Cultivating Brand Loyalty

Customer loyalty has changed.

Over the last two years, the pandemic has changed the loyalty equation for brands, presenting a new set of customer needs and expectations. The pandemic has also altered how retailers connect with their customers and how shoppers engage with their favorite brands. Those who were once brand loyal are now exposed to more choices and actively seek more personalization and convenience in shopping.

Top three reasons consumers shop for a new brand

Value. Consumer prices have risen 8.6%, the highest increase since 1981. People are still spending, but optimism is starting to dip, particularly among high-income shoppers.
Brand challenge. Once loyal customers are responding to higher prices, rising debt, and financial uncertainty by shifting their budgets and shopping behaviors.
The opportunity. Deliver more value by getting a complete picture of customer wants and needs.

Availability. Supply chain disruptions meant many products and brands failed to meet customer needs and expectations, driving customers to search and try new brands out of necessity. Across categories, retailers quickly shifted their engagement strategies to understand and rapidly respond to changing consumer needs and expectations.
Brand challenge. Brand loyalty is up for grabs. The new competition is “whoever has it, the way I want it.”
The opportunity. Engage with shoppers in the moments between shopping trips to hold their attention.

Connectivity. Unprecedented growth in ecommerce drove consumers to adopt new technologies and services like curbside pickup at higher rates. Consumers are not abandoning this new normal. Curbside pickup will account for nearly 10% of total retail ecommerce over the next 3 years.
Brand challenge. Consumers expect frictionless, omnichannel shopping experiences.
The opportunity. Seamless, customer-first engagement strategies deliver connectivity, convenience, and availability.

These Challenges also bring actionable opportunities for brands

1. Get a complete picture of customer wants and needs to deliver on value. 
2. Engage with shoppers in the moments between the shopping trip to hold their attention 
3. Build customer-first strategies to deliver connectivity, convenience, and availability. 

Personalization cultivates loyalty

Personalization is the key to unlocking brand loyalty, which cannot happen without quality data. Using qualified data to inform the customer experience drives richer engagement that holds more value for the customer and more opportunities for brands.  

First-party customer data is critical to building personalization strategies that create a clean feedback loop between data and behaviors. 

Think like a publisher

Brands must start thinking like publishers to stay competitive. This means shifting the mindset from data purchaser to data maker to access the first-party data required to create best-in-class targeting strategies in the absence of third-party cookies and with upcoming changes in privacy regulation. 

Data turns customers into advocates. Deliver the fair value exchange to build permission-based customer relationships that are future-proofed to ensure you can keep the data as privacy regulation evolves. This interchange will be the only viable path to understanding customer needs and expectations in a privacy-focused world.  

In summary

• Customer loyalty has changed – Build strategies that create opportunities to get a complete picture of the customer wants and needs. 

• Personalization cultivates loyalty – First-party customer data is critical in building personalization strategies that create a clean feedback loop between data and behaviors. Richer engagement holds more value for the customer and more opportunities for brands. 

• Think like a publisher – With upcoming changes in privacy regulation, it’s time to shift mindsets from data purchaser to data maker to access first-party data in the absence of third-party cookies.  

• Data turns customers into advocates – Deliver the fair value exchange to build permission-based customer relationships that are future proofed to ensure you can preserve the data as privacy regulation evolves. 

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