What makes us loyal to brands?

Brand loyalty is a consumer’s preference to buy a particular brand in a product category.  It happens when consumers perceive that the brand offers the right product features, image, or level of quality at the right price. This becomes the foundation for a new buying habit. Basically, consumers will make a trial purchase of the brand and, after satisfaction, will form habits and keep purchasing the same brand because the product is safe and familiar.  Brand loyalists are committed to a brand, willing to pay a higher price for a brand over other brands, and recommend a brand to others.

Consumers must like the product in order to develop loyalty to it.  In order to convert occasional purchasers into brand loyalists, habits have to be reinforced. Consumers must be reminded of the value of their purchase and encouraged to continue purchasing the product in the future.

To encourage repeat purchases, advertising before and after the sale is important. In addition to creating awareness and promoting initial purchases, advertising shapes and reinforces consumer attitudes so these attitudes mature into beliefs, which need to be reinforced until they develop into loyalty. For example, I read once that the most avid readers of a travel ad are those who just returned from the destination. Ads reinforce a traveler’s perception and behaviour. It’s easier to reinforce behaviours than to change them, and the sale is just the beginning of an opportunity to create brand loyalty.

A few things that can be done to foster brand loyalty:

Have an unbeatable product - if you want to keep customers, make sure they can get what they want from your product.

Give customers an incentive to repeat-purchase – a chance to win a prize, in-pack discount coupon, etc.

Stand behind your product - if customers don’t trust the product, they won’t purchase it again.

Know your top buyers and treat them best of all -  I think of the 80/20 rule we learned in school: 80% of sales will come from the top 20% of customers.

Make it easier to buy your brand than competing brands - Customers appreciate convenience more than ever.

Have kick-ass customer service! - serve the customer and they will repeat-purchase again and again.  I read a book – A New Brand World – where the author, Scott Bedbury, talks about being the Brand Manager for Starbucks coffee.  Now that is a company that is all about customer service; they have quite an extensive employee training program to make sure all employees are doing their best to provide the best product and the best customer service at all times (because they know that great customer service leads to brand loyalty!).