What does it take to create brand champions?

We all know that there are so many media outlets today and brand messages are more cluttered than ever. Ultimately, all this noise makes it harder for consumers to actually pay attention and engage with a brand. So what does it take for consumers to love and champion a brand? In a previous blog post, I listed a few tips that brands and companies should pay attention to in order to keep their best customers. The third tip I recommended was to reward customers. Rewards not only create a sense of belonging, but it also makes the consumer content and feel appreciated. Ultimately, this leads to a zealous consumer who will sing your praises and will tell the world (and fellow bloggers) about the wonderful experience. Luckily, I am not alone in praising the concept of rewarding.

In The New Champion Customers: Measuring Word-of-Mouth Activity Among Reward Program Members, a recent COLLOQUY study explains that members that participate in a loyalty-building effort, like rewards programs, are 70%more likely to actively recommend a product, service, or brand than the general population. Some of the more notable rewards programs are MyMarriot Rewards, MyCokeRewards and the Best Buy Reward Zone. The study was designed to “explore the intersection between consumers who participate in loyalty and reward programs and their Word-of-Mouth (WOM) activity regarding brands, Reward Programs and specific product categories.” The study polled more than 7,000 consumers in the U.S. and Canada. Of those who participated in rewards programs, 55% described themselves as brand champions. The majority of this group (68%) said they would recommend a program sponsor’s brand during the course of the next year. When asked why they are motivated to participate in W-O-M activity, respondents said: to tell manufacturers what I think (73%), to get smart about products and services (68%), to be the first to discover new items (68%), to get free product samples (63%) and to share my opinion with others (61%). (Check out the COLLOQUY study here.)

Based on findings from this study, and my own feelings on this topic, its seems obvious that people want to belong, desire a deeper relationship with brands and want to share their opinions with those brands and others around them. The companies and brands that want to hold on to their customers should listen to their needs, wants and comments in various places such as call centers, social networks, blogs and You Tube. People that feel compelled to share their opinions will in a major way. It’s happened in the past, and it will continue to happen. Rather than have disgruntled or disengaged customers, brands have an opportunity to make strong connections with their cusotmers and ultimately, build a relationship that could last a lifetime.