Brands have emotional attachments for consumers because they create positive emotions like liking, trusting, and feeling secure when using their products. Loyalty is particularly strong with physical products where consumers experience the benefits of purchasing the product like comfort and happiness on their initial purchase and repeat purchase.
Loyal brands are very important to us. Understanding the psychology behind them helps you to identify their strengths and weaknesses and use them to your advantage.
Brand loyalty means a situation where consumers repeatedly purchase goods and/or services from a specific brand rather than others. It happens because people prefer certain companies’ offerings over others.
Loyalty usually comes from customer preferences, which affect it. People who choose one brand over another tend to keep buying its offerings even if they’re priced higher or less convenient than other options.
Marketing firms usually employ different types of marketing strategies to attract loyal customers by offering them rewards or discounts or by giving them free stuff.
Furthermore, companies will be able to create loyal customer bases by developing ideas for branding and involving consumers in marketing campaigns. These consumers will act as “ambassadors” who promote a particular company through social media platforms.
Types of Brand Loyalty
You will be able to understand more about the different kinds of brand loyalty.
Hard-core brand loyalty
Hardcore fans of a certain product are extremely enthusiastic about that product and only positively associate with that product. They recall the product with fondness.
A brand with hardcore loyalists will usually be distinguished by its excellent innovation in its product line such that it will impress some of its most devoted fans.
Hard-core customers can benefit from these advantages:
- Customers rarely switch from one brand to another because of minor issues.
- Customers provide feedback to organizations by telling them what they think.
- Word of mouth is the most effective way for customers to spread the news about your business.
Hard-core customers can be extremely motivating for a company.
For example, hardcore fans of Samsung phones were excited about the launch of their latest smartphone. They also believed that the new device would be better than the previous one. However, they had no idea what was coming next. In reality, not only did the new phone fail to live up to expectations, it actually failed to meet them. When the new iPhone was released, it was met with strong criticism from consumers because it was much worse than expected. This caused many loyal fans to lose faith in the company, and it took months before sales began to recover.
If you’re lucky enough to have hard-to-get loyal customers, then you might want to develop a program to encourage your regular customers to spread the word about your brand and show appreciation for their loyalty.
Split loyal customers
Split buyers refer to those who buy from multiple brands, limiting themselves to just two or three brands. They’re the best potential customer base for most companies.
Incorporating a limited nudge and encouraging such consumers to engage in their native language can help organizations convert these potential prospects into loyal ones. However, converting such prospects can be difficult because they usually have multiple options.
A single example of split royals includes American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. In particular, a consumer may have had the best experience while traveling with Delta Air Lines. Meanwhile, he or she may also have experienced good service with United Airlines and American Airline. So, the consumer won’t have any problems using any of the three airline companies for international travel.
Split Loyal Customers: The following characteristics define split loyal customers:
- Customers usually choose only the best-reviewed products in the market.
- Customers get crazy when there is just one brand available for them. They’re fine with two or three brands though.
- If you successfully identify such customers, you can turn them into hardcore fans.
Knowing which split of the loyal customer base you’re competing against helps you understand how they attract new clients and retain existing ones. As a business, you need to keep these loyal clients happy so that they become permanent members of your brand.
Shifting loyal customers
Shifts in customer loyalty are called “shifts” because there’s no single moment when a customer shifts his/her loyalty. Instead, it happens gradually over time.
One possible example of changing customers can involve the case of yogurt. In particular, customers may choose to purchase a particular brand of yogurt over an extended period, so that they can get accustomed to the taste. After they have gotten used to this taste, however, they may then try out another brand.
Thus, they will choose the second company over the original one. Interestingly enough, the customer will be faithful to both companies.
There are some differences between shifting and splitting your loyal customer base.
First, loyal customers have less loyalty than split loyalists. Secondly, when we examine the loyal customers who shift their loyalty from one brand of yogurt to another, we see that they can choose any of the two or five different types of yogurt at any given point in the future. Lastly, the customers will continue to shift their loyalty from one type of yogurt to another.
Switching customers
Switching customers aren’t loyal to any one particular product. They may switch between different products for various reasons.
For example, if a customer bought an iPhone today, and might be interested in buying an Android phone tomorrow, then he/she would probably enjoy trying out different products each time she shops.
Therefore, most new marketers focus their attention on such a customer base because they’re driven by innovation. Generally, these customers switch from one brand to another.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any specific reasons why these customers leave your business so switching them won’t be easy.
The best thing you can do against the switchers is to behave appropriately when they buy from your brand. You should attempt to elicit some sort of feeling of gratification in them through your behavior and service.
Need-based loyal customers
Customers in this group are driven towards a certain brand because they have a specific need for that product.
For example, if you provide a similar service to that which they’re looking for, then they’ll buy it from you. However, their desire for the service could come from various reasons, including a low price point, a particular requirement, or an occasion.
It may be difficult to retain these kinds of customers because they are entirely driven by convenience and they don’t really care about anything else. But you can win them over by carefully and personally treating your salespeople.
It may be true for some companies with physical shops. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can get loyal customers by offering services that they can access through an online store.
How to Build Brand Loyalty?
Marketing experts call it “loyalty.” When someone is so enamored with a product they’ll only purchase that product even if it costs them extra, no matter what.
One of your top goals should always be to develop brand loyalty. But most businesses don’t know how to achieve this consistently.
It’s difficult to build brand loyalty in today’s market where there are so many competing products available.
Today, you have to be capable of creating customer loyalty quickly, or else you’ll find yourselves simply falling behind and being overtaken by one of your rivals who will put in more effort and succeed.
The following sections will cover some tips for building customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
Maintain high-quality products
If you want to sell high-end products, you need to be sure that you’re providing top-notch service. You also need to choose a product that you believe in and that fits well into your business strategy.
Engaging customers
Keep in contact with your customers regularly and let them know about any new and interesting developments in your business. Also, tell them about your future plans.
Regular communication and enabling customers to be involved in your strategy will help establish momentum within your business.
Furthermore, you should consistently deliver the service according to your brand promise, gather valuable feedback from your customers, and improve them accordingly.
At the same time as focusing on developing an effective content marketing strategy that educates, informs, and engages your target audience, you should be focused on creating content that provides value for your visitors.
Focus on the best clients
If you want to start a successful online store, then you need to focus on establishing relationships with people who enjoy shopping at stores like yours. Once you’ve done so, you can return to selling products later.
For example, Apple has perfected the art of creating products for people who love simple, creative, and stylish design.
Offering rewards for returning customers
Everyone gets attracted to good deals.
If a returning client purchases from you again, then it would be best to give them some sort of incentive or reward for doing so. For example, they could receive a percentage off of their next order or a free gift. You should ensure that each time they return, they get the same kind of treatment.
So, in other words, the customer needs to feel confident that your business will deliver the same quality products every time they order from you.
Providing rewards for references
Rewards for loyal clients can help establish your client base quickly. They can also encourage existing clients to buy from you again.
Providing updates
As a company, you should post your company news on social media pages, such as Twitter and Facebook. It will help people think of your company as one they know well.
For example, the customers will have an even deeper insight into what your brand is doing every day.
Because of that, you will be able to appear more human to your customers. Such an appearance will help you establish better relationships with them.
Understanding the different types of brand loyalties can help companies develop effective strategies for their brands.
For example, if a company knows its strengths by having loyal clients, then splitting loyalty enables them to uncover its main competition who they’re most likely to switch from.
Conclusion: Types of Brand Loyalty
Here, we’ve discussed five different kinds of brand loyalty, and some helpful ways to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty for your business.
Brand Loyalty is a complex concept – but we’ve distilled it down into something you can easily grasp. We hope you’ve enjoyed it!
Brands that are loyal to their consumers tend to be perceived favorably by them.
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