Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Institute has released a new report titled ‘Loyalty Deciphered— How Emotions Drive Genuine Engagement,’ which seeks to understand the main drivers behind brand loyalty.
The report, which surveyed more than 9,000 consumers and 500 executives, found that emotions have the strongest impact in driving consumer loyalty. For retailers who are able to foster loyalty through higher emotional engagement with consumers, there is a great potential business benefit of possibly increasing annual revenues by 5 per cent.
The new report also identified a stark disconnect between executives and consumers on how well organizations are making emotional connections; where 80 per cent of executives feel their brand understands the needs and desires of their consumers, only 15 per cent of consumers agree.
Emotions Are The Main Driver Of Loyalty
Current loyalty approaches are broken. An earlier report found that 28 per cent of consumers are abandoning loyalty programs without redeeming any points and over half (54 per cent) of loyalty memberships are inactive. One key reason is that many of today’s loyalty programs attempt to buy consumer loyalty through monetary rewards only.
The new report reveals that emotions have the strongest correlation to loyalty over rational factors and brand values. Specifically, honesty and trust were noted as having the greatest influence on loyalty. However, there does need to be a balancing act with rational benefits.
Consumers with high emotional engagement still believe rational factors and brand values are important when they decide on which companies they will bestow their loyalty.
Creating An Emotional Connection With Consumers Drives Multiple Benefits For Retailers
The report found that 82 per cent of consumers with high emotional engagement would always buy the brand they are loyal to when making purchasing decisions (compared to 38 per cent of consumers with low emotional engagement).
In addition, 81 per cent of emotionally connected consumers will not only promote the brand among their family and friends, but they will also spend more too. The report found that 70 per cent of consumers with a high emotional engagement spend up to twice as much with those brands.
Emotionally engaged consumers are loyal to the brands they love and willingly act as ambassadors to family and friends. They want brands to be engaged and reciprocate their loyalty in two-way interactions (86 per cent), but they also enjoy giving back to a brand (81 per cent). Consumers also want differentiated shopping experiences both online (75 per cent) and in store (73 per cent).
Consumer Goods & Retail Lead, Insights & Data Global Practice at Capgemini, Kees Jacobs said, “Consumers are immune to transaction based loyalty programs of the past, so a retailer’s engagement with consumers needs to shift from being transactional to more emotional and meaningful. Decoding human emotions will ensure that brands have a better understanding of their consumers leading to building deep-seeded engagement and long-term loyalty with them. With a potential revenue boost of 5 per cent up for grabs, and weak emotional connections ready to be exploited by the competition, no retailer can afford to ignore this reality.”
City Dwellers And Millennials Lead The Rise Of The Emotionally Engaged Consumers
The report identified a new sub-set of consumers, those with a high emotional connection to the brands they use or visit frequently. Females and males are equally represented in this group, but millennials (58 per cent, aged 18-36) and consumers in urban locations (53 per cent) comprise the largest proportion. From the countries surveyed, Italy (65 per cent) and Brazil (57 per cent) comprise of the most highly emotionally engaged consumers followed by US (56 per cent) and Spain (51 per cent).
How To Create An Emotional Connection
Retailers need to change the way they build relationships with consumers so they are focused on building engagement and mutual trust, rather than being transaction focused. The report sets out four key components to driving ‘human loyalty’ that retailers should follow to create strong positive emotions, and therefore deeper engagement and loyalty with their consumers:
– Respect: Fulfil your commitment by promoting honesty, trust, and integrity.
– Reciprocate: Build a two-way relationship with consumers
– Recognize: Make the effort to truly know your consumers and understand what they care about to create meaningful experiences.
– Reward: Provide timely, meaningful rewards that promote long-term relationships in exchange for loyalty.
The report identified a new sub-set of consumers, those with a high emotional connection to the brands they use or visit frequently
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