+91-9355000192
Login
How Shukran Used WhatsApp to Make Loyalty More Personal, One Conversation at a Time
GCC’s largest multi-brand loyalty program moves beyond email, SMS, and push to WhatsApp journeys that drive higher engagement, more omni-channel shopping, and a more complete customer database.
Shukran
~60%
~20%
~60%
Transforms Loyalty Program Engagement with Gupshup Conversation Cloud
For a long time, loyalty programs were built around a simple exchange: spend, earn, redeem. That model still has its place, but members today expect more. They expect a program that knows who they are, recognises what matters to them and shows up at the right moment, not one that treats everyone the same. That is the thinking behind Shukran’s move to four tiers, and it shapes how we choose channels too. Email, SMS and push gave us a strong foundation. Gupshup has helped us bring WhatsApp into the mix across our brands and countries, working alongside our other channels instead of competing with them.
About Shukran
Shukran is the 20+ years old loyalty program of Landmark Group, spanning 10+ brands across the GCC. It rewards members across fashion, home, beauty, and lifestyle brands. The program moved from a traditional earn-and-burn model to a four-tier structure (Classic, Silver, Gold, and Platinum) based on recency, frequency, and monetary value. Its core goal is to move members up the tiers, driving more transactions and revenue per customer.
The Challenge
A loyalty program that needed a channel members would actually respond to
Shukran’s communication relied on email, SMS, and push notifications. As the program scaled across tiers, brands, and countries, these gaps became clear:
- Low engagement on traditional channels. Moments that matter most to members, like birthdays and exclusive tier events, were not getting the response they deserved.
- Incomplete customer data. Shukran identifies members by mobile number rather than email address, so many profiles were missing email IDs and other details, limiting personalization and reach.
- Push had a limited role. The Shukran app is built to inform rather than to transact, so push notifications could only play a minor part in driving action.
- Moving members up the tiers needed more than broadcasts. Growing members from Classic to higher tiers required timely, personal engagement at scale.
Shukran needed a channel that could deliver personal, timely messages and help close data gaps along the way.
The Solution
WhatsApp journeys built around the member’s moments and tier
Shukran partnered with Gupshup to bring WhatsApp into the key moments of the member journey, with timely, personal and automated journeys.
- Engage members across key moments of the customer lifecycle. WhatsApp now carries engagement touchpoints across the member journey, from birthdays and exclusive tier events like Platinum Days to points and offer nudges.
- Personalize the moments that matter. Timing proved critical. Early tests that reached members weeks before their birthday saw click rates of 2% to 3%, while messages sent during the birthday week lifted click rates to 5% to 7%.
- Close the data gap through conversation. Automated WhatsApp journeys collect missing email IDs, strengthening the customer database that every other campaign depends on.
- Prove the impact. Revenue impact is tracked by comparing target groups against control groups.
Powered by Gupshup Conversation Cloud, campaigns run across 8 GCC countries, scaling from 2 to 4 million messages in a typical month to upto 10 million messages during the festive and sales seasons.
Looking ahead, Shukran is exploring two-way WhatsApp conversations that let members check their points balance and tier benefits instantly.. The team is also planning profile updates directly in WhatsApp, where members can update their date of birth, nationality, gender, and email through a simple menu, with changes syncing back to the CRM to build a complete customer database. An internal AI agent connected to Gupshup APIs is also in development, delivering conversational experiences with automatic handover to live agents when needed.
For us, WhatsApp is the start of a bigger shift from sending messages to having conversations. We are exploring two-way experiences where members can check their points and tier benefits, and update details like their date of birth, nationality, gender, and email through a simple menu. Those updates will sync straight back to our CRM, so our database gets more complete with every interaction. We are also building an AI agent connected to Gupshup APIs, with automatic handover to a live agent when needed. Together, this will make Shukran feel more personal and more complete for every member.
The Success
Higher engagement, more omnichannel shopping, and a stronger customer database
WhatsApp delivered a clear step up over traditional channels:
- 50% to 60% higher engagement on birthday campaigns compared with email, SMS, and push
- 10% to 20% increase in omnichannel behavior, with members shopping online alongside stores
- 50% to 60% growth in points and offer redemptions among members whose email IDs were captured through WhatsApp journeys
With WhatsApp and AI, Shukran is building a loyalty experience that stays personal, complete, and conversational at GCC scale.
WhatsApp has become a core channel in how we engage Shukran members. Compared to SMS, our members open more, click more and move further down the conversion funnel. Connected to our CRM and marketing automation, every message is triggered by real customer behaviour, from points earned and points about to expire to tier upgrades and birthdays, and personalised by language, tier and shopping habits. It lets us speak to each member as an individual, at scale.
Solution
Marketing
Channel
Industry
Retail & Ecommerce
WhatsApp has become a key channel for driving member engagement and delivering more personalized experiences across Shukran. We have implemented WhatsApp bots and carousel campaigns to make interactions more engaging, while enabling brand-specific and partner-led communication across our ecosystem. We have also executed event-based WhatsApp campaigns with partners like ADCB to drive co brand credit card engagement and strengthen customer participation. These initiatives are helping us move beyond traditional messaging towards more interactive, relevant, and seamless customer experiences.
