it was time to start my own business. “
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Casey shared:
“The first step was to sit down and make a list of the things I knew well and the problems that I thought were worth solving. At a similar time, I met my co-founder, Dave, and together we applied to Startupbootcamp Berlin. Out of 400 applicants, we were selected, and that’s where LoyaltyLion started to take shape.”
“Whatever business we decided to build, we wanted to be sure we were helping people solve a significant problem – preferably one that was going to get worse over time. Speaking to lots of retailers, we could clearly see that customer engagement and retention were big challenges for e-commerce brands, especially with Amazon dominating the market and consistently winning on price and logistics. It quickly became clear that many brands didn’t have the time, tools, or know-how to run effective retention strategies and really differentiated customer experiences, so we set out to fix that.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Casey reflected:
“My favorite memory is also one of the most stressful in my LoyaltyLion journey so far. Quite early on, we received a large investment offer. We put in months of work moving the offer forward, all the time getting into more debt, taking on office and lawyer fees. As the deal came nearer to closing, something didn’t feel right, and Dave and I didn’t feel confident in what the future relationship would look like. In the end, we rejected the investment with no plan B, knowing it could be the end for the company we were sacrificing everything to build.”
“You might be wondering how such a stressful situation could equate to my favourite memory. It’s because this was when I learned to trust my gut even when the stakes were high. Together, my co-founder and I made a difficult decision based on instincts, and if we hadn’t, LoyaltyLion might not be the company it is today, or have had the input and support of some fantastic investors that we secured directly after making this decision.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Casey reflected:
“LoyaltyLion is a top-rated loyalty platform, helping thousands of Shopify brands drive growth through more retained customers and repeat revenue. We provide fast-growth ecommerce stores with the tools and expertise they need to launch their own loyalty programs, increasing repeat purchase rates, improving retention, and building customer lifetime value.”
“We operate with data at our core. The data, insights, and benchmarks available within our platform allow Shopify stores to understand exactly how much revenue their programs are driving, and where they can optimize further.”
“We also help brands surface their loyalty programs at every stage of the customer journey. As an official launch partner for new Shopify developments, we have ensured that loyalty programs can be included across websites, within the checkout, and most importantly, in-store via POS integrations.”
“We also take pride in our elite integrations with other best-in-class technologies. We pass data into tools such as Klaviyo, Gorgias, Tapcart, Recharge Payments, and Attentive, ensuring that brands can use their loyalty programs to personalize customer experiences across every platform they are using.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Casey acknowledged:
“E-commerce has faced numerous challenges over recent years. Though the sector saw a boom during the pandemic, it wasn’t a growth journey for everyone and lots of stores went out of business due to consumers reallocating their spend in different ways.”
“The pandemic was closely followed by a cost-of-living crisis, and fast forward to 2025, and retailers are having to navigate ongoing uncertainty as a result of tariffs. Couple these economic factors with the continuing rise in acquisition costs, ever-changing privacy and data challenges, and now the impact of AI search on organic traffic.”
“All of these challenges have an impact on LoyaltyLion, but we overcome them by staying true to our vision of helping brands compete and differentiate in the age of Amazon. Our loyalty programs are the best possible insurance policy for brands looking to ride out these challenges or prepare for what may come next.”
“Our research has shown that consumers lean on loyalty programs when confidence is low. 71% are more likely to join a loyalty program during a time of economic uncertainty, and 64% will prioritize shopping with brands that have loyalty programs. Looking at data from over 3000 brands and 200 million orders, we also found that during a period of low confidence, active loyalty program members are 4x more likely to repeat purchase.”
“We help stores overcome these broader challenges by making sure they can still drive revenue growth from their existing customer base.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Casey noted:
“We’ve been developing our loyalty platform for over 12 years, responding to the needs and learnings of over 10,000 users.”
“The key evolution for us has been around data. This started with implementing the reporting and analytics mentioned above which our customers needed to both optimize and prove the revenue being driven for their programs.”
“It has developed further with the need to react to the growth of artificial intelligence. Most products and platforms have been built for yesterday’s needs and rely on dashboards, static reports and retrospective analysis. That worked fine when the only ones pulling from that data were people, but it falls short for today’s usage.”
“For several years we have been working to get ahead of AI by restructuring our data so that both humans and agents can interpret metrics and data, and get real-time insights based on live signals. We’re ready to give our users today’s analytics so they can drive tomorrow’s actions and revenue growth.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Casey cited:
— Being chosen for Startupbootcamp Berlin from 400 applicants.
— Growing to work with more than 10,000 ecommerce brands, including names like Represent Clothing, Astrid & Miyu, Inkey List, Bare Minerals, and Laura Mercier.
— Becoming Shopify’s first loyalty partner and building long-term relationships with platforms like Shopify and Klaviyo.
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Casey highlighted:
“We have so many, but a couple of personal favorites:
– Represent Clothing has seen incredible growth over the past couple of years. They migrated to LoyaltyLion when a previous provider wasn’t meeting their needs. Today, their loyalty program drives 20% of their total revenue, and their loyalty program members have a 4x higher customer lifetime value.
– Another big success story is Oh Polly. We started working with them when they migrated from Magento to Shopify several years ago, and their program has continued to grow in strength ever since. Oh Polly Rewards generated over 7201k members in just 2 months, and the program accounts for 18% of the brand’s total revenue.
You can see lots more examples of brands we work with at https://loyaltylion.com/customers/.”
Funding/Revenue
Are you able to discuss funding and/or revenue metrics? Casey revealed:
“LoyaltyLion has raised over $20M to date from leading entrepreneurs and top venture capitalists, including Jan Boluminski, Co-Founder of the world’s biggest loyalty program, PAYBACK, and James Hart, former ASOS ecommerce director.”
“Today, we have over 250 million active shoppers engaging with loyalty programs through our platform, and over 10 years of unique loyalty data that we use to surface valuable loyalty insights for brands.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Casey affirmed:
“The key thing that sets LoyaltyLion apart from our competition is our laser focus on loyalty and retention. Some of our competitors have bought loyalty platforms, rather than building them. Others have launched loyalty as a secondary product, supplementing their existing platform and purpose.”
“We have always been 100% focused on loyalty, and we always will be. Every member of our team – from the developer building features to the Customer Success Manager giving daily advice – is an expert in loyalty and retention. This ensures that we are consistently delivering the most impactful loyalty developments and advice.”
“Our focus on loyalty has also driven the integrations that our customers use daily. Unlike many of our competitors, we are able to integrate effectively with the tools and technologies that brands use daily, because we are not competing with them elsewhere. This is why LoyaltyLion has the most advanced integration with Klaviyo, for example.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Casey emphasized:
“Our future goals are simple: push innovation in customer loyalty, helping ecommerce brands compete and differentiate with unique loyalty programs.”
“We will continue to invest in data and analytics, so that brands can always unlock the insights they need to drive greater growth. We’ll also continue to invest in AI, so that we’re always making it easier for them to run and optimize their loyalty programs for maximum success.”
“We’ll stay close to Shopify, ensuring that we’re always aligning our roadmap with theirs so that our customers can use our platforms together as effectively as possible.”
“Most importantly, we’ll continue to listen to our customers, building the features that they need in order to retain their customers more effectively.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Casey concluded:
“I think it’s always useful to share lessons we learn as entrepreneurs.”
“My biggest learning since launching LoyaltyLion is to focus on what works, not just what’s on your to-do list. To achieve this, you have to take time each week to think strategically – away from meetings and day-to-day tasks. You also have to take time to immerse yourself in other people’s stories – I love reading biographies, especially from sportspeople. And finally, you can’t fear change. What works may be different, but you will likely be forced to adapt in a positive way that will set you up for future success.”
