A product is a blend of multiple features which is positioned and distinguished by way of some special offering to establish it as a brand. And, if a customer is loyal towards a particular brand, it means a product has fulfilled all the requirements of a customer and satisfying a customer translates the brand into a pivotal product to lend the organization the leading edge over its competitors. The brand loyalists have the power to make or break the image of a brand by word of mouth publicity.
Any brand in the market thrives or survives based on its effective usage by the customer. Since the advertising for a brand has taken off new dimensions with online advertising tools as one of the potent mediums, the end user has evolved with time immemorial and hence it has become rather difficult to prevent the customer from brand switching.
The brands that have been continuously nurtured and innovated over a period of time has been the insistent choice of a consumer. And, so apart from this what other constituents hold the customer’s loyalty towards a brand is an important question? How to retain the existing customer is the key concern of every organization? What mechanism should be used for each customer?
There are 4 types of brand users who reflect the following tendencies:
The Hard Core loyalists: Who is keen to buy one single brand every time.
Soft Core loyalists: A consumer is loyal to 2-4 brands at a time.
Shifting loyalists: Although a consumer is loyal towards a brand, but may keep shifting from one brand to another and keep coming back to the first brand towards which he was loyal.
Switchers: Who always are on the lookout for a new brand. Perhaps here the consumer tries to experiment with new brands each time and also he may switch over because of pricing or some other reasons.
