Building brand loyalty in a digital-first world

Call to mind some of your favourite products and services. The ones you return to time and time again. The ones you happily recommend to others, that make daily life that little bit better, that you couldn’t live without.

What is it about those brands that keep you coming back for more? Why do you continually choose their products over others? What feelings do they inspire in you?

What is brand loyalty?

E-commerce expert Shopify defines brand loyalty as, ‘a condition in which a customer feels a strong attachment to a particular company. Brand-loyal customers are less motivated by price and convenience than other customers are, and they are often willing to pay more (or look harder) to acquire their desired product or service, which they often believe to be the superior offering in the market.’

Brands who successfully develop a loyal customer base are more likely to enjoy:

• market stability – customer retention helps businesses ride out market fluctuations and makes them more resilient in terms of crises (such as the pandemic)

• higher profits – thanks to repeat business and higher customer lifetime value (CLV)

• success and flexibility with new product and service lines – steady, reliable revenue means brands have more freedom to experiment in their offerings – and existing customers are more likely to try them

• cost-efficient marketing – through customer referrals, brand ambassadors, and an overall lower cost of acquiring new customers

• competitive advantage – driven by stronger market positioning and reduced sensitivity to price or market changes.

What strategies are used to drive brand and customer loyalty in the digital age?

Today’s digital landscape – characterised by our reliance, and preference, for a digital-first approach – has changed the face of how we buy products and interact with brands. Naturally, it’s also changed the face of how brands sell products and interact with customers.

Building trust isn’t an overnight exercise: it takes time. Much of brand loyalty relies on inspiring and fostering emotional connections, and creating meaningful, authentic, high-quality, and long-lasting relationships. To achieve this, 21st-century brands and marketers must focus on hyper-personalisation, omnichannel engagement, and exceptional customer experiences.

Let’s look at these three cornerstones of modern customer loyalty, and the strategies that can help achieve them:

1. Hyper-personalisation. Highly tailored experiences are not only more relevant – and therefore more useful – to customers, but help them feel valued, understood, and individual. Brands can harness customer data to deliver personalised offers, incentives, communications, and product recommendations, and leverage artificial intelligence to provide dynamic content – from individual preferences to adapted mobile app and website interfaces. Ensure that content marketing and storytelling hits right emotional ‘notes’ – to align brand with customer aspirations and values – and is high value (for example, video content, user-generated content (UGC), and infographics that inspire, educate, or entertain the target audience.

2. Omnichannel engagement. Brands should aim for seamless, consistent omnichannel experiences to maximise engagement. Meet customers where they’re at, across their preferred digital platforms (for example, social media, email marketing, and apps) and offline channels. Remember that interaction must be two-way: respond to customers quickly and in a way that communicates and upholds brand values. Adopt mobile-first strategies and use targeted notifications to remind them of ‘products left in cart’ or offers.

3. Exceptional customer experiences. This could look like proactive solutions (drawing on real-time analytics to identify customer issues before they develop into problems), 24/7 support by way of live support or AI chatbot functionality, listening to customer feedback and optimising in line with insights, and ensuring that customer service representatives are consistently friendly, professional, and compassionate.

As you can see, it’s an interconnected approach: surfacing valuable, engaging, personalised content on a variety of platforms that the customer uses automatically supports the delivery of better customer experiences.

Additional, complementary strategies include:

• loyalty programmes and rewards programmes – points-based systems, sign-up offers

• gamification – interactive challenges

• influencer and affiliate partnerships – authentic recommendations

• digital community building – brand forums, online events, and exclusive groups.

The importance of brand values

As well as the ‘shiny’, ‘bells-and-whistles’ campaigns, schemes, partnerships, and events, brands must take it back to basics in terms of demonstrating and living their brand values.

It can be the less glamorous aspects of brand and loyalty-building – operating transparently, continuously innovating, investing in ethical and sustainable practices, driving diversity and community welfare initiatives, ensuring data privacy and enhanced security, and being ‘authentic’ – that truly inspires and connects with customers. Statista reports that, especially for brands seeking to attract younger loyal customers ‘aligning values with the customer base is fundamental. In 2022, nearly 60% of Gen Z and Millennial consumers in the U.S stated they were more loyal to brands that speak up in the face of social issues.’

How can brand touchpoints be tested and optimised for different segments and markets?

Brand and marketing experts must invest time and effort into optimising the entire customer journey. Discover which marketing tactics are most impactful through multivariate and A/B testing, use customer segmentation data to tailor touchpoints to particular target demographics, preferences, and behaviours, track key performance indicators (KPIs) and relevant metrics – open rates, conversion rates, shares, customer satisfaction – via analytics, and act on qualitative feedback collected via focus groups and questionnaires.

By continuously analysing the results of such exercises, marketers can identify exactly what is resonating with each segment and at what stage in the journey. These insights can highlight where changes to brand messaging, digital channel delivery, design, and other tweaks are required.

Craft marketing strategy that anticipates customer needs, inspires loyalty, and drives customer satisfaction

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