Predicting Brand Loyalty

Ann-Marie Vazzano

Email marketing firm StrongView recently released the results of its 2014 Brand Loyalty Survey. The most loyal customers, which StrongView refers to as “brand enthusiasts,” are engaged with their brands as frequent and consistent buyers and are highly likely to recommend their brands to friends. The survey found that brand loyalty plays a large part in the purchasing decision, with nearly twice the number of brand enthusiasts than non-enthusiasts reporting that loyalty played a part in their last purchase.

The study also found that sustained customer loyalty comes from providing true value in marketing campaigns rather than purely promoting goods and services. When making the decision to buy, brand enthusiasts reported they were more likely to buy after receiving a timely message that was relevant, helpful and consistent with their expectations.
Other key findings:

• Loyalty was essentially even across all age brackets, ranging from 17% to 19% of adult online shoppers between the ages of 18 and 54.
• Only 5% of consumers earning $150,000 annually were loyal to a brand, compared to 29% of shoppers with an annual salary of $25,000 to $50,000. About two-thirds (67%) of loyal customers make $75,000 or less annually.
• Brand enthusiasts are more valuable than new customers because enthusiasts are nearly four times more likely to spend significantly more with a brand in the future. They also spend, on average, 13% more per purchase than other customers.
• More than half (51%) of brand enthusiasts and 45% of non-enthusiasts say their last purchase for a brand was prompted by email communication. This is more than online and offline advertising combined. GP