What is brand loyalty?

Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer’s commitment to repurchase or otherwise continue using the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy.

Brand loyalty is more than simple repurchasing, however. Customers may repurchase a brand due to situational constraints (such as vendor lock-in), a lack of viable alternatives, or out of convenience. Such loyalty is referred to as “spurious loyalty”. True brand loyalty exists when customers have a high relative attitude toward the brand which is then exhibited through repurchase behavior. This type of loyalty can be a great asset to the firm: customers are willing to pay higher prices, they may cost less to serve, and can bring new customers to the firm. (source)

Why does brand loyalty keep people coming back?

People who liked Toyota before their recent recalls (and Tiger before his recent personal life story being shared with the world) probably haven’t changed their minds much. Just like in an election, people make up their minds and stick with that decision regardless of the facts. Conversely, people who didn’t like Toyota (for whatever reason) are now running with the recent story telling everyone they were right all along; the facts don’t matter for either person.

For example, if I bought a Toyota years ago and had the best experience imaginable, I would be pretty happy with Toyota. Then, I buy one of the unfortunate vehicles that needed a recall. I may be upset, but I would defend that decision I made to the end, up until I got my recalled car back. I wouldn’t even disown Toyota. (For the people who are not loyal to Toyota, their story is a very different one.) To reiterate again: loyalty is a hard intangible to break. Additionally, brand loyalty is a hard thing to buy. It usually can’t be bought, which is a good thing for companies who don’t have a large amount of money set aside for buying loyalty, but it also means that all companies have to try harder to grab part of the customer’s mindshare.

How do you foster loyalty?

1. Give consumers a cause. People love fighting for something, like Mac fans who have come to hate PCs because of the “cause” they adopted from Apple.
2. Give them reason to be loyal. This can be through great customer service, great products, or great price. Pick one area though, and focus on that.
3. Be consistent.
4. Be available.
5. Be responsive.
6. Be transparent in your PR activities.
7. React and respond quickly.

Pierce Mattie gives this interpretation of brand loyalty:

I’d like to think that brand loyalty is brought about not only because your mom wore the same brand of makeup your entire childhood or your dad wore the same brand of suits each day to the office, but because that brand offered something of value to you–quality, effectiveness and good ole customer service.