Abstract
Brand loyalty can be understood simply as being loyal to a specific brand or purchasing repeatedly from the brand instead of alternating brands. Many brands use this strategy to their advantage in both advertising messages and business models. Companies that use this strategy include Amazon, which creates customer loyalty by offering low shipment rates, which make customers keep coming back.
The other companies include Apple, Facebook, Volvo, Nike, Hyundai, Walmart, etc. The best strategies used by companies to develop customer loyalty include investment in quality, prioritizing customer satisfaction, the use of customer feedback, valuing every customer, using technology to leverage customer satisfaction, and involvement of the leaders. Therefore, if the brand needs to build loyalty, it’s essential to prioritize the customers.
Introduction
Customers and brands are two essential concepts that are central to business management. Management should consider the two concepts to understand the relationship between the business and the customer. The business relationship follows the form of brand loyalty that grows sufficiently strong and deep. Therefore, brand loyalty can be understood simply as being loyal to a specific brand or purchasing repeatedly from the brand instead of alternating brands. It’s one of the important concepts found in marketing, and many brands try to create brand loyalty since the higher the number of customers loyal to the brand, the better the financial position of the brand. In this century, competition has grown very intense, and in this instance, it’s very difficult to acquire consumers’ commitment.
Therefore, for brand marketers to win customers, they need to do more than send red roses since most customers decide to purchase based on their prevailing emotional standards between the consumer and the business (Aitchison, 2004). To ensure the relationship and emotion last, the management needs to understand the customers and their requirements to make them create an affinity and fall in love with the brand. This should grow to the extent that a person can overlook the other brand’s strong features and thus continue to purchase from one of the loyal brands he/she is committed to. Many companies have been involved in setting up different strategies to build customer loyalty. Therefore, in this paper, we are going to illustrate the best business strategies that are being used to develop brand loyalty. The paper will also illustrate the new companies that are making strides in building brand loyalty and the way the companies have created market share.
Companies that use brand loyalty to build market share
Many brands use this strategy to their advantage in both advertising messages and business models. The companies that use this strategy include Amazon, which creates customer loyalty by offering low shipment rates, making customers keep coming back. The Amazon loyalty program has continued to grow by 20% each year; therefore, more than five million customers have signed up for the program (Kim, 2011). The other company is Apple Store, which provides a good and friendly environment in which customers have fun and familiarize themselves with the products offered by Apple Company, i.e., gadgets and computers.
The other company is Facebook, which has prevailed in the media. The company has more than 750 million active users. The company has decimated MySpace, and it is essentially out of the picture; Facebook’s free reign continues in the mainstream, and this gives the company a greater number of loyal customers. The other is Zappos, which uses the loyalty-based business approach from the get-go. It creates a culture that naturally encourages repeat buying. Despite the fact that Amazon bought the company in 2009, Zappos has stayed as an independent entity with its branding. This helped to make loyal customers stay. The other company, Walmart, uses discount retail to encourage customers to purchase. The business doesn’t have an explicit loyalty program, but its continuous promise of the product’s daily low prices keeps people coming. The other company, Volvo, has partnered with Lego to teach the youth and young children the basics of vehicle safety. The other one is Budweiser, which created a Super Bowl TV ad in 2013 that employed the message of a long-lasting friendship.
The eighth is Mary Kay, which is the top cosmetic brand at present. The company’s products have remained resilient to customers despite some of the controversies that are being imposed on them. This gives the company better and higher customer loyalty. The ninth company is Crest White Strips, which is the debut of the new tooth-whitening class. Its five-minute speed-whitening system and the Rembrandt whitening enable customers to avoid discriminating against dental products. So, it’s essential for the company to leverage an existing brand from the other brands so that the product performs by itself. The last one is Hyundai, which has had an inspiring long-term turnaround, and the rebranding of the products from cheap to premium has helped to gain loyalty from customers.
Best strategies to develop brand loyalty
Many companies have set up different strategies and approaches to create customer loyalty. The strategies range from the marketing process to pricing, products, and the reputation of the brand, all of which impact the level of loyalty a brand enjoys. Buying behavior can be affected by factors essential in shaping the taste and perception of consumers. The best example is technology. These factors could also affect customer loyalty to the brand and the purchasing attitude regarding a specific brand. There are many benefits to brand loyalty (Pratap, 2017). Despite a direct impact on the market share and the bottom line, the release of new products is easy for a brand that has a greater level of customer loyalty. Since it’s difficult to create customer loyalty to the brand, investing in it and strategizing about the techniques and methods to build loyalty are some of the approaches being used in the 21st century, as follows.
Invest in Quality
The most important aspect that attracts customers to a specific brand is the quality of the brand. Despite the situation, the business should aim to keep the product’s quality as high as possible. Also, quality is related to pricing; therefore, customers expect proper products for the amount they are paying. A slight drop in the quality of the product can make the customer move to another brand immediately. Maintenance of higher quality enables customers to count on the brand. Many of the brands have maintained customer loyalty by ensuring the products sold to the customers are of better quality. Some of these companies include Starbucks, Nike, Apple, and Walmart, among the top brands due to the great investment in product quality. Thus, the product’s quality will be consistent, and customers will keep returning to the company.
Customer satisfaction is key to customer loyalty.
Customer satisfaction is the main focus of businesses in the 21st century because technological advancement has led to increased competition. Instead of quality, it’s important for the business to complement the customer’s experience with some additional things. The main focus is getting better customer satisfaction; if the customers are dissatisfied, they will move to another brand. If you are selling a better thing, it’s important to complement it with a better service (Chris, 2017). Even if you sell quality products, competitors are trying to match your quality to draw customers away. Therefore, the business should focus on building a relationship that is longer-lasting than just buying and selling. A deeper relationship with the customer implies the customer is attached to the brand. Many companies focus on customer engagement by consistently keeping in touch with the required audience and communicating with customers through social media and other channels.
The use of customer feedback
For the proper involvement of customers in the company, it’s essential that you consider their feedback. Customer feedback is beneficial since it helps the organization continuously develop and improve customer experience. Customers will feel more involved as you involve them more, and this will help create higher loyalty. Providing feedback to customers makes them feel they are included, opening new communication channels between customers and the brand. The feedback also provides information about issues that may affect the customer’s experience and thus helps business managers address them effectively. In this process, the company can provide customers with better value and improve their overall experience.
The use of technology to leverage customer satisfaction
The 21st century is considered an era of technological advancement; thus, companies are using it to improve customer experience. It starts with customer services and engagement and can be used to establish a deeper relationship with the customer. Most brands use social media platforms to enhance customer engagement and improve the customer experience (Willi, 2014). Customers can channel complaints and receive solutions and feedback via social media. However, companies have also used technology to offer a personalized experience. This is done through data to improve the customer’s personalized experience. The data will be important in designing a shopping experience, maximizing customer satisfaction, and building loyalty. The collected data is also important in planning marketing campaigns, and therefore, many brands use this data to pass information on to their customers. For instance, the company sends periodical emails, text messages, etc. to customers, which may help build trust and reliability along with a strong bond. Today, many software programs, technological platforms, and applications assist managers in collecting data and generating valuable insights that can be turned into actionable ideas.
Value every customer
You should not lose existing customers when attracting new customers to the company. It’s not wise to lose a potential buyer to a competitor; therefore, you should ensure that the customer returns. Create loyalty programs in the company and offer financial and nonfinancial incentives to customers to develop trust and loyalty. Management should know that brand loyalty is a reciprocal relationship; therefore, the brand must also be loyal to its customers if it wants loyalty from them. Therefore, the company needs to appreciate customers for their good relationship whenever it has an opportunity and show them how special they are to the brand.
Involvement of the leaders
The involvement of leaders is the most important idea in creating brand loyalty. Leaders can be considered the face of the brand since their voices add reliability and trust to the brand. The leaders of the company can also engage their customers and the people following the brand via social media (Michael & Fred, 2003). Communication from the company’s leaders can lead to trust and inspiration for customers. This creates a positive relationship between the company and customers. Consistent and regular interaction with customers and followers creates trust. Hence, it can be used to diffuse any misunderstanding and confusion easily and replace it with loyalty to the brand.
Conclusion
Brand loyalty can be understood simply as being loyal to a specific brand or purchasing repeatedly from the brand instead of alternating brands. Many brands use this strategy to their advantage in both advertising messages and business models. Some companies that use this strategy include Amazon, which creates customer loyalty by offering low shipment rates, making customers keep coming back. The other companies include Apple, Facebook, Volvo, Nike, Hyundai, Walmart, etc. The best strategies companies use to develop customer loyalty include investment in quality, prioritizing customer satisfaction, the use of customer feedback, valuing every customer, using technology to leverage customer satisfaction, and involvement of leaders. From the paper, we can conclude that in this century, any customer retained by the brand is considered equal to or even more valuable than several new customers that the brand has gained. Therefore, if the brand needs to build loyalty, it’s essential to prioritize customers.
Bibliography
Aitchison, J. (2004). Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Kim, B. (2011, September 19). The 20 Brands With The Most Loyal Customers. Retrieved from Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/brand-loyalty-customers-2011-9?IR=T
Michael, T., & Fred, W. (2003). The Paths to Market Leadership: Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines. New York: Harvard Business Review.
Willi, H. (2014, October 9). Loyalty In The 21st Century. Retrieved from Slideshare: https://www.slideshare.net/willhalliday1/loyalty-in-the-21st-century#
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