Brand loyalty is the ever-elusive goal most companies build entire business programs around. The path for a band of loyal customers used to be much clearer — provide top-notch products your customers love and they’ll reward you with unwavering support of your brand. Take a classic department store for example: once one of THE big brands smaller and newer companies attempted to emulate.
Now, their position is much less enviable. When brands begin to lose the support of shoppers it isn’t always because they’ve made a huge mistake, or their product quality has diminished (though those factors don’t have an impact). It’s because they’ve stopped creating amazing experiences for their customers.
Department stores at the turn of the 20th century were a marvel to consumers — never before had so many goods been in one single, convenient place. A hundred years on, the novelty has worn off and the brands who want to continue to capture the hearts and minds of customers need to offer innovative, personalized experiences to every customer, every time. For marketers that might seem like a tall order, but the answer to execution is lying in plain sight. Existing customer data, that’s been activated, is the most powerful tool in the battle for 1:1 personalization.
