When it comes to loyalty, it all boils down to being authentic.
You can’t be one thing in one place and then go and represent your brand differently somewhere else.
Your brand needs to be consistent in execution at every moment because your customers aren’t just at one place or another.
What It Takes to Get Noticed
During my many years as a retailer, we found that a brand needed to touch a customer seven times throughout the journey before they would even reach the consideration stage.
So, it’s not just about one isolated experience.
It means that those customers had to be delivered a consistent brand message seven times.
The thread of that story, of that brand, had to play all the way through in a seamless fashion.
And you can’t just rely on that initial attention. Once you manage to reach a customer, it’s all about the continual moments of interaction that take place from that point on.
You Can’t Just Execute in One Place
We can’t just execute in one place and then turn our heads and walk away.
Getting a customer to sign up for a loyalty program isn’t creating loyalty. It’s just one loyalty moment.
You must execute consistently across every moment that customer is going to come in touch with your brand.
That means in-store, on your website, on the phone, on social media, and the list goes on.
That’s daunting.
But brands that get this right are the ones that are going to be the most successful.
One View of Your Brand
This is where we’re seeing growth in digital come in from the big players.
It’s because the experience and service in-store is being matched with the experience and service in digital, on the phone, or on social.
Again, it’s one view of your brand across all these individual loyalty moments.
The brand doesn’t change based on the platform.
Bringing It Back to the Brand
So, if you’re true to your brand, and you articulate that story, it needs to happen consistently at every single touch point.
What we all must think about is, what is the meaning of that platform?
What am I articulating and does it connect back to my brand in a positive way?
Consistent story-telling is critical. Consistency in what your brand represents, to the customer and across all these loyalty moments is the key.
That’s what’s going to keep your customer engaged and, ultimately, build loyalty.