A customer at a Starbucks coffee shop in Hercules, California, United States, Thursday, September 25, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Starbucks is seeing early signs that changes to its loyalty program are paying off as value-conscious consumers take advantage of its rewards, CNBC has learned.
Last month, the coffee chain brought back tiers to its North American Rewards program, added “Free Mod Mondays” for beverage customization, offered double points for using a reusable cup, and extended the deadline for members to redeem their birthday rewards. The redesign also reduced the number of stars – or points – earned per dollar spent when paying with a preloaded Starbucks gift card.
Starbucks relies on Rewards to encourage customers to come in frequently and spend more money on their drink orders. In fiscal 2025, loyalty program transactions accounted for 60% of the company’s revenue. These loyal customers are essential to the chain’s recovery; While its problems began when casual customers stopped visiting, its traffic also suffered from the loss of active Rewards members.
Now, as members adjust to the Rewards program overhaul, Starbucks is seeing early signals that customers are gravitating toward the loyalty program’s new offerings.
For example, the program’s new 60-star redemption option has become the most popular. More than a quarter of all exchanges now opt for the $2 discount on an order.
The coffee chain’s first “Free Mod Monday” more than doubled the number of points redemptions compared to its Starbucks Monday promotion earlier in the year. Cold foam with vanilla sweet cream was the preferred modification of members in the lower Green and Gold tiers, while those in the Reserve tier were more likely to add extra espresso.
And while the change in point valuation may have disappointed some customers, members took advantage of simple ways to earn more stars, like adding more money to their accounts to earn bonus points.
Hundreds of thousands of loyalty program members use their personal mugs to earn double stars on their orders. This represents a double-digit increase since the changes took effect.
Starbucks will likely share more details about the loyalty program and the company’s broader turnaround efforts during its second-quarter earnings conference call, scheduled for Tuesday after the bell.