What Wins a Consumer’s Loyalty?

By Paul Conley, Content Marketing Director, The NPD Group

CivicScience, a research partner of The NPD Group, asked more than 30,000 U.S. consumers what made them loyal to a particular brand. The top answer, as you can see in the graph below, is “quality.”


But when we dive a little deeper into the data, it’s demographics that most clearly illustrate what generates loyalty.
Men, for example, are more likely to answer “I'm not loyal to any brands.” And when guys do feel loyalty, they are more likely to site “Service” as the reason.

Women and parents are more likely to answer “Price/deals,” as are people who live in the Midwest.
Those Midwesterners are also more likely to cite “Convenience/location.” Whereas Southerners are more likely to answer “Service.”
And although “Quality” is the most cited reason across all groups for brand loyalty, grandparents are less likely to cite that factor, and college graduates are more likely to do so.

And so for retailers, it appears that the way to win loyalty and wallet share is, as is so often the case in sales, to give the people what they want. And what they want varies by region, age, education level, etc.

So wise retailers should consider crafting and tailoring their loyalty programs for different demographic targets. Perhaps by creating a program in the Midwest that focuses on sales at locations near a shopper’s home. Or by creating a program in the South that offers free delivery and personal-shopping services. And if you want to add guys to your loyalty club, offering services (tech support, equipment guidance, etc.) might be the key.

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