Is Brand Loyalty Dead?

In the Madmen era, the marketing playbook was to use mass media, strong ads, and a powerful brand to add customers.

And if you did it right? A customer would be loyal for life, always showing a preference for your brand above all others. This brand loyalty was a recipe for increased customer lifetime value (CLV), as well as a massive boost to the market share and profits of consumer goods companies.

The New Ad Era

In today’s world, the playbook has changed.

In most situations, there are no longer two brands competing head-to-head on grocery shelves, battling it out to win the minds and hearts of consumers. Instead, customer transactions are increasingly digital – and it is there that things can be tracked, compared, analyzed, and personalized. As a result, a new competitive landscape has emerged where the concept of brand loyalty is under siege.

Today’s infographic comes to us from RaveReviews and it asks the question: is brand loyalty “dead”?

If brand loyalty is not dead, it may be on its last legs. Today, only 23% of people say they have a relationship with a brand – a percentage that has been shrinking for years.

With a connected world and so many options at our fingertips, sticking with a single brand probably seems like an antiquated concept to many consumers. After all, if one can buy the same product from a vendor with better reviews or for a lower price, then why not?

Consumer Upside

While some people may yearn for an era where they could trust the brand they loved through the thick and thin, a decreased reliance on brand loyalty creates other potential benefits for consumers:

It levels the playing field
Brands are no longer entrenched in their positions as market leaders, allowing new and upcoming competitors to also vie for the hearts and minds of consumers. This ultimately means better products and more experimentation, and less blind loyalty to the brands of the old guard.

It motivates brands to listen
Brands can use the power of big data to monitor consumer preferences, and to react accordingly. Further, with the emergence of social media, consumers can be heard – and brands can respond to these concerns directly.

It encourages healthy competition
Product quality is more important than gaining emotional affinity. As a result, substandard products will not last long on the shelves.