Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Brand Experience, Values Increasingly Drive Loyalty

MarketingDaily reporting:
More than ever, the core drivers of brand loyalty are emotional rather than rational. That’s the takeaway from the 2012 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index (CLEI), which marks the survey’s 16th year.
While emotional engagement factors have become more critical each year, the influence of two core, overarching components rose markedly in 2012: the brand’s “values” and the consumer’s brand “experience.”
In a nutshell, Brand Keys’ definition of “brand value” is what a brand stands for or means to the consumer on an emotional level, explains the consultancy’s founder and president, Robert Passikoff.
“Across most of the 83 product categories, we found that consumers’ loyalty now hinges more than ever before on the degree to which a brand has established a clear core value proposition -- a differentiator that goes beyond the basic utility of a product or service,” he says. “Today, delivering on the ‘rational’ reasons to buy a brand -- good or superior quality and value for the price -- is just the ‘door-opener.’ If that’s all a brand is doing, it’s in grave danger of being commoditized. In fact, it’s not a brand; it’s a category placeholder.”
Brand experience is closely tied to value, but depends heavily on the “delight” factor: To what degree the brand exceeds baseline expectations by delivering benefits or an emotional connection that enhances the consumer’s day-to-day life in small or significant ways, he explains.
Just as important, this year, Brand Keys found that in a significant number of categories, consumers’ expectations for brands also have risen markedly, Passikoff stresses.

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