Measure and improve brand loyalty and loyalty and increase brand experience with brand tracking

Brand loyalty doesn't come naturally, even if you offer outstanding products. The brand experience also plays an important role. Read why it is important to create brand experiences, conduct regular brand tracking studies, recruit brand ambassadors and leverage a brand community.

What does brand loyalty or brand loyalty mean?

Brand loyalty, also known as brand loyalty, is what a company has achieved when its customers repeatedly purchase a product or service based on its value and emotional added value, without considering purchasing alternatives. This arises from the trust, that the company shows them and the way in which customers are connected to the company or the brand.

Brand loyalty is the result of numerous variables, some of which can be controlled and others of which cannot. To understand which variables have a positive impact on the level of customer loyalty, companies must analyse and evaluate the different points of contact between customers and brands. This is done with the help of brand experience management, i.e. consciously influencing the brand experience by measuring it, evaluating it and taking measures to link brands with positive emotions and perceptions.

5 incorrect assumptions about brand loyalty and brand experience

There are a number of ways to take brand loyalty to a higher level. But before this can happen, we must address the following truths and false assumptions that companies often make when it comes to brand loyalty and brand experience.

Why data? Sales figures are enough!

The issue of brand loyalty is too important to be left to chance. Many companies rely on their gut feeling or sales figures. At least until they collapse at some point for unknown reasons. Or they rely too much on the misleading reasoning of optimistic marketing teams and consultants. The problem, however, is that rarely is any of this actually supported by data.

Only a few companies, especially medium-sized companies, take advantage of the enormous advantages of the digital age of brand analysis; few companies collect, measure, track or analyse what is really happening to a brand; only a few pay regular attention to signals and trends; and few companies actually use data to take meaningful action to improve their brands and thereby increase customer loyalty.

Brand loyalty develops on its own when marketing is good

Your brand, the issue of brand loyalty and the loyalty of your customers will indeed evolve on their own. But in which direction? If you don't know the influencing parameters that have an impact on how your brand and brand loyalty develop, you can't develop your own brand. Without coordinates, a ship cannot be steered in a targeted manner. Maybe you'll discover a new continent or hit an iceberg. Your product doesn’t deserve the latter because it involves a lot of work and development time. Companies need to invest in their brands. This takes time, energy, resources and tools, such as a brand experience management platform.

The logo is the brand

Logos or trademarks are important. Design, image, identity are all important aspects of a brand. But they are by no means the be-all and end-all. A brand is all about the experiences people have with it. It's about emotions, about what your customers experience from interacting with you and your products and services. If your brand does not evoke an emotional response, has no enthusiasm and no real emotional added value for your customers, it is nothing more than a logo. And anyone can have a logo like that. However, a logo alone does not create brand loyalty, it is the feeling behind the logo that turns customers into loyal customers.

Once a brand, always a brand!

In a world that is changing through headlines, shitstorms and trending hashtags, brands no longer have the staying power they once had. Brands must be nurtured and maintained, constantly revised and rethought in order to maintain brand loyalty. Customers today are much less loyal than they ever were - and a lot of that has to do with the fact that consumers have easy access to brands from all over the world. If you don't understand what's happening with your brand and the market around it, you won't be able to compete. Brand loyalty is becoming a distant reality. Brands become interchangeable products if you don't pay attention to them!

Conveying good feelings is enough to create brand loyalty

Consumers are becoming increasingly demanding. They research, they read, they follow moral examples, they have access to public reviews of pretty much every product there is in the world. And they won't let themselves be fooled. Authenticity is becoming increasingly important when it comes to brand loyalty. Your brand needs to put words into action. A clothing manufacturer, for example, who has their goods manufactured under inhumane conditions or in ecologically questionable ways can try by any means possible to convey positive feelings. Nobody wants to wear a brand logo on their chest that is being discussed negatively in public.

And this is how you actually increase brand loyalty and brand experience

It is extremely important for companies to influence the perceptions and feelings of consumers and to influence them in a positive way. To do this, companies must understand, understand and optimize the touch points between brands and consumers in order to actually and ultimately create a high level of brand loyalty. However, one by one. First we have to deal with some terms.

Create outstanding brand experiences

Brand experience means the experience that consumers have with a brand. The brand experience is the result of all the emotions and perceptions that consumers feel when they come into contact with a brand, whether in advertising, when directly visiting a shop or when using a brand.

Brand experience can be viewed as a broader and somewhat more differentiated concept of customer experience, as in this case consumers can perceive and evaluate a brand without actually using the brand themselves. Therefore, every customer experience can be considered a brand experience, while not all brand experiences become a customer experience. But one thing is certain: a positive brand experience is more likely to lead to brand loyalty than a negative brand experience.

→ What is Customer Experience Management?

An outstanding brand experience can determine whether consumers choose the competition or buy your products. The brand experience is often more decisive for the purchase of a product than the nature of the product itself. For this reason, companies strive to create an impressive and eye-catching brand experience, because this in turn creates a high level of identification with the brand and, accordingly, increased brand loyalty.

The brand experience is of considerable importance for the success of a company. In an environment where the diversity of businesses and consumer choice is overwhelming, an appealing and recognizable brand is essential to stand out in the market and create a strong relationship between business and customers.

→ Measure and significantly increase customer loyalty

Establish regular brand tracking

Brand tracking allows you to identify and track the contact points between consumers and brands. The goal of brand research through brand tracking is to monitor the “brand health” and to collect and evaluate data on consumer behavior, brand perception, brand awareness, brand loyalty, competition and brand experience. Brand health can be defined as a measure of the extent to which a brand meets the characteristics of a product or service desired by consumers, particularly in terms of quality, satisfaction and perceived brand experience. 

Brand tracking typically involves continually collecting quantitative data from consumers. One way to do this is to continuously collect information through online surveys or touchpoint analyses. This gives you a more representative picture of your brand's position in the minds of consumers and compared to competitors.

If continuous brand tracking is not feasible for a company, such as for resource or monetary reasons, you can do it on a quarterly, semi-annual or even annual basis. Depending on how quickly the industry evolves, this approach can be just as effective, at least more effective than not doing it at all.

Recruit brand ambassadors

Having brand ambassadors for your company is the best reward for your hard work you can get. Brand ambassadors are consumers who promote your brands to the public because they love your company's brands and feel a high degree of identification with your brands and great loyalty to your company. Brand ambassadors have a high level of brand loyalty and promote their brands in social networks and forums and are often part of the company's own brand community.

Create a brand community

A great way to gain qualitative data for your brand tracking is to build a brand community. Invite consumers to connect, generate ideas for brand development and improving the brand experience, and participate in discussions as part of a virtual brand community. As part of a brand community, you as a company also have the opportunity to increase brand loyalty through direct contact and visibility. The Energizer company, for example, has also achieved this.

→ Case Study Energizer

Use a brand experience management platform

If you want to carry out brand tracking regularly and permanently, if you want to sustainably measure and optimize brand loyalty and brand experiences, then you cannot avoid using technology to collect and analyse data. A brand experience management platform solves all your problems here. A brand experience management platform has tools with which you can quickly and easily set up surveys as part of brand tracking, carry them out along the brand journey and analyse the data obtained without much effort. This helps you make important business decisions based on valid data in real time!

If you would like to find out more about brand loyalty, brand experiences and brand tracking, we would be happy to provide you with a free consultation. Simply use the following contact form and arrange a consultation appointment! We look forward to seeing you!

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KEYWORDS OF THIS BLOG POST

brand loyalty | brand experience | Brand Experience | Brand tracking