About half (49%) of North American consumers say they “love” somewhere between 1 to 5 different brands, while some don’t love any particular brands at all. So, why do consumers fall in love with brands? A survey from Localytics aimed to find that out.
As it stands out, brands that can make life more comfortable, convenient and entertaining are well poised to reap the rewards of consumer love, as this was the reason cited by the largest share (30%) of the 1,000 consumers surveyed for loving certain brands. Given the results of past research, the first two factors may not come as a surprise: in an era when consumers are struggling to get everything done in their day, they are willing to pay for services or subscriptions to save time and convenience is often a driving factor. Indeed, NRF research has shown that almost all shoppers have not completed a purchase because it was inconvenient.
Convenience also plays a role in how people choose to view video content: one study indicates that consumers are more likely to turn to viewing sources that are convenient and accessible to find new shows they like.
To a much lesser extent, consumers love brands because the brand makes them feel understood as a consumer/person. This aspect of personalization is especially a plus for Millennials, particularly when it comes to advertising to them. These younger shoppers are more likely than average consumers to want advertising that is more personalized to their tastes and relevant to their needs.
Quality Over Convenience
There are several factors that influence a consumer’s love for a brand. For a large share (37%) of respondents, the superior quality of a product has an impact on the feelings consumers have for a brand. Quality has also been found to be a very important factor leading to customers trusting brands.
By contrast – and surprisingly given the above results – a much smaller share (10%) of respondents say that just ease of use or convenience is a factor that leads them to love a brand. This shows that a brand can’t just offer convenience, it also needs to be of quality and enrich their lives.
Excellent communication (19%) from a brand is also a factor likely to make consumers love that brand more than just convenience. But what do consumers consider to be bad communication? The biggest complaint among the survey respondents was hearing from a brand too frequently – a problem that has often been cited with respect to brand emails.
Personalization and Channels
Being understood as a customer or a person is not just something that inspires fondness towards a brand. The lack of this can be off-putting, with many respondents saying that their biggest complaint about brand communications is that the brand doesn’t understand their interests.
Other research has shown that personalization in communication can be effective, with two-thirds (65%) of email marketers saying that more personalization is a key factor that can improve the effectiveness of their email programs. Moreover, more than one-third (37%) of US consumers have reported having acted upon personalized messaging. Nonetheless, there is a point when a brand can seem to know too much about a customer and being too personal can make that love a customer feels for a brand turn sour.
Another complaint about brand communications is that the customer is being contacted on an channel through which they don’t prefer to be contacted. In most cases, the least preferred channel would either be a phone call or social media contact. Email, on the other hand, remains the communication channel of choice for almost 3 in 5 consumers.
Further data from the Localytics survey can be found online here.
About the Data: Results are based on a survey of 1,000 consumers in North America.
