#Brand loyalty. People speak of it in the hushed and reverent tones often reserved for religious practices. Or meals in five-star restaurants. But what is brand loyalty, really? Is it deserving of this level of devotion? The answer: It depends. Because there are two types of loyalty. And only one of em deserves the high fives. There is loyalty due to a lack of choice or due to pure convenience. In other words, if your brand is the only game in town or the only game in MY town, well, then Im loyal but only because without you I would have nothing. The subtext here is: I am with you because you are convenient. In other words, there was no one else to turn to. The other kind of loyalty (and, drum roll, this is the one we strive for as brand strategists) is loyalty as a result of commitment. I am with you because I really love you. In other words, you are the only one for me. You are my Valentine. So, its fairly obvious that the kind of loyalty we want for our brands is the latter, right? Loyalty due to choice, not loyalty due to lack of choice. Lets add something to this mix to make it even more meaningful. If you are a brand person, you have probably at some point in your life come across a market research study about your brand. Consumer or client reactions to questions posed by (hopefully) professional market researchers. And you may have had the experience of seeing a glowing report from a market research agency that says things like: Brand awareness for your brand is very high. More than 75% of those surveyed recognized your brand. Brand satisfaction for your brand is high. More than 71% of those surveyed said they are satisfied or very satisfied. The person receiving this report probably did a cartwheel (or the corporate equivalent -- a high five at the water cooler, perhaps?) because he or she (or you) felt really good about these results. High brand awareness, high satisfaction. But ask yourself this difficult question: Do either of these statements say ANYTHING about brand loyalty? And for bonus points, try this one: If another brand were to enter the market, how many of your customers would switch from your widget to the new widget plus? This is exactly why loyalty is a measure that far outweighs awareness and satisfaction. Because the truth is that brand awareness and brand satisfaction are very poor predictors of human behavior. They do not address the question, What if there were a wider choice available to you? What would you do? So the real question to be asking is about loyalty. For example, If another widget were to be available in the market and it had the exact same features and cost $15 less, how likely would you be to buy that widget? And the follow up, Would you consider staying with our widget even if it is more expensive? Why or why not? That is where the insight will come from -- the why question. If your customer is genuinely loyal to your brand, there will be an emotional attachment that cannot be broken even with a price decrease. The stronger your brand, the deeper the attachment and the lower the likelihood of price sensitivity. Awareness and satisfaction are nice. Loyalty is the key to success. And must be earned. Every day. By meeting (and hopefully exceeding) your promise to your customer. As customers, we are loyal to those brands that we believe stand out among the crowd. They stand out because of what they represent to us. The brand values align with our own. None of this is possible unless..... (drum roll) ....the brand is radically differentiated! Loyalty and radical differentiation go hand in hand. Theyre BFFs.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 11:22:03 +0000
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