A bookstore faced the crisis hitting independent retail globally. Online giants offered lower prices, faster delivery, and infinite selection. The owners couldn’t compete on product, so they stopped trying. However, instead of giving up, they transformed their space into a community hub where readers gathered to belong, demonstrating how modern customer engagement software can help brands track and nurture these valuable relationships.
They hosted poetry nights, author signings, and a Thursday book club. Within six months, revenue climbed 40% from becoming indispensable to their community. This demonstrates how customer engagement software enables brands to track and reward community participation, proving that loyalty rewards program software isn’t the only path to retention.
The Community Marketing Imperative for 2025
According to CreatorLabz research, brands with active online communities experience a 53% higher customer loyalty rate. Furthermore, one engaged community member equals 234 social media followers in terms of engagement.
Community-driven marketing creates spaces where customers connect around shared values. Notably, 62% of Gen Z shoppers prefer sustainable brands, signaling customers want to align with brands whose values match their own.
How Customer Engagement Software Creates Third Spaces That Build Belonging
Third spaces, places that aren’t home or work where people gather freely, have become powerful brand-building opportunities. Run clubs, supper clubs, craft workshops. These activations turn transactions into experiences.
Adidas capitalized on this through its Adidas Runners program, offering members exclusive events and gamified systems. The key is authenticity. Importantly, community spaces succeed when brands genuinely invest in creating value, not just extracting attention.
User-Generated Content as Community Voice
When community members create content about your brand, they’re reinforcing their membership in a community they value. Quality alone doesn’t inspire advocacy. Instead, belonging does.
A cosmetics brand launched a campaign inviting customers to share their skincare routines using a branded hashtag. As a result, within weeks, thousands of posts appeared, creating social proof more powerful than any paid ad. Engagement rates tripled.
Using customer analytics tools helps brands identify their most engaged community members and amplify their voices, measuring the impact on repeat purchases and overall customer loyalty.
Shared Values Turn Buyers Into Advocates
Community-driven marketing works because it aligns with human behavior. We gather around shared values, not transactions. Moreover, B2C consumers are four to six times more likely to buy from purpose-driven brands.
According to Sprinklr’s 2025 research, Loyalty rewards program software integrates with customer engagement software, rewarding not just purchases but community participation agree that a loyalty program affects the likelihood of continuing business with a brand.
Loyalty rewards program software integrates with customer engagement software, rewarding not just purchases but community participation and content creation. By implementing these strategies, brands create experiences that strengthen bonds across all touchpoints. Unified commerce solutions enable consistent community experiences whether customers engage online, in-store, or through mobile.
Customer Engagement Software: Action Checklist
First, define what you stand for: Articulate your brand values clearly and ensure every team member can explain them.
Next, create gathering spaces: Host events or workshops that give customers reasons to connect, building lasting customer loyalty.
Then, empower user-generated content: Invite customers to share their stories and celebrate their contributions publicly. Deploy customer analytics tools to identify and amplify your best brand advocates.
Listen and respond: Engage in real conversations through social media and feedback channels. Implement customer engagement software to maintain consistent engagement at scale.
Measure beyond transactions: Track community engagement metrics like event attendance and content shares alongside sales data. Use loyalty rewards program software to reward community participation systematically.
Call to Action
Retail growth in 2025 won’t come from louder advertising.
It will come from brands that build communities where customers feel they belong. By shifting from transactional to relational, you turn buyers into advocates.
Ready to optimize your brand for community-driven growth? Discover how loyalty rewards program software combined with customer analytics tools can transform your customer relationships into measurable business growth.
