Opinion

What does brand success look like in tomorrow’s marketplace?

The brands that are ready to face the challenges of tomorrow’s marketplace are investing in community and relationship design today, writes R/GA’s Michael Titshall.

When did you last transfer the contents of your wallet? If you’ve had one for a long time and done this recently, I’ll hazard a guess that brand loyalty scheme cards were propping up the old leather. Once upon a time, loyalty schemes were the marketers’ best friend – but in 2022, they feel like dusty relics of an age gone past.

We’re living in a world that feels more complex and uncertain than at any other point in our lives. Political and economic instability, an ongoing global pandemic, the climate crisis, and international conflicts make it hard for people to feel confident about many of their decisions. At the same time, there has been a noticeable change in how and when people spend their time.

Instead, customers are looking for brands to aid in their personal growth and journey. And they want brands to make their lives easier while doing so. In fact, research shows that over 70% of the attributes that drive consumer satisfaction are linked to customer confidence. It is proven that brands that make the lives of their customers easier, while building their confidence to achieve their goals, will stand out from competitors at a time when such qualities are at a premium.

Our era of continuous innovation has created a movement of people looking to build or learn new skills to become their best selves. From the rise of apps and services to help users master a new language or to get expert advice on everything from cooking to makeup routines, the pursuit of personal growth has become a fundamental aspect of everyday life for many.

In contrast, the basic principle of traditional loyalty schemes encourages people to have to make a purchase first, to consider the complicated and various options they have in front of them from multiple brands before they hold the confidence to do so. This short-term thinking is rapidly losing appeal with the customers of today, and it should lead us to reassess our concept of ‘brand loyalty’.

Choosing Personal Growth over Re-Purchasing

As a result of these rapidly changing expectations, we have seen customer satisfaction nosedive across different sectors. The solution is not complex: brands need to invest in the right aspects of customer experience to better serve today’s transformed consumer.

With confidence ranking the highest of all for the factors for customer satisfaction, it’s vital for brands to work on developing it. Customers aren’t simply looking to purchase a product or a service, they’re investing in the promise that their purchasing decision will bring them closer to their ‘best selves’. Brands need to orient themselves towards their customers’ search for personal growth, enabling confidence-making purchasing decisions which, in turn, will help brands stand out against competitors who simply don’t understand this consumer mindset shift.

If you think about the brands experiencing large growth and success right now, it’s those who have grown an audience by recognising that their customers are overwhelmed with choice and time-poor. This principle applies across various industries.

Brands like Coles, Woolworths, Mecca, and Sephora have captured the loyalty of Australians because they intuitively understand why people shop with them. For the supermarkets, it’s about helping customers feed their families for less, while beauty retailers know that their customer is engaging with them to feel good, designing for emotional benefits instead. They inspire the confidence in that community long before a purchase is made.

Turning globally, a brand like Reddit – another community-centric brand – has managed to make Australia its fourth biggest market in the space of one year (not to mention the eighth most visited website in the world globally).

Crucially, that relationship has been built by design. It didn’t just happen overnight. The platform facilitates communities to create a sense of belonging that could not be authentically created if Reddit inserted itself too heavily into the experience. In sum, it’s a brand that truly understands its relationship with its users and doesn’t try to over-engineer it.

Choose Clarity and Community Over a Leaky Bucket

If we can learn one thing from Reddit and community-centric brands, one way to instill confidence is through clarity. Having clarity of the real value you provide consumers is important for brands to have clear focus and aide decision making on what to and what not to do. Achieving this first, before pouring money into a rewards program, will ensure long-term loyalty rather than filling a leaky bucket. Designing experiences that give customers confidence is possible with the help of a holistic relationship design model.

It’s important to think of relationship design as an ongoing program of work. One that enables brands to constantly adapt to ever-changing attitudes, behaviours, and expectations. This enables brands to remain relevant, continue to provide value as the world around them rapidly evolves, and cater to more satisfied customers. By centering meaningful customer satisfaction once again, brands will be rewarded with the loyalty they crave – but we might need to find new devices to prop up our old wallets.

Titshall

Michael Titshall, SVP, managing director, Australia at R/GA.

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