Brand loyalty refers to a form of positive association that a customer has with a brand. It can be thought of as a feeling of trust and friendliness that brings a customer back to a brand. 

Customers who are loyal to brands always come back to make more purchases. They don’t do that just for themselves, though. These people also help the brand by increasing the brand’s awareness. They do that by telling more people about the brand. 

You may have done it yourself, too. There must be times when you really liked how a pen smoothly glided on your paper. You must have told your friends and colleagues about this pen. 

But, you’d only tell people about this pen if it has really satisfied you. This is what brands should aim towards. They should use the best industry practices to be able to satisfy more people. 

We have mentioned such practices that you may use for your brand. We have also discussed why it’s important to have brand loyalty. 

What is Brand Loyalty? 

Brand loyalty refers to the trust that a customer has in the brand. It’s not only about the brand’s image, but also about the brand’s products. It’s about more than just knowing that a brand is good. 

You’ve heard many good things about brands like Nike or Adidas. So, you may have a certain idea that their products may be good because many people like them. But, you’d contribute to the loyalty for these brands only when you’d use their products yourself. You’d give these brands this loyalty when you’d satisfied with their services. 

You may think that brand and customer loyalty are alike. There are differences in these terms, though. Customer loyalty is more about how customers are spending their money. It’s more about what a brand can offer to a customer at discounted prices or as incentives. 

Whereas, brand loyalty is more about how a customer feels about the brand and how they perceive a particular brand. You may work a lot for customer loyalty by offering many types of discounts, sales, and coupons. Even then, you’d need to work more to gain the trust of your customers. 

Here are some ways you may maintain loyalty for your brand. 

• Be consistent: You’ll gain the trust of your customers when you’re consistent with the quality of your products. With consistency, you should also aim to improve. 

• Always listen: Read the reviews and feedback. Find out what impressed people and what they didn’t like or enjoy. 

• Know the trends: Keeping up with the trends will let you know what ways you can attract more people. Participate in those trends that have a positive impact on your brand and for the world too. 

• Provide quality products: No compromise here, your customers deserve the best. Make sure you give them the best. 

Importance Of Brand Loyalty

Before understanding the importance of loyalty for a brand, let’s look at factors that influence a brand’s loyalty. Knowing these factors would help you make changes in your system. Once you’ll make these necessary changes, you’ll have a higher loyalty. 

Here’s a list of these factors. 

• Brand Image: Your brand image should be customer-friendly. People should see you as an approachable brand. You should show your achievements to people as well as some of your flaws. 
• Customer Psychology: Obviously, your loyalty is affected by what the customers think of you. No two customers are alike. Everyone thinks and choose differently. 
• Perceived Value: If your customers feel that your products have a good value, there would be some loyalty. You may increase it by providing the customers with seasonal discounts and offers. 
• Availability and Costs: Customers will get your products if they’re easily available to them and at a decent price. 

When you pay attention to these factors, you’d have better brand loyalty. The better it is, the better you’ll be than your competitors. You’d have a competitive advantage for your brand. 

Many brands notice that if there’s a high loyalty among consumers, then they’ll keep on purchasing the products from them. If you’ve such frequent purchasers, they won’t easily be swayed by other brands in the market. 

These frequent purchases by your customers mean that you’d have higher sales of your products. But, you won’t just increase your sales, you’ll have a larger customer base too. 

Those that are loyal to your brand may be able to influence other people as well. It may be through word of mouth or by becoming a brand ambassador for you. You can ask some of your customers to become ambassadors for you, they’d do it with pleasure because they’re satisfied with your services. 

Brand Loyalty in Marketing 

Loyalty in marketing essentially refers to those practices that help customers in gaining trust in a brand. These efforts and practices help the brand in maintaining a long term relationship with its customers. Loyalty in marketing may include efforts like providing customers with gifts, discounts, or exclusive access. 

Brand loyalty in marketing helps a company in retaining its highly valued customers. They know that people who regularly shop from them would continue to do so. Hence, they pay more attention to these people than the guest shoppers. 

The marketing efforts allow a brand to know more about its consumers. The brand learns about their interests and common behaviours. By learning about these things, they can give a more personalized shopping experience to the consumers. 

As mentioned above, these brands get more loyalty as people start talking about them. Brand loyalty in marketing helps the brands in having more customers than just some repeated ones. 

Brands can use several marketing tactics to have more loyalty. These tactics include the use of social media, email marketing, and PPC. 

• Social Media: You may use different social media platforms as a way to communicate effectively with your customers. You’ll be able to interact with them and listen to their concerns.  

• EmailAn email (or electronic mail) is a method of exchanging communications through the internet. It is one of the most used features on the web and the number one mean... Marketing: You can use the data to make personalized emails and send them to your most frequent customers. Make sure you include all important bits of information in these emails. Add some value for your customers in the emails. 

• Pay Per Click: Pay Per Click Ads may be used as a cost-effective method to build your loyalty. You can use your loyalty data in your PPC ads. This way, you’ll be able to send targeted ads to your consumers. Through these ads, they’ll get to your landing page and make more sales. 

The Best Brand Loyalty Examples

Here are some examples of loyalty in brands. 

• Starbucks: Everyone knows that Starbucks is a huge name in the coffee business. The brand didn’t make its name by not paying attention to its customers. The brand uses the “My Starbucks Rewards program” to have a bigger customer base. People can also get free refills on their filter coffee by using the brand’s mobile app. 

• Dunkin’ Donuts: Dunkin’ Donuts started out years ago as a small diner. In this diner, people could get something sweet to eat and coffee on the side. Today, the franchise is a huge success. The brand has outlets in many parts of the world.
  People can use the app to order any kind of donuts that they like. The customers can also use the DD Perks membership to get some offers. 

• Nike: For Nike, their biggest customer base includes athletes. So, Nike always tries to do more for these customers. One of their renowned brand ambassadors Michael Jordan helped the brand in making many sales and attracting many more customers. This all happened when people saw Jordan wearing Nike’s shoes and believed that they were a part of his good gameplay. 

• Apple: Apple has brand loyalty like no other brand. You’d find that many Apple users come back to Apple only, once they’ve used its products. People only want to upgrade their iPhone with the latest version of the iPhone. Apple products are also user friendly and have a beautiful design and interface. 

• Ben & Jerry’s: Ben & Jerry’s is a world-famous ice cream brand. To become a more loyal brand for their customers, they offer them various flavours. There are many types of flavours that you can choose from when it comes to Ben & Jerry’s. 

Tips and Best Practices

If you think that brand loyalty works one way, then you’re wrong. You can’t just expect your customers to be loyal to your brand just like that. Your customers want some things in return for you. 

Building that trust may be easy at first, but you need to give your best if you want to keep that trust forever. You’ll only be able to do that if you use some best practices and tips in your loyalty program. 

Following are some tips you may use to build this loyalty for your brand. 

1. Be Ethical: Nowadays, being ethical and moral would get you really for in a customer’s eyes. You shouldn’t engage in behaviours that are ethically wrong and those that may damage your reputation. Be responsible in your actions if you want to grow your brand loyalty. 
2. Maintain Your Website: The web design of your website is important for loyalty. Your customers should be able to navigate well on your website. Pay attention to the searches and other little details when you’re building your website. Add all the relevant information about a product, so the customers know its features. 
3. Listen To Feedbacks: Doesn’t matter whether you’re a big brand or a small one, there’ll be many feedbacks you’ll get. You’re allowed to be happy about the good ones. With that, you should pay more attention to the bad ones. It’ll help you know about the positive changes you can bring to your company policies. 
4. Be Authentic: If you’re thinking, “How can my brand be more authentic?” don’t just think about it. Do it and show it in your actions. Deliver your promises to your customers. Your brand’s customer service should be commendable and it should get positive reviews from people. 

In Conclusion

There are many brands that you can get coffee from, but there’s one that you always get from. You get coffee from this brand because you like them. You know that they’re good at what they do. This is how you contribute to brand loyalty. 

When you frequently purchase a brand’s product, you increase that brand’s loyalty. You help the brand expand its business and become more aware among people. 

Brands have to listen to their customers and be consistent with their services. They have to be ethical in their practices to have more loyalty. Today, brands can use many social media platforms to have more loyalty. Through these platforms, they can communicate with their consumers. 

When they use proper communication tools like Instagram or Twitter, they become aware of what people think about them. In many ways, it helps them improve their ways for the better. 

What tactics do you use for having brand loyalty? Do you take inspiration from bigger brands? Did you like the tips we mentioned? Tell us in the comments below!