Five Ways to Improve Brand Loyalty

Any solid relationship touches on emotions, intellect and everything in between. Loyal connections between brand and consumer work in exactly the same fashion: much more is needed than the occasional “checking in.”

Loyalty Marketing 101 tells us that loyalty begins with, for example, being able to clearly identify your customer; tracking and monitoring of behavior and purchasing; serving up the right benefit (not necessarily rewards) mix; and finding the right channels of engagement.

But forging deeper relationships—those evident among the consumers of brands such as Apple, Sephora and Starbucks—takes more insight. Creating a truly effective loyalty program, one that inspires enduring passion and devotion, requires communication, understanding, and an ongoing effort to keep things fresh.

Here are five ways to deepen the love to create more effective and engaging loyalty programs.

1. Engage the whole person. The Four-Drive Model, developed by Harvard University academics, speaks of four underlying human drives that serve as our motivation for all things in life: the drive to acquire and achieve, to bond and belong, to create and change and to defend. Marketers often satisfy the “acquire” drive through discounts and promotions, allowing customers to gain not only more products, but also higher levels of loyalty rewards and status. This tends to go hand-in-hand with the desire to “defend,” as those customers will have to keep buying to maintain benefits. Top-notch loyalty programs, however, also embrace the “create” aspect by enabling consumers to consider and help impact the world around them, as well as the “bond” drive by enabling consumers to engage and connect with each other on a real level.

2. Embrace brand alignment. Make sure that loyalty initiatives embrace the principles of, and help the brand fulfill, promises made to customers in a brand-right way. Think of Walgreens, rewarding healthy choices and actions as part of an overall focus on wellbeing. One of the biggest benefits here is that strong alignment with the brand’s unique character can’t easily be copied by a competitor. In addition, the integrity of an aligned brand fosters customer satisfaction, a sense of expectations being met, a willingness to advocate, and a tendency to repurchase. Sephora’s Beauty Insider program does this particularly well: through elements such as Beauty Before Brunch, an exclusive event for VIB Rouge members, the program experience helps deliver on the brand promise of empowering members to explore and enjoy the world of beauty.

3. 

   Consider the value exchange. It’s often easy for brands to articulate exactly what they want from their consumers: bigger basket size, repeat sales, loyalty. But it’s also important for brands to understand what consumers want—and need—from them in return at every stage of the relationship. Does the loyalty program authentically deliver against real needs? Is the loyalty program experience enjoyable in and of itself? Does it engender an emotional response from the consumer, in addition to a monetary one? Is it personalized enough that consumers feel special? An important point here: The best loyalty programs focus on completely delighting the brand’s top customers, rather than partially pleasing everyone. Think of Amazon’s new Dash Button, which allows one-touch re-orders of products for Prime members, providing an easier experience as well as added value.

   4. Remember that each sector is unique. The elements that drive customer satisfaction with loyalty initiatives are unique to each sector. In payments, for example, our research has shown that the speed with which consumers/cardholders can receive their redeemed loyalty benefits is of utmost importance. In retail, on the other hand, consumers value being “known” by the brands they purchase.

5. Build loyalty to the brand, and not just to the brand’s loyalty program. When a loyalty program leans heavily on discounts alone, a customer’s loyalty may end up being to the monetary incentive; when prices are lower elsewhere, the consumer may be lost. Intrinsically appealing elements such as status, surprise-and-delight moments, customer events, new product feedback and the like, however, may inspire allegiance to all the brand has to offer. Amex’s new Plenti coalition program sets up to potentially do the opposite for partner brands, driving member loyalty to the Plenti program itself, rather than to the partners’ brands. We’ll watch with great interest as this story unfolds.

Overlying each one of these, of course, is the ever-growing emphasis of mobile. That doesn’t mean brands should embrace mobile just for mobile’s sake. But mobile can be strategically used to improve the brand experience and foster brand loyalty. Additionally, mobile can assist in identifying customers, enabling payment options and directing customer communication to build and sustain the relationship.

To be sure, consumers—and their expectations—have changed over time. People have a way of doing that. But when a relationship is well grounded and based on trust and mutual respect, it includes some elements that also satisfy emotional needs. And that means opportunities abound for moving ahead together.

Scott Robinson is senior director, loyalty consulting & solutions, Bond Brand Loyalty.