Consumer engagement is highly valued for any brand, but how do you know what your most loyal customers are thinking? Why are they fiercely devoted to your brand?
To better understand the psychology behind specific shopping behavior, we asked 2,500 consumers to tell us how they feel about the brands they’re most loyal to year after year.
And the result is our 2022 Customer Loyalty Data Study: What Are the True Drivers of Loyalty in the Minds of Consumers?
Below are the 9 most important customer loyalty statistics from the study.
1. Forty-four percent of consumers say they continue to shop at brands that don’t share their personal values.
When almost half of consumers say they continue to shop with brands that don’t share their values, it tells you that many consumers place more value on other aspects of your brand.
Why would consumers shop with a brand that has contrary beliefs?
According to our study, those things are getting a better deal (56%), quality (52%) and convenience (37%) – things that brands have more direct control over.
But while some consumers value mostly transactional elements, there are many that place value on aspects of a brand that go deeper.
2. Twenty-two percent of consumers say a strong sense of community is a key reason they’re loyal to a brand.
Loyalty program members want to feel special. The more special your brand makes members feel, the more loyal they become, and they’ll be devoted advocates.
To foster a sense of community, many consumers want to feel that they’re receiving special access and benefits beyond discounts. This creates strong emotional connections, and you start building a true brand community where members feel like they’re part of an exclusive club.
A brand community is about why a group of customers is so devoted to a brand beyond just transactional loyalty. When you create a sense of community and exclusivity for your best customers, they will be loyal to your brand for the long run.
It’s about giving members experiences that non-members don’t receive. Then it becomes figuring out ways to help members interact with each other and your brand.
And it should be easy for members to share their experiences.
Some examples of brand communities where members are fiercely loyal and share their experiences include Harley-Davidson, Apple, and Lululemon.
These brands sell products their customers are so passionate about that they live their daily lives through them.
3. Thirty-four percent of consumers say joining an online group fosters a sense of community around their favorite brand.
This is where social media can play a huge role in retaining your most loyal customers.
Our study shows that joining an online group is the No. 1 activity for consumers to make them feel like they’re part of a special community.
Consumers want to feel like their favorite brands know and value them. Building brand loyalty is all about connected customer experiences. And giving your members a place to do that fosters that sense of community that is so important.
4. Increases in price and decreases in quality are the leading reasons consumers said they would lose loyalty to their favorite brand and choose another.
While it’s true that some consumers need their personal values aligned with the brands they shop with, a decline in factors like price, quality, and community can quickly cause people to lose affinity for your brand.
Brands have more control over customer loyalty than they realize and, if they regularly provide their customers with good prices, great product quality, and a welcoming insider community, they will retain them for the long run.
5. Nearly two-thirds of consumers check their loyalty status or points at least once a month.
This is an interesting stat because it shows how engaged loyalty program members are and 36% of respondents said they check their loyalty status or points at least weekly.
How can your brand make the most of these check-ins?
This is a great opportunity to get feedback, offer surveys, and get to know your customers better so you can use that data to offer a better experience for them.
Listening to your customers should always be a top priority for any brand. Another piece of that is keeping your lines of communication open with program members to keep them well-informed.
This makes the program easy to understand, more compelling, and more engaging. Sending your loyalty program members reminders about various things helps maintain high engagement rates.
When you have a loyalty program like that, your members will want to engage with you regularly and check their loyalty status quite often.
6. Nearly 50 percent of consumers say they tell their friends about their favorite brands.
This is key because your best and most loyal customers also function as your brand advocates. They spread the message about your loyalty program and your brand messaging by telling their family and friends.
These customers are truly your best because, outside of their transactional and experiential loyalty, they also shower your brand with praise to family, friends, and anyone else who will listen.
It shows that your entire brand experience has become a part of their daily lives. And that is the ultimate dream for your brand.
7. Email addresses, names, and birth dates are the pieces of information most consumers will share with their favorite brands.
Most consumers are cautious about sharing too much personal information with even their favorite brands. Customer data is gold for brands because they can leverage it to create better, more elevated experiences.
According to our study, the top three pieces of information consumers will share with your brand for a better experience or discount are their email addresses (73%), names (65%), and birth dates (56%).
But for your brand to access deeper information from your customers to create better experiences, you must give them a reason to share based around incentivized engagement.
Some examples of incentivized engagement are watching educational videos, answering profile surveys, taking polls, opting-in to brand communication, and following a brand on social channels.
Engagement solutions like sweepstakes, contests, offers, rebates, and social kickbacks keep customers engaged over time.
8. Sixty-seven percent of consumers say they buy from their favorite brand at least once a month.
When your best customers shop with your brand at least once a month, you’ve got a good thing going. And you can make that good thing great by extending loyalty program benefits that will entice your members.
While consumers are drawn to discounts and material benefits, when they receive special treatment from a brand experience (like a VIP event experience or early access to various products/sales), emotional loyalty takes over.
Emotional loyalty also gives customers that feeling of exclusivity.
Listen to your customers and communicate exclusive offers to your best customers and they will become brand advocates.
9. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of consumers older than 74 say they don’t know the values of their favorite brands, while only 38% of those under 24 say the same.
This stat is quite interesting because it shows that younger consumers are more involved in social issues and causes, while older consumers value convenience and price.
The key takeaway here for brands is they can market differently to these customers based on their age and values.
Your Most Loyal Customers Are Your Biggest Asset
Nearly 70% of consumers say their favorite brand is part of who they are.
This stat is staggering because it’s a brand’s dream to have most of their customers say their company is a part of who they are and a part of their daily lives.
It doesn’t get any better than that.
Think about it: Building a brand and a loyalty program that are so valuable they become part of your customers’ respective identities.
This occurs when your loyalty program offers benefits so relevant and impactful to members. Not only are your customers devoted to your loyalty program, but more importantly, they become brand evangelists.
They act on your brand’s behalf. They are working for your brand, in a way, spreading your brand message and their experiences to everyone they know.
To download the 2022 Data Study, click here.
ebbo
ebbo helps brands achieve their customer loyalty goals with full-service, end-to-end solutions and also creates original educational content straight from the experts to help loyalty marketers stay on the cutting edge of customer engagement.