November marks the height of customer attention. Singles’ Day kicks it off, 11.11 dominates the middle, and Black Friday closes the month, a full season of deals that tests how well brands can hold attention beyond discounts.
Discounts may capture attention, yet only meaningful engagement earns commitment. Smart brands treat this season as more than a sales rush; it’s a chance to understand behaviors, reward intent, and turn brief excitement into enduring connection.
In this edition, we unpack:
- How brands transform November deals into ongoing loyalty
- The synergy between short-term incentives and long-term retention
- Practical insights for making every promotion a step toward stronger relationships
This is the month when loyalty is tested, and the brands that listen, learn, and adapt will be the ones customers remember when the sales end. Let’s look at customer engagement from different sides, and see cases that worked and didn’t!
Customer attention is the most valuable asset as the year draws to a close, yet it’s also the hardest to hold.
Despite brands investing more in loyalty initiatives, loyalty itself is slipping. According to E-Marketer, 74% of shoppers switched brands in the past year, with price sensitivity and experience gaps leading the shift.
This shows a widening gap between loyalty as a strategy and loyalty as a feeling.
Customers are engaging, but not committing: exploring deals, testing promises, and moving on when expectations fall short.
As November unfolds, the real advantage lies not in offering more, but in understanding why people stay!
Beyond Discounts: Co-Creating Real Customer Engagement
As brands fight to keep attention this November, the smartest ones are learning that loyalty isn’t just earned with points , it’s built through participation.
Co-creation loyalty programs are emerging as a powerful way to engage customers. Instead of one-sided rewards, brands like Nike, IKEA, and Spotify are giving customers a seat at the table; shaping experiences, designing rewards, and creating shared value.
When customers help shape the journey, loyalty becomes more than retention, it becomes recognition.
Fan-designed products, community-led initiatives, and interactive digital experiences show how co-creation drives deeper, more emotional engagement.
It turns audiences into advocates, strengthens connection, and ensures that loyalty lasts beyond seasonal promotions.
Want to see co-creation in action and explore practical strategies? Read the full story.
Co-Creation Loyalty Programs: The Future of Customer Engagement| Kaizen Technology
NEWS FROM THE LOYALTY WORLD
- H&M’s #HMxME: Customers as Brand Advocates
Fashion is personal…A way to express who we are and tell our own story. H&M’s #HMxME campaign taps into this, turning style into a shared conversation. By encouraging shoppers to showcase their looks on social media with #HMxME, H&M reconnects fashion with its power to communicate and connect.
The result? Customers become part of the brand story, not just recipients of it. H&M features user-generated content across its website, social channels, and even in-store displays, turning everyday shoppers into brand advocates and amplifying authenticity.
Why this drives engagement and captures attention?
- Social Proof. Seeing real customers in real outfits inspires new shoppers and strengthens community.
- Affiliate Boost. In 2025, H&M enhanced affiliate marketing for #HMxME, offering up to 7% commission and a 30-day cookie window, letting influencers and creators monetize content naturally while driving engagement.
- Emotional Loyalty. Participation feels rewarding because it’s public and recognized, creating an emotional connection beyond points or perks.
And when Singles’ Day arrived in 2025 H&M seamlessly combined this storytelling approach with bold digital engagement. The brand rolled out up to 70% off across trending categories, collaborated with local influencers to curate Singles’ Day looks, and optimised its mobile-first experience to handle massive online traffic.
The impact was instant: record-breaking sales, app downloads soaring, and #HMxME posts flooding social feeds. By blending purpose-driven participation with smart retail timing, H&M turned a shopping event into a celebration of individuality — and a masterclass in emotional engagement!
https://hmgroup.com/our-stories/hm-group-taking-steps-to-grow-the-customer-experience-through-tech/
- L’Oréal: Precision Engagement for Singles’ Day in China
As luxury and beauty brands always watch the November calendar, L’Oréal showed how to use the festival of 11.11 in China as more than a discount sprint. It became a focused engagement engine!
The strategy included:
- Exclusive skincare and anti-aging bundles crafted specifically for Singles’ Day shoppers.
- Flash sales timed to generate spikes of interest and urgency.
- Live-streaming sessions to showcase product benefits in real time and engage audiences directly.
L’Oréal out-performed many peers online, leveraging live commerce and data-driven targeting to capture new audiences and deepen existing relationships.
And while exact 2025 Singles’ Day bundle stats are scarce, Reuters noted that Alibaba flagged L’Oréal as one of the brands selling over 100 million Yuan of merchandise in the first hour of the 2025 shopping period.
This shows that when brands combine: experiential formats (live-streaming), product innovation (bundles), and data-driven engagement (personalisation), they engage customers in the right way, and grab customer attention like no other!
- Deciem is Urging Customers to Slow Down
November is the month of deals! From 11.11 Singles’ Day across Asia to 1–11 November sales in Türkiye and Black Friday madness in the U.S. and Europe, brands compete for attention with bigger, louder, faster offers.
But Deciem (the parent company of The Ordinary, Hylamide, and NIOD) chose a different path. For yet another year, it closed its website and stores for a “moment of nothingness,” urging customers to shop slowly, mindfully, and only for what they truly need.
Rather than joining the rush, Deciem extended its discounts throughout the entire month of November, proving that calm can be just as captivating as chaos.
This marks the 7th anniversary of Deciem’s boycott… and yes, it still turns heads. Even with the website down, Deciem keeps the conversation alive, inviting customers to embrace its signature “Slowvember” mindset: pause, reflect, and shop with intention.
https://www.deciemchatroom.com/deciem-black-friday-sale/
TIP OF THE MONTH
Loyalty Tip of the Month: Turn Tiers into Stories
Loyalty is about the journey customers take with your brand!
Tiered storytelling transforms memberships into experiences, giving Bronze members a sense of beginning, Silver members insider access, and Gold members VIP recognition. Each tier becomes a chapter in a story your customers can live.
Why it works? People love progression, achievement, and narratives they can relate to.
- Craft tier names, visuals, and rewards that reflect a clear journey.
- Celebrate milestones with messages like, “You’ve unlocked Insider status!”
- Use storytelling in emails, app notifications, and in-store signage to make each level meaningful.
The result: your loyalty program becomes more than a structure…It becomes a story your customers want to continue.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7384181620792086528
INSIGHT OF THE MONTH
When the discounts end, does your relationship with customers end too?
Research shows that 70% of retailers use Black Friday to attract new customers, yet only a fraction manage to keep them engaged once the discounts fade.
Meanwhile, 46% of consumers say exclusive deals are what motivates them to join a loyalty program, but sustained engagement takes more than short-term perks.
The real power of this shopping season lies in what comes after the checkout. Every transaction is a data point, an insight into what customers want, how they shop, and when they engage. Brands that use this data to personalize experiences, offer early access, and gamify their loyalty programs turn fleeting attention into meaningful relationships.
This November, attention may be easy to win, but loyalty belongs to the brands that make shopping feel personal, rewarding, and worth coming back to.
Read more: Black Friday Loyalty Strategies | Kaizen
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