Are you especially loyal to any one brand? If so, what is it and why are you so

Question

Are you especially loyal to any one brand? If so, what is it and why are you so loyal? When successfully building loyalty and community, trust seems to be the biggest factor. How can a company build trust and what is the best approach to do so (incorporating concepts from both the field of marketing and psychology)? What are the ethical issues and obligations that come with trust once it is built? Should consumers trust companies? Why or why not? Do you think some consumers are just more prone to be loyal to companies and other consumers are not? Why or why not?

Enough for 2 body pages and at least 2 references

Explanation / Answer

Answer: I am a loyal customer of one of the biggest and well known brands "Apple" . Although the market for smartphones is highly saturated the brand Apple has instilled a blind loyalty which other apple product users would also agree. The very cornerstone of establishing brand loyalty ie the mission and vision statement of Apple for delivering highly quality, innovative products : the brainchild of revolutionary and disruptive technology close resonates with the customer aspirations.People feel priviledged having owned an Apple product. It is an emotional investment and the association is bolstered by the idea for whcih Apple stands and the nicely knitted marketing story which remains for ages together in the minds of the customers.

The very foundation of loyalty is built upon the principles of Relationships and Sense of belonging.

Again relationships are built from Trust which has its origin from conversation, customer engagement, high customer service standards, accessibility to products and services and a trustworthy operating ecosystem or microcosm.In this age ofcompetitions customers are becoming increasingly tech savvy and informed(Aware). Hence companies must strive to build trust to enhance brand loyalty using the following methods:

-Develop good contents. Good content will help in increasing the degree of customer engagement and thus win customer trust

-Establish authenticity by promoting and engaging identity and an authentic storyline. Stand by your commitment to deliver under any circumstances.Ensure that what the brand promises and what customers experience are consistent.

-Design should consider and incorporate the concept of prototypicality. That is simpler and familier designs have greater chances of winning customer trust as they can easily associate themselves with those familiar designs and are in their comfort zone

-Leverage Social proofing. Trust can be easily built online if customers are influenced and persuaded by those (family , friends and relatives, recognizable social figures, celebrities) around them.Likes, recommendations and ratings help in building trust and exploring the promises made by the brand

-Ensure a good user experience.A good and memorable user experience carefully designed by intertwinning customer needs and business needs will keep the brand alive in the minds of the customers for ages.

-Extremely good customer experience will ensure trust , engagement and loyalty. Exceptional customer experience is highly desireable on the face of technological innovation and soaring customer expectations and aspirations.

Once trust is built and brand loyalty is established , then companies should not take udue advantage of the customer stickiness and their relucance to switch. At the same time there may be ethical issues and obligations as listed below:

- During the low selling seasons do not force sales staff to oversell by making forced selling rather than need based selling.However if a proper balance is not striked and sales target is not met , it may tantamount to financial losses.

- Companies will have a very a very good idea about he price sensitivities of its customers. They should not unnecessarily and frequently hike the prices ( within the price elasticity limits ofcourse) and create undue burden on the customers. Similarly if they don't do so their profit margins will be limited.

- During advertising and promotions they should not make false commitments of mislead the customers .They should deliver what has been promised.For example if advertisement is given for low priced products but the stock in store are of higher prices and the sales person tries to sell those higher priced products to the customers when they step into their store lured by the commitment in the advertisement. If they don't do so then the store footfall may suffer.

- Companies should also verify and validte that their suppliers are also following the ethical standard codes as commited to the customers. This applies to the direct as well as indirect sourcing of goods and services. For example supplier should not exploit labourers during he production of goods, supplier shuld ensure minimum wages ,healthy production environment .They should avoid selling products which uses animal for testing.

- The customer facing company staff should also maintain ethical standards and behave ethically to provide a customer experience consistent with the promises made by the company.

Consumers should not blindly trust the companies because the companies may lure them to be loyal customers by promising them lot of good offers and through attractive promotions but once loyalty is established and the customers are least resistant to switch , company may start milking the customer and rip them apart.By the time customers realize this exploitation it might be too late.Customers should always validate the promises made by the companies and ensure that they get what has been promised to be delivered.

In today's age there if a fierce competition to get customer's attention and they are flooded with offers and promotions .However today's customers are better connected and more informed.They are less likely to fall victim to the false promises made by the brands. There is an increasing disconnect between brands and consumers and although consuers believe that brands can improve their lives they hardly believe tha brands are actually dong this.Only relevance and trust can help in building brand loyalty.

Of course some people are more prone to fell to the alurement of the brands and are influenced more easily than others may be because they are not very well connected or they lack the cognitive ability to decipher and distinguish between brands. Some people may be more willing to experiment and try out new brands .While some do so because of social acceptance.They are easiliy manipulated by social influencers without even realising the consequences of their actions.Even some people may have a tendency of brand fanaticism and might have developed blind faith in some brand.

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