Brand loyalty and neuromarketing

Like most of the ideas and assumptions we were used to before the digital age, the meaning and scope of “loyalty” have changed considerably.

Some even argue that brands should stop chasing “loyalty” altogether, for all sorts of reasons, from big investments that never paid off to loyalty programs that failed to grow sales.

Until recently, loyalty meant little more than repeat purchases, ideally regular and as frequent as possible, and that was that.

The idea was almost entirely transactional, as in loyalty programs where you buy 9 and get the 10th free, or in discount coupons.

In principle, both sides (brands & consumers) were satisfied and ready to start the next cycle on the same basis, in the same format, with little to set it apart.

The truth is that in the digital age, “loyalty” has taken on new meanings and a much broader scope, and brands now need a different response.

In the digital age, the idea of “loyalty” has come to mean things that differ greatly from the goals of an era when brands and consumers related to each other mainly in person.

Not anymore! There are growing signs that consumers are no longer fully satisfied with the old model and increasingly expect something more than a transaction.

Consumers increasingly associate “loyalty” with brands that deliver a memorable experience, consistently over time, and above all add more value to the relationship.

But how do you “deliver” a better experience? What should brands focus on so that the experience meets these new expectations and turns into the “loyalty” they’re after?

The idea is to go beyond transactions and turn consumers into brand “advocates,” brand “lovers” and brand “promoters.”

These are the consumers who defend, talk up and promote the brand to friends, coworkers, family and (above all) on social media.

They’re consumers who, in return for the experience they’ve had and in appreciation of the product or service they bought, spontaneously praise the brand, spread the word and say good things about it.

In other words, this newer kind of “loyalty” exists, and is earned, when consumers go beyond simply buying and naturally become active, taking concrete, spontaneous actions on the brand’s behalf.

Instead of the conventional one-to-one effect, what you get is one-to-hundreds, thousands or even millions, thanks to the exponential reach of social media.

There are essentially three things brands should aim for to give consumers a better, more memorable experience: relevance, utility and purpose.

Relevance means knowing the consumer journey, making people’s decisions easier and offering what you already know interests them, using big data as the foundation.

Think of Amazon or Netflix suggesting new products based on your past choices, or on what lots of other people are choosing right now.

And the examples don’t stop there: Booking.com, Airbnb, iFood, Uber and international publications are among the many brands already working this way.

Offering simple experiences that fit each person’s history and make choosing easier for consumers “lost” among countless options is a powerful driver of sales growth and reinforces “loyalty.”

Utility means using digital tools to make the consumer experience not just interesting, but easier and more pleasant, solving problems and removing friction.

Experiences that achieve this add value, build customer loyalty and can even be fun, like the ASOS app, which finds clothing that matches the customer’s taste from photos, or lets people try clothes on at home for free.

Or, as some hotels already do, guests can check their bill online from their room, approve the charge and skip the checkout line, combining simplicity and convenience.

There are many more examples: boarding passes on your phone, hotel rooms with no keys or check-in, one-tap buttons that reorder your last pizza to speed things up, and so on.

Purpose is about how brands show and communicate who they are, what they think and what they value. Many of these initiatives predate the digital age, but today’s tools have given them far more visibility and impact.

The goal is to strengthen the relationship by reinforcing values and helping consumers identify with those ideals, almost as a reason to buy, encouraging them to feel they’re better people who support worthy causes.

Examples include Patagonia and responsible consumption or recycling used garments, Airbnb with its special program for victims of natural disasters such as the hurricane in Florida, and Adidas with Team Messi (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), where 94% of participants were new to the brand and now spend an average of 10 euros on its e-commerce site.

But, as with almost everything, it’s a double-edged sword. The right strategy can take a brand to new heights, with far more “loyalty.” The wrong one can cost consumers, blur the brand’s identity and reduce it back to a transaction.

The challenge for research, then, is how to measure the type, quality and intensity of the experience a brand delivers. How do you know whether an experience made an impact, and whether it will translate into future purchases?

Conventional market research can answer some of these questions, but it clearly has limits, and more answers are needed.

Scales like “yes & no” or “good & fair & poor” aren’t the best metrics for this and don’t take the evaluation of experiences very far, even though they’re a useful starting point.

Combined with conventional research, neuromarketing already has the techniques and tools to explore most of these questions in greater depth.

Ultimately, what we want to know is how people react to these experiences: where they made an impact, where they stood out from the competition and how lasting the effect was.

Neuromarketing is better suited to answering these questions because it doesn’t rely on what’s “rational” or “stated,” but on people’s “emotional,” spontaneous and instinctive “reactions” to these stimuli & experiences.

That makes them far more sensitive and credible metrics, both because of the precision of the technology involved and because most people are notoriously bad at describing their feelings or emotions accurately

The truth is that many of us don’t even know how to read these emotions properly, let alone describe them or put a number on them, which is why neuromarketing can, and should, be used more and more often.