Once upon a time, brand was perceived as being an inanimate logo. Now its understood to be the personality of a business and the thing that customers connect with. Getting your brand right is essential to ensuring that you maintain that customer connection, so building their loyalty to your brand is a key piece of business strategy. This article explores the key components to building brand loyalty with a particular focus on the US market.
Brand Loyalty
Making an emotional connection to your customer is where brand loyalty starts. Brands that have a great product or service, good customer service, product availability and range of options are more than 80% more likely to engender lasting brand loyalty.
87% of US consumers appreciate a brand rewarding them for their loyalty and 78% love to be surprised with unexpected rewards, interestingly 32% more of these were GenZ and Millennials rather than Boomers.
When it comes to loyalty programs, more than half of US consumers are into them! The majority engage for the discounts, points or rewards, whilst a third appreciate exclusive or early access to products and personalised recommendations. There are also a small percentage (16%), mostly Millennials who like to feel part of a brands community.
Conversely those that are struggling with the quality of their products and services, not meeting expectations around brand purpose, offers or promotions or have a poor customer experience online are losing their customers at an alarming rate of 33% (up 10% on 2022).
The stats around US consumer loyalty are compelling. 87% of US consumers appreciate a brand rewarding them for their loyalty. 70% frequently buy from the same company and 72% will pay more to purchase from their brand of choice, however Millennials are 48% less likely to demonstrate loyalty than Gen Z or Boomers, so that may inform which demographic segment will yield a more likely ongoing return on marketing investment.
Almost half of US consumers are very pessimistic about the rising cost of living and economic outlook, and are very conscious of an impending recession, looking to brands loyalty programs and sales calendars to support their purchasing.
It’s interesting to note the impact of consumers age upon what’s important to them. 48% of Boomers loyalty is driven by the quality of a brands products or services, whereas Millennials really aren’t bothered! What Millennials really care about is your customer service, support and efforts to build a relationship with them, the availability and range of your products, your offers, promotions and loyalty programme, your brand purpose and how good your mobile app or website are.
Ensuring that all of your customer touchpoints are as friction-free as possible is critical. 72% of US consumers surveyed stated the importance of a brand’s website and mobile app in encouraging their repeat custom. 27% said that a poor mobile app or website experience had caused them to move their brand allegiance elsewhere.
The US Consumer Trends Index from Marigold and Econsultancy reported that 59% of US consumers felt that gaming and gambling companies provided an excellent online customer experience. Whilst this is a fairly solid performance, it also demonstrates that there’s definite room for improvement and with those placing bets online increasing 6% YoY from last year (to 18%) and more American markets opening, up its never been more important to get your online interface looking and functioning at its best.
RCA are experts in user experience and interface design. If you’re not sure how yours is performing, we can do some analysis for you and look at optimisation options. Drop us a line to hello@randomcolouranimal.com to discuss this further.
*All stats courtesy of the 2023 US Consumer Trends Index from Marigold and Econsultancy.
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