Emotional loyalty marketing is an often-overlooked part of marketing. Companies strive to improve their customer experience, and yet overlook forming an emotional connection with customers which can maximize the chances of increasing customer lifetime value. Even the most popular brands don’t always find the right formula to appeal to customer emotions. Emotional loyalty marketing may seem time consuming, but it is certainly worth the efforts. According to Harvard Business Review, emotionally engaged customers are:
- At least three times more likely to recommend a product or service
- Three times more likely to re-purchase
- Less likely to shop around (44% said they rarely or never shop around)
- Much less price sensitive (33% said they would need a discount of over 20% before they would defect)
If this isn’t reason enough to consider emotional loyalty marketing as a strategy, what if we say that it is achievable through a loyalty rewards program? Customers have come to expect a certain level of support and shopping experience from all businesses. A well-structured loyalty rewards program allows businesses to go beyond the basic expectations and provide differentiating features to engage customers and form an emotional connect with them.
Surprise and Delight
To achieve this, brands must set the bar high by going above and beyond what customers expect. Surprise gifts need not be expensive, but the gesture will win over these customers. Through a loyalty program, brands can provide various gifts and freebies to keep customers happy. Customers can be awarded bonus points on their special days like birthdays and anniversaries. Other surprise gifts could be hand written notes from top management, free samples, an occasional free shipping voucher etc. Customer segmentation must be leveraged, so that certain types of rewards target the most appropriate customer demographics who will appreciate them the most.
Loyalty Tiers
Loyalty tiers provide a form of recognition to the customers. Moreover, the customers who make their way to the higher tiers enjoy the rewards and benefits associated with that tier. These top customers enjoy exclusivity and are incentivized to perform the necessary activities to maintain their tier status and thus stay engaged with the program. For other customers, the top tiers become aspirational, and they try to make their way to the highest tier. In both scenarios, brands improve their customer lifetime value and build engagement. Furthermore, loyalty tiers allow brands to prioritize their top customers and give them special attention.
Charity Donation As A Reward
Beyond regular rewards, a new rewards concept is charity donations. This option allows customers to donate their accumulated loyalty reward points to a charity of their choice. Associating with charities and providing customers a chance to give back to society through their loyalty points has been a great way to form an emotional bond with customers. The customers relate to the brand better and this leads to a greater brand recall. Customers who donate to charities should be appreciated. Brands can give a shout out to these customers on social media too. This takes ‘delighting customers’ beyond freebies and gifts.
Sustainability
Sustainability has become the new normal for customers, who are increasingly choosing brands aligning with sustainable practices. Any brand that manages to do this can connect with their audience easily, thus improving their customer lifetime value. A loyalty program enables businesses to implement sustainability in simple yet effective ways – customers can be encouraged to donate used products in exchange of loyalty points, these products can be recycled or reused leading to customer goodwill.
The trick to using emotional loyalty marketing effectively is to make customers feel valued. The more personalized attention you give to customers, the stronger the emotional bond they form with the brand. Emotions are the key to building relationships with potential customers, and these relationships are more resistant to changes in the market, competitors’ advertising, and pricing changes. Start thinking about your customers’ emotions, find ways to connect with them in an authentic way, and you’ll see the results quickly.
