The basics of brand loyalty and how you can start building it with your customers

If you asked someone their favorite grocery store, or mobile carrier, or airline, chances are they’d have an answer. Whether it’s a service, design, or product, customers develop loyalty to brands they connect and engage with in a positive way.

In a time of many choices, brand loyalty may feel fleeting for some businesses. But some brands have learned through creating and innovating how to delight and retain their customers. In this guide, we’ll dive into what brand loyalty is and why it’s important for advertisers to include in their marketing strategy.

Brand loyalty is when customers continue to purchase from the same brand over and over again, despite competitors offering similar products or services. Not only do customers continue engaging and purchasing from the same brand, but they also associate positive feelings toward that brand. Brand loyalty has a lot to do with how customers perceive your brand, its actions, and its values. And it’s an important way to help retain customer loyalty and increase repurchase rates.

Brand loyalty and customer loyalty may seem synonymous, but they’re not. Customer loyalty focuses on the customer’s spending. For instance, brands can create customer loyalty by offering lower prices, discounts, and rewards programs–this is also known as transactional loyalty. In 2020, a worldwide survey by Statista found that 62% of customers were loyal to a brand because of their prices.¹

Whereas brand loyalty focuses on customer perception, which can also be considered emotional loyalty. How do customers see your brand? How do customers feel about your brand? Brand loyalty can be associated with so much more than the price of products; it’s also developed by how customers see, feel, and value your brand. In the same worldwide Statista survey, 57% of customers had loyalty to a brand based on customer service, and 54% felt loyalty based on product or service offerings.²

Brands looking to increase brand loyalty may want to consider reengaging with customers who have already purchased from them previously. With Sponsored Display purchase remarketing, advertisers can create campaigns that help existing customers discover new products your brand has to offer wherever they spend time.