“Brands should always be thinking about ways to show gratitude to their customers,” said Elery Pfeffer, Nift Networks’ founder and CEO.
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Every retailer aspires to convert new customers into loyal advocates. However, when marketing budgets are allocated, customer acquisition typically receives the lion’s share while loyalty efforts remain underfunded. A recent CMO survey of 300 senior marketing executives revealed that the typical B2C product business dedicates 34% more resources to acquiring new customers than to deepening relationships with existing ones. For companies generating most of their revenues online, acquisition budgets can be as much as 50% higher.
This imbalance is difficult to justify. Research consistently shows that new prospects convert at rates between 5% and 20%, compared to 60% to 70% for existing customers. Consequently, a dollar invested in customer loyalty and retention is likely to yield four to six times more revenue. Bain describes companies that overspend on acquisition at the expense of existing customers as “chasing their tail.” Bain’s research underscores why: increasing retention by just 5% can elevate profits by as much as 95%.
Nift seeks to bridge this gap by leveraging one company’s acquisition budget to fuel another’s loyalty program. Essentially, Nift’s model rewards customers of one brand with a gift from a non-competing company. The gift encourages discovery of the new brand while strengthening the customer’s connection to the one they already trust—creating a win-win scenario.
“The company donating the gift gains access to the other’s best customers—and the presenting brand deepens loyalty with its own customers through a surprise-and-delight thank-you gift,” explained Nift founder and CEO Elery Pfeffer. He noted that the two companies do not compete, allowing the exchange to support each partner’s strategy—customer acquisition for one, loyalty for the other.
Pfeffer characterizes Nift as the keystone—the central connecting piece that transforms one brand’s investment in customer acquisition into loyalty gains for the other. A company partner may participate on both sides of Nift’s network: delivering thank-you gifts to its own customers while funding gifts for another company.
Over 15,000 Partners Delivering 50 Million Gifts Monthly
Nift launched in 2015 in Boston, delivering thank-you gifts for approximately 10 local businesses—Nift stands for “Neighborhood Gifts,” and its official name is Nift Networks. Today, the company distributes more than 50 million thank-you gifts each month across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia, supported by a network of over 15,000 partners.
Financial service providers such as Klarna, Afterpay, Zip, Cash App, and Clearpay in the U.K. have embraced the model, alongside major consumer apps and services including iHeartMedia, GasBuddy, Planet Fitness, ParkMobile, and Life360.
Retailers ranging from Dell and Footlocker to Wine Insiders and Fabletics participate, while brands such as Sam’s Club, HelloFresh, Disney+, Scentbird, Allbirds, Chewy, Firstleaf, and thousands of local restaurants fund and fulfill gifts for Nift’s partners.
Still privately held, Nift has secured $19.5 million in venture capital from Spark Capital, Accomplice, and Foundry. In 2024, it ranked number 109 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list of fastest-growing technology companies, recognizing its 1,111% revenue growth from 2020 to 2023. Pfeffer noted that rapid growth continues, with revenues doubling over the past year.
The Loyalty Connection
In its early days, Pfeffer observed that most loyalty programs adhered to the same template—points, tiers, discounts, and cross-sell offers that often feel transactional. “They are largely based on points and discounts that are essentially a cross-sell,” he said. “And because loyalty programs are chronically underfunded, we asked why not take somebody else’s advertising budget and turn it into your loyalty budget through a gift.”
Here is how Nift operates. A partner sends a gift notification to a customer at a moment when expressing gratitude or acknowledging engagement is appropriate—during checkout, following a review, upon completing a payment, or after an app download. Nift has identified 15 to 20 ideal “thank you” moments, such as when a financial services customer makes several on-time payments or a gym member reaches a personal milestone.
When a customer receives the gift notification, they click through to the GoNift.com site, answer a few questions about their interests across categories like restaurants, fashion, entertainment, and more, and are presented with two matching gift options based on their preferences. The customer selects one—a gift might be a $30 gift certificate, trial membership, or other meaningful thank-you—and receives a Nift certificate, typically redeemable within 30 days.
The outcome is straightforward: the customer feels valued by the gifting company. Nift’s model aligns with what brands indicate they require. In Loyalty360’s “State of Customer Loyalty” survey of 160 brand marketers, 73% expressed interest in enhanced personalization to improve their loyalty program; 64% were exploring new reward options, such as experiences; 46% were considering brand-to-brand partnerships; and 42% were interested in surprise-and-delight rewards.
Conversely, Nift reports that its gift-funding partners achieve 2.5X greater returns on cost per customer acquisition compared to traditional channels. For example, wine retailer Wine Insiders grew new-customer volume by 151% in six months with Nift, and participating restaurants average three Nift-driven customers per location per day.
Fabletics participates on both sides of the model. “We partnered with Nift because we’re always looking for fresh ways to attract new customers while strengthening brand engagement,” said Michael Gorodetskiy, Fabletics vice president of growth.
“The performance-based model has allowed us to scale efficiently, increasing membership signups and driving new order volume and retention while keeping our brand experience front and center,” he continued.
Nift’s Secret Ingredient—Gratitude
Forrester principal analyst John Pedini describes customer loyalty strategy as both an art and a science. Brands, he noted, continue to invest in the science—technology, rewards, and promotions—because these elements have easily measurable KPIs. However, they frequently overlook what genuinely creates differentiated experiences, personalized engagement, and emotional loyalty.
“The ‘art’ of loyalty requires a different focus on getting members to feel something, and that outcome demands a different mindset, skill set, and resource commitment,” he observed.
This is the gap Nift aims to fill. Pfeffer contends that gratitude—not points or discounts—is the emotional connection that most loyalty programs lack. “When brands think of their busiest season coming up, they focus on how much money they can generate and aggressively promoting their brand,” Pfeffer shared.
“But companies also should think about expressing gratitude to the customers that make it all possible. My experience is that gratitude comes back around. Brands should always be thinking about ways to show gratitude to their customers,” he concluded.
