If played right, you too can earn #millennialoyalty.

A recent study reported by Forbes affirmed that contrary to what many brands and marketers believe, Millennials can be brand loyal. They are no longer the noncommittal bachelors and bachelorettes of the demographic cohorts – they are capable of brand love. The study reports that 60% of Millennials are often or always loyal to brands that they currently purchase.

Realistically, Millennials have been capable of brand love the whole time. But with so many marketing messages in their faces – they have simply tuned out. And why wouldn’t they? With so many brands vying for their hearts, Millennials will wait for the ones that try harder – the ones that understand and engage them on a personal level. And at 80 million strong with an estimated $200 billion in annual buying power (in the US alone), they can.

What's trending in loyalty?

The 2015 Loyalty Report saw an increasing number of people opt-in to a variety of loyalty programs in the past year, and revealed the extent to which programs are effective in influencing customer behavior show no signs of diminishing.

There is no debate. Retail has largely been an anonymous and aggregate game. The public sale is pervasive and perpetual, and the arms race to deeper discounts was in full swing during the holidays. But, some of this past season’s sales results suggest there may be fatigue in this model. Our recent Holiday Study suggests that good old brand loyalty may play a more important role in holiday shopping than previously believed. With over 40% of a retailer’s sales happening during the holidays, it’s a critical time to attract new customers, but also key is to focus on retaining existing customers who often account for 55-70% of sales.

It’s a truth that retailers have lived by for decades: To have a successful year, you have to have a successful holiday shopping season. And sales figures tend to bear this out. While it can vary widely by category, across the board a retailer can expect 20 percent of annual sales to come from the holiday shopping season.

As featured in Quirks Marketing Research Media.

Scott Robinson leads our loyalty consulting and solutions discipline, and is our thought leader for consumer loyalty strategy engagements. His focus is enabling clients with the best possible solutions for their specific objectives and environments, and ensuring Bond Brand Loyalty maintains market leadership in terms of loyalty and CRM innovation, technique and approach.

Q: What is it about brand love vs. program love that is important to CMOs?

Loyalty is a hot topic today for brands that are looking to differentiate themselves from the competition. But, many brands are unsure how to approach loyalty beyond a rewards card or timely discount. The Loyalty Report, which surveyed over 6,000 consumers on over 160 loyalty programs, captured key insights about consumer attitudes, behaviors and interactions with brands. Though the report is rich with insights and trends, here are the top 10 takeaways from the 2014 Loyalty Report.

While in high school my stepdaughter appeared stamped from a mold. She and her fellow clones would wear reassuring uniforms commonly accepted in the suburbs. American Eagle, Hollister, Lululemon, and Abercrombie & Fitch among others were accepted suppliers within her peer group. These girls also adopted the same hairstyle so when clustered together I would often fail the stepfather test of locating her in a crowd (she often used that to her advantage).

All of Marketing is caught up in ‪#CannesLions —but what’s the celebration really about? When we say that ‘All Marketing is Loyalty’—we mean it. Every step in the loyalty lifecycle that begins with acquisition and *must* continue in the form of an ongoing relationship, are equally important. Brands who do well by their loyal customers, offering them new and innovative experiences, are more profitably succeeding - if those experiences are good, they will tell others for you. We see this ideal in the submissions for this year’s Direct Lions and we are offered a close up look at what triggers bonding with a brand beyond the monetary.

Increased mobile presence is one of the most important shifts in the brand loyalty market right now, other than millennials, which we’ll talk about later! In fact, 65% of Americans want to engage with their loyalty programs through their mobile device (2014 Loyalty Report).

As people interact with brands more intimately, we are seeing a hunger for personalization—a step away from mass production and a movement towards agency and relevancy. This desire for engagement supports the 4-Drive Model of human motivation approach to brand loyalty, with regards to the drives to create and to bond—both of which in turn foster a deeper emotional connection between consumer and brand. 

Your organization has come to the conclusion that a brand loyalty program would provide a marketable differentiator and strategic advantage for your business and now it’s up to you to make it happen.

The first steps are to assess your in-house capabilities, determine the operating model you would like to move forward with and how figure out how much expertise you need to hire on. You definitely don't want to start from scratch!