I have been thinking about brand loyalty for a while now and I thought I’d share some rough thoughts about this. Nothing ground breaking, but one that I think most businesses can begin to apply if they have the right tools. Let’s start with the Loyalty

Loyalty

Brand loyalty is hard to build, especially in the face of increasing competition. Why should a person stick to a brand? While exceptional customer service is great and one that all business should take seriously, in most cases, it may not be enough. People will begin to want more if exceptional customer service becomes the common denominator(in an ideal world).

So how else do you keep people coming back? I will suggest rewarding their behaviour and create a cool factor in the process. This both helps the people feel great about their choices and benefits the brand too.

Prints, radio, TV and in recent times, online advertisement have all been effective marketing tools. While there’s nothing generally wrong with these mediums, I, as a customer, will appreciate a tangible reward as a way of marketing. It could be as simple as shopping vouchers. I strongly believe there’s a high likelihood of another person seeing this and wanting a piece of the action.

But today, I will propose another form of reward; experiences. Give people experiences as a form of reward. I strongly believe people rarely forget experiences, especially if it makes them feel good about themselves.

Aspiration

Most people, if not everyone is aspirational. It’s inherently a human nature to aspire to something; social class, economic status, security, etc. We are always looking forward to the next level and this is perfectly okay.

Brands who are looking to build mindshare for a long time, especially within a certain income class should position themselves as aspirational brands. Little wonder why people begin to feel “cool” with themselves the moment the snag their first Apple product; iPhone, Watch, Mac, iPad. It’s the cool factor and satisfaction that these products give.

Mechanics of the reward system

In this case, these brands can use the loyalty/rewards system to build their own cool. For example, if every time you shopped at a certain location or make a certain transaction with some organisation you get a point, these organisations can now begin to segment its user base based on point. Let’s take a case simple scenario here.

Customers with a certain amount of points will qualify for Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. These points can now be converted for different things, in this case, I will suggest experiential. Bronze member can get a full body massage at a spa or a one-month gym membership, Silver members can get a one-month gym membership, Gold Members can get both a full body massage and a one-month gym membership. The platinum members can, on the other hand, get a full body massage, a one-month gym membership and a private networking event with other platinum members once a month for a quarter.

As you begin to use these offers, you fall to a certain level, if a Bronze member uses their spa points, they fall to level zero, when a Silver member use either of their offers, they fall to Bronze and can work their way back up. When a Gold member use one of their offers, they fall to the Silver level, they can choose to build back their points and stay as Gold members or even progress to the Platinum membership band. Platinum members don’t fall, they maintain that status for as long as they want, but the moment they activate/use an offer they have 6 months to use the benefits or risk losing it.

The business can then change the rewards on a yearly basis. It is one way to keep the users hook, especially when the rewards will always come as a surprise.

This actually explain why I go to SPAR for groceries instead of ShopRite.

Cross Marketing

The great things about the offers are that it forms an opportunity for cross-marketing for all the participating businesses. People who go to the gym can suddenly discover that brand X will offer free gym membership if they signed up for their services and the same goes for the spa. The gym and spa can now have opportunities to market to new potential customers. A win-win for everyone.

Brand equity.

Brand equity is a really big deal. People associate themselves with brand names than the actual product themselves. Little wonder why people will be quick to remind you that they are wearing Gucci than talk about the feel of the cotton fabric. You almost can’t place value to it. And as people watch close friends and allies begin to associate with the cool of your brand, they will want the same for themselves.

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