I recently came across some interesting brand loyalty research. This article from Chief Marketer refers to a study done by Brand Keys that looks at a “Customer Loyalty Engagement Index”. In a nutshell the findings suggest customer loyalty greatly increases when products and services are customized to the consumer. This makes perfect sense, as customization is becoming more critical to marketers as product differentiation is becoming hard to come by these days. It is a testament to world wide engineering and manufacturing skills that most products sold in the US today are made very well. Since most competitive products do the same thing reasonable well, the ability to customize for a specific buyer has become an attractive product attribute.
The two factors driving the age of customization are the same ones that are driving the move to private media channels and content marketing. An advance in technology and web adoption has made ordering customized products or consuming custom content real and easy to do. However, the biggest factor is that consumers have the power and are in control of their choices. The web has empowered consumers to shop and/or gather information across the globe. It also plays into the consumer’s mindset – they would much rather have something created just for them instead of the same product purchased by the guy down the street.
You can see how this can apply to your marketing choices – if you send your customers content that has been customized for them, you will increase your chances of building a relationship of affinity, trust and loyalty. Many companies are missing a golden opportunity to build a stronger relationship with their customers by not communicating with them in a customized private custom media venue. How many companies are still relying on mass market bulk mailings to talk to their customers if they talk to them at all? The technology exists where you can mine your database to know a customer’s interests and tastes; why not send them content and marketing messages that are customized for them instead of a generic catalog or email? Or even worse, do think you are hitting your current customers with a mass media ad that is focused at prospects? Marketers are required to evaluate their customer communications in light of changes in the way people desire and consume information.
We are in the age of customization, and savvy marketers don’t want to be sending yesterday’s news to tomorrow’s customers.