As an entrepreneur or a marketer, you must have been fascinated by some brands that enjoy a cult-like following. Their customers remain loyal to them for almost a lifetime and make repeat purchases whenever they want that particular product or service, regardless of its price. Such brands exist in every industry and come in various sizes and shapes.
If you want to become one such brand, then this blog post is just for you. At LoyaltyXpert, we have crafted our unique and tailored brand loyalty programs for a wide range of brands across different sectors and helped them build an exceptionally loyal customer base.
In this blog post, we have discussed the importance of brand loyalty in today’s marketing and the various ways to enhance brand loyalty to retain customers for a long time.
Importance of Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty has proved to be extremely crucial in building iconic brands and retaining customers for a long time, even for a lifetime. The below points detail how important brand loyalty is for any type of business.
1) Lower cost of acquisition
You must have known that the cost of acquiring a new customer is five to seven times more expensive than retaining a previous one. That’s where brand loyalty is extremely useful. An effective brand loyalty program can reduce the cost of acquisition of new customers by keeping the existing ones loyal for a long time and enticing them to make repeat purchases.
2) Effortless retargeting and remarketing
It’s easier to sell to existing customers than to new prospects. One recent study found that businesses are only five to 20 percent likely to sell their products or services to a new prospect while they are 60 to 70 percent more likely to sell to an existing customer.
3) Enhanced customer trust
As successful brand loyalty programs focus on delighting customers and exceeding their expectations every time, they build exceptional trust with customers. That gives them a massive competitive edge and enables them to charge a premium for their products and services than their competitors. Even after charging a premium, they tend to keep most of their customers and get consistent repeat purchases.
4) Emotional connection and commitment
The crux of brand loyalty is to build an emotional connection with customers. Think of Apple, Harley-Davidson, or any other brands that have diehard loyal customers. They have managed to build emotional connection and commitment by leveraging innovative and impactful approaches.
Ways to enhance Brand Loyalty
Various businesses have different strategies to enhance brand loyalty. But when it comes to implementing a successful program, these steps can immensely help your business.
1) Invest in a sophisticated loyalty platform
First thing first, the loyalty platform that you choose to run your brand loyalty program can mean the difference between success and failure in your business. You will get many types of loyalty solutions in the market today but not all of them can meet your unique business requirements and customer needs. But some solution providers can offer just the right loyalty software that will enable you to craft a well-designed and tailored brand loyalty program for your brand.
2) Craft tailored and robust brand loyalty programs
After choosing the right loyalty solution provider, create strategies to run an effective brand loyalty program that shows the essence of your brand and enables you to attain your objectives. When it comes to crafting successful brand loyalty programs you need to define the goals you intend to achieve from the program. A well-defined program is SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-oriented) and it leaves no room for ambiguity. Even though you take all the necessary steps to create a detailed blueprint, take all necessary steps to keep it simple and not complicate the program. Also, leverage the available data to know how customers perceive your brand and what expectations they have from you.
3) Collaborate with influencers to promote your brand
If you want to have an exceptional brand value and enjoy a premium reputation in your segment, then join hands with the right influencers who have huge followers in the industry and are highly regarded by your target customers. Unlike celebrities, influencers are considered experts in their niches. They often have a robust bond with their followers, who trust their opinions and recommendations. When you partner with the right influencer, then you have a golden opportunity to connect with their followers and build an emotional connection with them.
4) Create value
To create a successful brand loyalty program, it is indispensable to create value at every step of the customer journey. Ever wonder why some companies enjoy a cult-like following? That’s because they believe value creation is a never-ending process. They create immense value for their customers even before they try to sell them the idea or their product or service. Let’s take the example of Apple. Be its marketing collaterals or its personalized customer service, the company provides value at every step. You also need to take a leaf out of the iconic brands’ books and implement their best practices. Ensure that you understand your customers’ personas and how you can delight them. While crafting content for your website, make sure that the content and information provide value to the visitors and prospects.
5) Reward channel sales partners
The best thing about the brand loyalty program is its comprehensive and multi-pronged nature. One of the most effective ways to enhance your brand equity is by collaborating with the right channel sales partners and providing them with suitable rewards and incentives. Joining hands with the right channel partners and crafting personalized and tailored rewards for them has great benefits for a brand. It will motivate the channel partners to focus more on a particular brand over others, which will enhance the brand identity and brand equity. Also, suitably rewarding channel partners create a virtuous cycle and tend to pass the benefits to the end customers.
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6) Stay consistent
As the proverb goes, “consistency is the key to success.” Nothing can beat a consistent effort. When it comes to brand loyalty, consistency is crucial to educate customers on what the brand is all about. When a brand remains consistent in its product or service quality service, it delights customers every time and wins their trust. To get brand loyalty right, ensure that your customers enjoy the same experience with each repetitive buying. Make sure that your brand delivers the same product, experience, and promise to customers as it did the very first time.
7) Create a unique brand position
When it comes to enhancing brand loyalty, nothing can beat the unique brand position of your company. Strong brands create unique brand statements to highlight their brand values, unique selling propositions (USPs), and market position. A unique brand position communicates what makes your business unique and what value it adds to your customers’ lives. Make sure that you create a unique brand position that resonates with your target customers. Find out the things that make you different from your competitors and list out the strongest points of your brand that makes it different from the competition.
8) Customize programs
When it comes to brand loyalty programs, you can leverage a wide array of reward and incentive options to keep your customers engaged and loyal. A majority of successful brands use a broad range of options such as points programs, hybrid loyalty programs, tiered programs, fee-based loyalty programs, and many others. Using a diverse range of loyalty programs can be extremely attractive and valuable for different customers.
9) Focus on quality
Ever seen an iconic brand compromising on quality? Never! That’s because quality is the holy grail of brand loyalty. The higher the former, the greater the latter. Again, it all boils down to consistency. When a brand is consistent with its products and services quality, then it is likely to retain its customers for a long time. When it comes to creating a brand loyalty program, make sure that you are consistent with the quality of your products or services from the very beginning.
10) Create a community
Almost all iconic brands have exclusive communities for loyal customers and followers. A community will enable you to connect with customers, follow up with them, and listen to their queries and suggestions. To enhance brand loyalty, build an interactive community to encourage customer interactions as well as strengthen brand value.
Overall, it may be said
In every industry, some brands enjoy exceptional loyalty. They succeed in keeping their customers loyal despite charging a premium on their products and services. That’s the magic of brand loyalty at work! In such competitive times, robust brand loyalty can give you a massive competitive advantage and keep your customers loyal for ages. If you are looking to run a brand loyalty program, then contact our team of loyalty experts.