Brand Loyalty: Definition & How To Build It

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Brand loyalty is established through repeat purchases of your products or services. This is especially the case when they have other competitive choices to choose from. 
• Effective marketing campaigns are designed to help foster a level of brand loyalty. 
• It’s important to stay up to date and evolve with new customer trends.
• When a customer is loyal to a brand, they’re not influenced by the price of a product or service.
• The internet and social media provide additional opportunities to establish brand identity. It also helps build more meaningful and impactful relationships with customers.

What Is Brand Loyalty? 

Brand loyalty has everything to do with creating a positive association between your business and your customers. By establishing a level of loyalty you’re able to create a brand identity and build meaningful relationships. Over time, this is how you’re going to connect with your customers on a personal level. 

Creating a personal connection is going to lead to them becoming a brand-loyal customer. Essentially, they’re going to positively support your business. This can be through purchasing products or services or speaking highly about your brand.

Having a loyal customer base is an important part of a business that should not get overlooked. Creating this loyalty can help lead to social proof from customers who will become repeat buyers. And this remains the same despite getting offered similar products or services from your competitors. 

Several of the most successful businesses around the world invest large sums of money to establish brand loyalty and increase customer retention. 

Why Is Brand Loyalty Important? 

 Having customers who are loyal to your brand means they’re going to continue to spend money on your products or services. It’s much more difficult to attract new customers than it is to retain your existing ones. This is why positive experiences and customer relationships are important.

In doing so, this almost guarantees future business which will contribute to revenue growth. Simply put, customer loyalty is going to help increase profits and lead to more sustainability. Having a properly designed plan that’s well-executed will also lead to keeping customers. This will ultimately drive profits and reduce turnover. 

How to Establish Brand Loyalty 

 Understanding what goes into establishing brand loyalty with your customers will make a big difference. It’s not always as easy as simply having a great product or service. Let’s take a closer look into some of the most effective ways to create a high level of brand loyalty. 

Provide Excellent Customer Service 

 Creating a sense of brand loyalty often starts with providing excellent and active customer service. Your customers want to get treated in a respectful way that makes them feel appreciated. Doing this ensures their voice gets heard and it creates a positive relationship. 

There are several ways that you can do this, as well. It could be simply in person or over the phone, or it can also be across social channels. Taking into consideration each of these channels will allow you to develop the best strategy and deliver a positive customer experience. 

Start a Loyalty Program 

 Customers love to get rewarded. Loyalty or rewards programs will help encourage customers to come back for more. Essentially, it’s an effective way for you to reward your customers for returning time and time again. 

Incentivizing your customers is also a tested way of encouraging customers to return. When they know they’re going to get something in return for making a purchase, they will increase their visits. One of the most common forms of a loyalty program is a loyalty card, for example. Each time a customer makes a purchase, they can earn points that can get redeemed for discounts or free products. 

Find Your Voice 

 Creating and establishing a brand identity is going to play a critical role in customer loyalty. Customers want to know who your brand is at its core. This allows them to relate on a more personal level which leads to an emotional connection through your customer loyalty efforts. 

Using this voice across different marketing efforts, on your social media accounts and other types of content creates consistency. And when customers can recognize your brand voice and relate to it, it’s going to form a high level of trust, leading to a commitment from customers. 

Engage with Customers on Social Media

 Social media is one of the most powerful ways to engage with your audience. It’s an incredibly effective tool that allows you to reach not only your target customers but a wider audience you might not otherwise have access to. Plus, there are several channels and platforms where you can do this. 

Put some thought into how you interact with your customers or where they’re most active. You can create a strategy to interact with your customers in the most meaningful and powerful ways. First impressions are important, and social media provides the opportunity to create a good one. 

Create a Brand Community 

 To take brand loyalty a step further, a brand community can provide some additional opportunities. You can feature customers when they’ve made positive reviews. Or you can share their own videos across your social media channels. 

The biggest element of a brand community is engaging directly with your customers. As they feel more and more appreciated, word-of-mouth marketing will also increase. In turn, this is going to lead to more opportunities to engage with more customers over time. 

What to Avoid with Brand Loyalty 

 While there are several effective ways to establish brand loyalty, there are also a few things to avoid. It’s important to do everything you can to not lose the trust of your customers. Here are some of the main areas to steer clear of when establishing brand loyalty. 

Ignoring Customer Trends 

 Things can change quickly, and customer trends are no different. To stay as engaged as possible with your customers, predicting and evolving with these trends will make a huge difference. This will show your customers that you have the ability to innovate and adapt. 

Violating Customer Trust

Trust is going to be one of the foundations of a solid brand loyalty strategy. When customers trust your brand and the products or services you offer, they’re going to keep coming back. But if you break that trust, it’s going to be difficult to earn it back. 

Not Engaging with Customers 

Your customers want to be heard, listened to, and have their concerns taken seriously. Try and stay up to date with trends and the feedback customers provide. This can be through your website or across your social media channels. But the key point is to stay engaged in a positive way. 

Summary 

Establishing a level of loyalty with your customers is going to lead to greater brand success. This means creating a positive association between your brand and the consumer. When this happens, customers become devoted to your product or service and will choose you over the competition. 

Some of the most effective ways to establish brand loyalty is through great customer service and loyalty programs. It’s also important to engage with your customers in a positive way across different channels, such as social media. 
When you have loyal customers, they’ll commit to your brand regardless of the price. Plus, you can limit the loss of customers with an effective pricing strategy and marketing strategies.