The explosion of direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands over the past few years marks a radical shift in the way products are sold.
- How Relationships Build Brand Loyalty Marketing
- How Relationships Build Brand Loyalty Strategy
- How Relationships Build Brand Loyalty Examples
- How Relationships Build Brand Loyalty Definition
This revolution is disrupting established industries and creating a fundamental change in the ways brands engage with consumers.
Born in the online world, these trailblazing D2C brands are transforming how we buy everything, from grooming and health and wellness products to mattresses, contact lenses, and clothing.
While any customer can simply stumble upon your company, in order to build brand loyalty and ensure returning customers, it is important to understand their likes, wants, tendencies, and fears. Here are a few factors to consider: How did they find your company? Why did they purchase from your company over competitors? To create loyalty, you need to provide an exceptional experience. Studies have found that 89 percent of customers switch brands due to a bad customer experience. Service-related problems are behind. But all those employees in Atlanta and Cincinnati and Northfield, IL, realize what’s really valuable in the long term is a relationship — a reliable source of revenue going forward. A better way to say it: brand loyalty. Before the Internet, brand-loyalty construction was done in an ad hoc manner. Social media content can build relationships, and loyal customers can even act as brand ambassadors on their own social media accounts. At the same time, there are more threats than ever to brand. A critical factor of building brand loyalty is developing a connection or relationship between the customer and the brand. When an emotional relationship is created between the customer and the brand this leads to a strong bond and a competitive advantage for that particular brand.
By leveraging social listening and customer-experience data insights, they’re developing strong direct to consumer relationships, new subscription models, and products that truly resonate with consumers.
They’re also demonstrating how building direct relationships with customers makes it possible to control each engagement moment—learning about customer motivations and behaviors at every step of the journey.
Scoping the opportunity of direct to consumer relationships
Research shows that today’s consumers increasingly value specialism, are more discerning about what they purchase, crave more authentic brand experiences, and will gravitate towards brands that know who they are. And younger consumers are proving particularly receptive to new disruptor D2C brands that directly connect with them through digital channels.
By placing data-driven tailored customer experiences at the core of their offering, these pioneering independent D2C brands have achieved some impressive market growth. Little wonder, then, that many mainstream manufacturers and brands are now eagerly looking to make D2C part of their revenue mix.
In 2017, D2C sales grew by an impressive 34 percent to represent 13 percent of all e-commerce sales. Meanwhile, big brand names like Nike have gotten in on the game. The company forecasts its D2C sales will hit $16 billion by 2020—a substantial increase on the $6.6 billion generated by its direct brand channel in 2015.
Market experts estimate that while D2C represents just 5 percent of total CP sales revenues, it’s responsible for 50 percent of total industry growth. With more players in the sector preparing to incorporate D2C models into their strategies, expect this momentum to get even stronger.
But capturing these brand opportunities and building direct to consumer relationships all depends on achieving a deep mastery of customer experience (CX) management.
Maximizing new D2C possibilities: The benefits of direct to consumer
There are multiple benefits to be gained by taking the direct-to-consumer route—improved margins, opportunities to develop brand advocacy and loyalty, increased control over brand packaging, product and market reputation, and the freedom to innovate to name a few.
For example, the D2C model enables brands to experiment with new distribution models—everything from shipping direct to consumers, to partnerships with physical retailers, and pop-up shops. Or initiate new D2C marketing initiatives that improve brand awareness and boost leads for themselves and their channel partners.
Regardless of the D2C model that’s adopted, success depends on companies successfully leveraging data-driven customer intelligence to make better business decisions, tailor more convenient and personalized shopping experiences, or adapt at speed to changing customer needs and preferences.
By understanding the why behind customer behaviors, companies can use these insights to accurately align experiences with identified customer values across all channels to:
- better serve customers and forge deeper relationships
- differentiate individual brands
- fine tune product/packaging development, marketing and channel strategies.
Check out how P&G is using customer listening while restaging the Pantene Brand:
Selling direct to consumers makes it easier to acquire and harvest this customer experience data, but making sense of these data goldmines is no easy task.
What’s more, in order to orchestrate frictionless end-to-end customer journeys and truly understand customers’ wants and needs, companies also need to be able to integrate this experience data with transactional and operational data (O-data) from every channel.
Today’s leading experience management solutions make it easy to collect experience data (X-data) at every meaningful touchpoint, and intelligently integrate this with operational data to gain the actionable insights needed to close identified experience gaps.
A world of possibilities: Unlock brand loyalty
Armed with X+O data, brands can put customers at the center of their business and engage more effectively on all channels.
Let’s take a look at just some of the ways in which companies are using data-driven insights to sell more products, perfect brand propositions, build exceptional customer experiences, and forge direct to consumer relationships:
Go to market with new product innovations faster: By embracing customer experience feedback and incorporating it into the product development process, companies can:
- Identify new product opportunities and validate concepts faster
- Ensure a better problem-feature solution fit for their target demographic, and
- Scale go-to-market strategies at speed
How Relationships Build Brand Loyalty Marketing
For example, by undertaking social listening, brands are able to identify unmet consumer needs and develop new product or service initiatives (such as subscription or customization services) that deliver increased customer lifetime value or powerfully differentiate their brand for customers.
Refine direct-to-consumer brand journeys: Benchmarking the customer experience across every channel is just the start. By understanding individual customer preferences and activities as they progress along the path to purchase, brands can take action to eliminate identified friction hot spots.
Whether that’s introducing one click payment options, incorporating how to product videos in online channels, or contextual self-service support options for customers seeking information and help.
Listen, understand and act to optimize every interaction: From understanding how demographic preferences impact product design, marketing, and packaging to identifying the optimal formats and channels for delivering brand messages to consumers, using data driven insights enables companies to initiate personalized conversations that create positive brand associations for consumers.
By understanding which messages and offers work best for which customers, brands can optimize interactions to ensure that relevance increases over time.
For many CPG firms, D2C channels represent an opportunity to maintain complete control over the brand—from initial engagement to the moment a product is purchased and beyond.
Using data-driven experience insights are the key to ensuring brands can consistently achieve the personal touch and connect with the specific needs and values of customers in more meaningful ways.
How Relationships Build Brand Loyalty Strategy
Check in on your customers.
Understand what they need, then deliver on those needs.
Learn how.
Related
Featured Sections
Read Article
How Relationships Build Brand Loyalty Examples
| SUMMARY: A corporate-style branding effort requires a corporate-sized budget. But if fancy logos and mass advertising arenât in your budget, you can try building your brand one customer at a time. Read one marketerâs recommendations for using personal communications to connect with your best customers. Through simple, low-cost tactics, you can build stronger relationships and establish a brand identity thatâs more than just an image. |
How Relationships Build Brand Loyalty Definition
'Small and medium businesses would be far better [off] spending the time and money on relationship building, and the brand thing will come out of it by itself,' says Torok. 'A brand is not about colors or logos or fonts -- a true brand is about a feeling that people have about you.'
Torokâs firm helps owners and marketers at small- and medium-sized businesses develop a more personal touch with customers. Below, we highlight seven tactics Torok uses to establish and maintain those relationships. These efforts require time and diligence, but they are very inexpensive.
Tactic #1. Make company leaders available to customers
Smaller companies have an advantage over large corporations -- there are fewer bureaucratic layers between the top and the bottom. Take advantage of the situation and give customers access to top-level management.
Access can be granted in several ways, including:
o Having executives visit sales floors
o Attending industry conferences
o Having an open-door policy for phone calls
o Attending or hosting live chat sessions, forums, or other industry-related social media events
'That doesnât mean you spend all your time on the showroom floor or going to networking events, but you need to be seen,' Torok says. 'You put a human face on the business for your clients, which makes them feel better about doing business with you.'
- The door is not always open
Maintaining an open-door policy does not mean customers can reach you at will. But it could mean establishing times for customer calls, such as between 9-10 a.m. on Thursdays.
Tactic #2. Reach out and be heard
Customers feel special when you reach out to touch base. This can be done through:
o Direct calls
o Emails
o Social media sites
o Handwritten notes and postcards
Postcards can be particularly valuable as a quick, personal way to reach out. A two sentence handwritten message is much more personal than a typed email. You can send 20 or 30 postcards while waiting for a plane. Postcards are waiting for you in the gift shop.
- Not every customer is equal
There is not enough time in the day to call or write postcards to every customer, just to ask how theyâre doing. Prioritize efforts around your most valuable accounts and prospects.
Tactic #3. Request introductions from sales
A good way to start building relationships is to have your sales team introduce you to your best customers, Torok says. Good ways to connect include:
o A simple telephone call
o Tagging along on sales visits to their offices
o Being present when they visit your office
- Coordinate customer contact with sales reps
Tactics such as writing postcards and sending messages through social media are fairly innocuous, and do not take much of the customersâ time. However, phone calls and scheduled meetings should be approached more delicately.
Your sales team might be in the process of closing a deal, and you do not want to interrupt that process. Have an open line of communication with sales to avoid any miscues.
Tactic #4. Ask customers about their business
Your natural inclination might be to ask customers if they are satisfied with your product and service, and if they have any complaints or questions. However, a conversation with a customer is also a great time to find out more about their business.
During conversations, ask customers about:
o Opportunities in their business
o Biggest headaches
o Biggest fears
o Plans and predictions for the future
This information will give you a better understanding of your customersâ needs and mindsets. The more you understand them, the better youâll be able to design marketing campaigns and new product features.
Also, asking for this information shows a real interest in the person with whom you're speaking. You will be gathering important business information while making a strong personal impression.
Tactic #5. Send small gifts
The more relevant and personalized you can make the gift, the better it will connect with your customer.
Torok suggests books. Thereâs at least one for every topic, so itâs easy to find one thatâs likely to interest a customer. Also, you can write personal messages and sign books just like postcards. So if you have five top customers who are interested in golf, buy each a copy of a popular golfing book, pen a message inside, and mail it to them.
'If you receive a book from someone that they personally autographed for you, people donât tend to throw it away, even if they donât read the book,' Torok says. 'They put it in a special place on their shelf and they remember you.'
Tactic #6. Manage your time wisely
As mentioned, not all of your customers are equal. Set rules that will determine which customers receive friendly calls, postcards, gifts, etc. Some customers might 'qualify' for a gift, while a postcard might suffice for others.
Also, create a schedule for customer outreach. You may plan to send 30 gifts and 200 postcards this year, but you certainly donât need to send them all at once. Use scheduling software, such as Microsoft Outlook, to program reminders.
If you have a clever IT department, they may be able to build a solution that connects to your customer database, classifies customers to contact and schedules when to reach out.
Tactic #7. Scale back if necessary
This strategy could spin out of control and consume too much time with overly ambitious goals. Remember, you have the rest of your job to consider. If you find yourself too pressed to keep up with the contact schedule and have to scale back, donât fret.
'No one will really notice,' Torok says. 'No one expects there to be a regular schedule of postcards. If someone received a postcard two years ago, theyâll still remember it.'
If you have to scale back, start by raising the bar for your contact rules. For example, you might have planned to call customers who purchased two or more times last year. Try raising the bar to three or more purchases and see how many calls that leaves you.
Useful links related to this article
How to Use Networking Tactics to Generate New Business with Old Clients: 6 Tactics
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30767
How to Get Bloggersâ Attention with Personalized Landing Pages & Videos
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.html?ident=30540
Power Marketing
http://www.powermarketing.ca/