February 25, 2026
carballo/Depositphotos.com
How Can Retailers Avoid Marketing Fatigue and Inspire Deeper Shopper Loyalty?
Marketing and loyalty are oftentimes intertwined for retailers, especially in an era where inboxes and SMS folders are overflowing with offers from dozens — if not more — of individual retailers and brands.
A comprehensive report issued by Optimove seeks to tackle questions surrounding marketing relevance in retail, as well as its impact on customer loyalty more broadly.
“Consumers do not reward brands for sending fewer messages. They reward brands for sending relevant ones,” the report authors begin.
“This report shows that relevance, not frequency, is the primary driver of purchase intent, trust, and long-term loyalty. When marketing aligns with customer needs and behavior, engagement increases, even as message volume rises. When it does not, value erodes quickly. Irrelevance and repetition actively destroy value. Customers interpret repeated or generic offers as a signal that a brand is not paying attention. The result is not just annoyance, but disengagement, opt-outs, and lost revenue. Tolerance for irrele-vant messaging does not translate into buying behavior,” they add.
Notable data points from the report include:
- Relevancy is necessary: More than half (57%) of those polled said that they get too many offers already, and therefor relevancy is key, while just over one-fifth (21%) indicated that they don’t mind if irrelevant offers are delivered, since it widens their purchase options. An overwhelming majority (89%) do end up buying from retailers that send multiple (yet relevant) offers, while just under two-thirds (65%) say the same about multiple irrelevant offers, a 24-point gap.
- Repetition can drive shoppers away (and to a competitor): A whopping 83% of those surveyed stated that they had unsubscribed from brands which had repeatedly sent offers “over and over,” while just under half (46%) suggested they were more likely to subscribe from retailers who put forth repeated promos for the same product. Other top reasons to unsubscribe reinforce this and the previous point — being spammed with generic content at 17%, being sent promos unrelated to a shopper’s interest or past purchases at 18%, and too much communication regardless of relevance (19%).
- It’s just bad timing, that’s all: Nearly all shoppers polled said that they experience poorly timed messages. And of these, a majority (53%) said they receive these from brands — perhaps surprisingly, political messages came in second place, at 35%. “Poor timing is one of the clearest signals that a brand isn’t operating with real-time data. Even if the right message loses impact if it arrives at the wrong moment, for instance, after purchase, mid-issue, or disconnected from the original intent,” the authors note.
- Personalization — creepy or incitement to buy?: Pretty interest divide here, with personalized recommendations from brands in messaging eliciting a 68% endorsement from respondents, who said they were more likely to buy after getting these sorts of messages in their inboxes. By contrast, just 12% said there was a decreased chance of a buy after getting a customized message. Pulling back to a broader view, 60% of shoppers see personalization as generally helpful, while just under a quarter (22%) describe it as “creepy.”
“In today’s environment, loyalty is not emotional affinity alone; it is behavioral economics,” said Pini Yakuel, founder and CEO of Optimove, in a press release.
“Consumers reward brands that respect their time and attention with relevance. When communication is accurate and intentional, loyalty becomes a revenue multiplier. But when brands default to messaging volume, they accelerate churn. The brands that win will be those that orchestrate every interaction with context and discipline,” he added.
BrainTrust
Anil Patel
Founder & CEO, HotWax Commerce
Chuck Ehredt
CEO, Currency Alliance
Bhargav Trivedi
Solutions Architect, Bloomreach
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Which retailers or brands are most obviously succeeding at avoiding marketing fatigue / cultivating deep shopper loyalty through messaging? Which are doing poorly, in your opinion?
Are retailers too reliant on persistent messaging, via e-mail, social media, or SMS, to shoppers? Why or why not, in your opinion?
Where is the line of best fit on effective marketing versus driving fatigue or loyalty breakdown? Are there any tips you could provide to brands and retailers?
Poll
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Fatigue with retail marketing is mostly caused by irrelevance delivered too often. This makes consumers delete, mute, or unsubscribe. The real question is how retailers ensure relevance, and the answer lies in understanding customers properly, segmenting them well, and having the right technology to personalize digital marketing. As for the loyalty component: marketing can influence it, but it’s not a primary driver. In retail, true loyalty is a byproduct of a compelling and resonant proposition.
Of course, relevance is important in marketing. Anything less than relevant is annoying. (“Why am I getting this message?”) And sending too many messages is bad, too. Both of these cause customers to opt out or unsubscribe. The key is to deliver highly personalized content and have the customer’s permission to send it. Also, ask the customer how often they want to hear from you.
A brand that gets it is Nike. I have only received marketing and advertising for products similar to what I buy. I’ve bought several pairs of golf shoes. They send me updated info on golf shoes and accessories, and I’ve never received information on basketball shoes. They know their audience and deliver the appropriate messaging.
In answering this I find myself stuck between the messaging offered by two different songs: Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing At All” and Toby Keith’s “A Little Less Talk (and a Lot More Action)”; but maybe it doesn’t matter so much…it’s really the same message, isn’t it? If you don’t really have anything to say, then remain silent. All of these examples provided demonstrate a considerable lack of thoughtfulness toward being helpful.
As for personal experience – sadly it’s negative – the one that comes to mind is Capital One, which has been “official(ly)!… pleased to present” me the same usless offer for longer than I can remember.
I receive countless retailer emails every day, and most of them have absolutely nothing to do with my past purchases or any real indication of what I might want next. They feel completely random and are instantly deleted.
For all the industry talk over the years about how far email personalization has come, that hasn’t really happened, has it?
Retailers aren’t losing customers because they send too many messages. They’re losing them because they send too many unintelligent ones.
Relevance, and not frequency; is the true loyalty driver. Brands like Sephora and Amazon succeed because their messaging is behavior-led and context-aware. Too many others still blast the same “20% off” across email, SMS and social, mistaking repetition for reinforcement. When every message is urgent, none of them are.
This isn’t a channel problem but it’s an orchestration problem. Personalization isn’t about adding a first name to an email. It’s about using unified data and AI models to predict intent, suppress redundancy and deliver the next best action with discipline. If a message reduces friction or saves time, it builds trust. If it ignores timing and context, it accelerates churn.
If a message saves a customer time, it builds loyalty. If it wastes attention, it builds churn.
The brands that win won’t be louder. They’ll be smarter and more restrained.
Relevance and frequency for messaging is a good question. I may not be the target customer, but in reflecting on how brands try to remain engaged with me, I would say I see a clear distinction between those who sincerely want to help and those who want to sell more stuff. Probably the majority of customers have a similar perspective and brands should know their true intentions based on their culture. Unfortunately, marketing results may send conflicting messages because even strong marketing pressure can produce good results – suggesting that customers prefer to be bombarded with offers, but I still think this backfires in the longer-term. For decades, brands have been talking about putting the customer in the middle of their business model and serving their needs. Some have executed on this, but most have not – principally because their internal incentives are still aligned with short-term results over measuring lifetime value. This is where a solid loyalty program can be extremely powerful because it should be focused on lifetime value and not this month’s marketing campaigns. We work with about 200 loyalty programs worldwide and I would say 75% of them are still not focused on maximizing lifetime value – which in turn determines the cadence and style of short-term marketing.
We need to stop blaming ‘message fatigue’ and start addressing ‘relevance failure.’ The issue isn’t that retailers are talking too much, it’s that they are talking at the wrong time.
When a customer receives a promo for a product they bought yesterday, it doesn’t just feel automated, it makes the brand feel out of sync with its audience.
We have to move past ‘batch and blast’ workflows. True personalization isn’t just inserting a first name, it’s synchronizing messaging with real-time inventory and individual intent. If we continue to measure success through vanity metrics like open rates, we are simply optimizing our own irrelevance. Success in this era belongs to the retailers who treat every notification as an earned privilege, not a right.
Give me a personalized, relevant offer based on what I buy (or what I might like to buy) and do it a little less often than more often. At least for me, that’s the sweet spot. I’m tired of the five email a day approach for things I have no interest in!
The retailers and brands doing the best job of avoiding marketing fatigue are those that prioritize relevance over volume and treat messaging as part of the experience—not just a sales trigger. Brands like Amazon, Walmart, and digitally native players such as Nike or Sephora stand out because their communication is tied to behavior: what you browsed, what you bought, or what you’re likely to need next. That level of contextual relevance makes messaging feel helpful rather than intrusive. On the other hand, brands that rely on constant batch-and-blast email or SMS campaigns—especially those with repetitive promotions—are the ones consumers are increasingly tuning out. The data is clear: 70% of consumers have unsubscribed from brands due to excessive messaging, and many will switch brands entirely when they feel bombarded.
Yes, retailers are absolutely at risk of being too reliant on persistent messaging. The challenge is that these channels work—SMS, for example, has extremely high open and conversion rates—but effectiveness does not equal immunity from fatigue. The issue isn’t the channel itself; it’s how it’s used. When messaging lacks personalization or arrives too frequently, it quickly shifts from value to noise. In fact, consumers consistently indicate that fewer, more targeted messages build loyalty faster than high-volume outreach. The industry is learning that more touchpoints do not equal more engagement—often, they produce the opposite effect.
The line of best fit is where timing, relevance, and restraint intersect. The most effective retailers orchestrate messaging across channels, suppress redundant sends, and trigger communication based on real customer behavior rather than calendar cadence. The simplest advice: earn the right to message. Use data to ensure every interaction answers a customer need—whether that’s a reminder, a recommendation, or a meaningful offer—and be willing to send less, not more. Loyalty today isn’t built through frequency; it’s built through demonstrating that you understand the customer well enough to know when to speak—and when not to.
I’m shocked that this conversation didn’t immediately veer into AI. Shouldn’t AI be able to mine and sort through shopper behavior and purchases in order to help personalize marketing initiatives? Content, timing, frequency…??? And now that I said that out loud, how creepy and Orwellian could that get? Oy…nevermind.
The entire “messaging” cycle needs to be re-engineered. First, when you do order you are asked for email and phone number. Then in order to get whatever the “deal” is (free shipping, whatever) you need to opt in to messages. So then you (stupidly?) say yes, and in return for saving $5 in shipping (or whatever) you get text messages every other day.
Funny, but no I am not in the market for chinos every other week (talking to you @Bonobos) even though I just purchased a pair….crazy but I just purchased six pairs of socks so no, one week later I do not want to be hassled to use the $5 about to expire coupon you gave me after my first order (talking to you @SouthernScholar)…
Too many messages with no sense of timing and no relevance to me on a weekly/daily/hourly basis.
My guidance is to stop being so….needy. Ask your loyal shoppers to renew their desire to hear from you, and how often do they want to hear from you, then do it.
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Fatigue with retail marketing is mostly caused by irrelevance delivered too often. This makes consumers delete, mute, or unsubscribe. The real question is how retailers ensure relevance, and the answer lies in understanding customers properly, segmenting them well, and having the right technology to personalize digital marketing. As for the loyalty component: marketing can influence it, but it’s not a primary driver. In retail, true loyalty is a byproduct of a compelling and resonant proposition.
Of course, relevance is important in marketing. Anything less than relevant is annoying. (“Why am I getting this message?”) And sending too many messages is bad, too. Both of these cause customers to opt out or unsubscribe. The key is to deliver highly personalized content and have the customer’s permission to send it. Also, ask the customer how often they want to hear from you.
A brand that gets it is Nike. I have only received marketing and advertising for products similar to what I buy. I’ve bought several pairs of golf shoes. They send me updated info on golf shoes and accessories, and I’ve never received information on basketball shoes. They know their audience and deliver the appropriate messaging.
In answering this I find myself stuck between the messaging offered by two different songs: Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing At All” and Toby Keith’s “A Little Less Talk (and a Lot More Action)”; but maybe it doesn’t matter so much…it’s really the same message, isn’t it? If you don’t really have anything to say, then remain silent. All of these examples provided demonstrate a considerable lack of thoughtfulness toward being helpful.
As for personal experience – sadly it’s negative – the one that comes to mind is Capital One, which has been “official(ly)!… pleased to present” me the same usless offer for longer than I can remember.
I receive countless retailer emails every day, and most of them have absolutely nothing to do with my past purchases or any real indication of what I might want next. They feel completely random and are instantly deleted.
For all the industry talk over the years about how far email personalization has come, that hasn’t really happened, has it?
Retailers aren’t losing customers because they send too many messages. They’re losing them because they send too many unintelligent ones.
Relevance, and not frequency; is the true loyalty driver. Brands like Sephora and Amazon succeed because their messaging is behavior-led and context-aware. Too many others still blast the same “20% off” across email, SMS and social, mistaking repetition for reinforcement. When every message is urgent, none of them are.
This isn’t a channel problem but it’s an orchestration problem. Personalization isn’t about adding a first name to an email. It’s about using unified data and AI models to predict intent, suppress redundancy and deliver the next best action with discipline. If a message reduces friction or saves time, it builds trust. If it ignores timing and context, it accelerates churn.
If a message saves a customer time, it builds loyalty. If it wastes attention, it builds churn.
The brands that win won’t be louder. They’ll be smarter and more restrained.
Relevance and frequency for messaging is a good question. I may not be the target customer, but in reflecting on how brands try to remain engaged with me, I would say I see a clear distinction between those who sincerely want to help and those who want to sell more stuff. Probably the majority of customers have a similar perspective and brands should know their true intentions based on their culture. Unfortunately, marketing results may send conflicting messages because even strong marketing pressure can produce good results – suggesting that customers prefer to be bombarded with offers, but I still think this backfires in the longer-term. For decades, brands have been talking about putting the customer in the middle of their business model and serving their needs. Some have executed on this, but most have not – principally because their internal incentives are still aligned with short-term results over measuring lifetime value. This is where a solid loyalty program can be extremely powerful because it should be focused on lifetime value and not this month’s marketing campaigns. We work with about 200 loyalty programs worldwide and I would say 75% of them are still not focused on maximizing lifetime value – which in turn determines the cadence and style of short-term marketing.
We need to stop blaming ‘message fatigue’ and start addressing ‘relevance failure.’ The issue isn’t that retailers are talking too much, it’s that they are talking at the wrong time.
When a customer receives a promo for a product they bought yesterday, it doesn’t just feel automated, it makes the brand feel out of sync with its audience.
We have to move past ‘batch and blast’ workflows. True personalization isn’t just inserting a first name, it’s synchronizing messaging with real-time inventory and individual intent. If we continue to measure success through vanity metrics like open rates, we are simply optimizing our own irrelevance. Success in this era belongs to the retailers who treat every notification as an earned privilege, not a right.
Give me a personalized, relevant offer based on what I buy (or what I might like to buy) and do it a little less often than more often. At least for me, that’s the sweet spot. I’m tired of the five email a day approach for things I have no interest in!
The retailers and brands doing the best job of avoiding marketing fatigue are those that prioritize relevance over volume and treat messaging as part of the experience—not just a sales trigger. Brands like Amazon, Walmart, and digitally native players such as Nike or Sephora stand out because their communication is tied to behavior: what you browsed, what you bought, or what you’re likely to need next. That level of contextual relevance makes messaging feel helpful rather than intrusive. On the other hand, brands that rely on constant batch-and-blast email or SMS campaigns—especially those with repetitive promotions—are the ones consumers are increasingly tuning out. The data is clear: 70% of consumers have unsubscribed from brands due to excessive messaging, and many will switch brands entirely when they feel bombarded.
Yes, retailers are absolutely at risk of being too reliant on persistent messaging. The challenge is that these channels work—SMS, for example, has extremely high open and conversion rates—but effectiveness does not equal immunity from fatigue. The issue isn’t the channel itself; it’s how it’s used. When messaging lacks personalization or arrives too frequently, it quickly shifts from value to noise. In fact, consumers consistently indicate that fewer, more targeted messages build loyalty faster than high-volume outreach. The industry is learning that more touchpoints do not equal more engagement—often, they produce the opposite effect.
The line of best fit is where timing, relevance, and restraint intersect. The most effective retailers orchestrate messaging across channels, suppress redundant sends, and trigger communication based on real customer behavior rather than calendar cadence. The simplest advice: earn the right to message. Use data to ensure every interaction answers a customer need—whether that’s a reminder, a recommendation, or a meaningful offer—and be willing to send less, not more. Loyalty today isn’t built through frequency; it’s built through demonstrating that you understand the customer well enough to know when to speak—and when not to.
I’m shocked that this conversation didn’t immediately veer into AI. Shouldn’t AI be able to mine and sort through shopper behavior and purchases in order to help personalize marketing initiatives? Content, timing, frequency…??? And now that I said that out loud, how creepy and Orwellian could that get? Oy…nevermind.
The entire “messaging” cycle needs to be re-engineered. First, when you do order you are asked for email and phone number. Then in order to get whatever the “deal” is (free shipping, whatever) you need to opt in to messages. So then you (stupidly?) say yes, and in return for saving $5 in shipping (or whatever) you get text messages every other day.
Funny, but no I am not in the market for chinos every other week (talking to you @Bonobos) even though I just purchased a pair….crazy but I just purchased six pairs of socks so no, one week later I do not want to be hassled to use the $5 about to expire coupon you gave me after my first order (talking to you @SouthernScholar)…
Too many messages with no sense of timing and no relevance to me on a weekly/daily/hourly basis.
My guidance is to stop being so….needy. Ask your loyal shoppers to renew their desire to hear from you, and how often do they want to hear from you, then do it.