Last year, it was found by Yotpo that 90% of consumers surveyed considered themselves to be loyal to particular brands, despite the conventional thinking that loyalty was dead.According to the current survey of 2,100 US adults, 98.1% of consumers said they were brand loyal, with 25% saying they were more loyal than last year.
Respondents were asked “what does being brand loyal mean to you?” The top response was “I tend to buy from the same brand” (67%). That was followed by “I love the brand” (39.5%) and “I buy from the brand despite cheaper competitors” (37.7%). However, the phrase “I tend to buy from the same brand” suggests softness and that loyalty for many people is a function of inertia.
When asked “How many times do you purchase from the same company before you’d consider yourself loyal?” in the survey, about 87% of respondents said at least three times. Of that group, 36.4% said that it took at least five purchases for them to consider themselves brand loyal. Those numbers are quite similar to last year’s survey.
The top drivers of loyalty are:
- Product — 78%
- Price — 63%
- Customer service — 26%
- Loyalty program — 22%
- Shopping experience — 17%
- Connection to a charity or cause — 9%
- Ads/marketing — 4%
- Other — 2%
To many, customer service is important, but not as much as one thought, although the 26% figure is effectively an increase from the 7% last year who cited “above and beyond” customer service as their primary loyalty driver.
For customers, what will they do for the brands they like and are loyal to? There are several answers, even though they resist common marketing objectives, such as signing up for emails, following on social media or submitting reviews:
- Join their loyalty program – 59%
- Refer the brand to others – 59%
- Spend more on products even with cheaper options elsewhere – 36%
- Take a survey – 32%
- Shop in their physical store – 27%
- Sign up for emails, newsletters, physical mail – 19%
- Participate in a contest or promotion – 18%
- Submit a review, upload a photo or video – 18%
- Follow and engage with the brand on social media – 10%
- Attend their events – 5%
- None of the above – 2%
Brand loyalty is alive, but may be mostly a function of finding a product that’s “Good enough” and sticking it out of inertia.