It’s important that your customers do, so let’s talk about building and measuring brand affinity for your company.
Brand affinity goes way beyond the products and services you offer. It is the emotional connection that customers have for a brand based on experience, shared values, brand personality, and offerings. It is the customer’s brand preference within a particular product category, for example, Marvel vs. DC for superhero movies or comic books.
Identify the dimensions of an individual’s brand affinity by asking questions and studying online engagement. We’re looking for:
Brand equity is the added value a brand gives to a product over a competing alternative.
As an example, let’s say we’re shopping for laundry detergent. Side-by-side on the shelf is a generic laundry detergent and Tide. We know that there are some tough stains waiting to be cleaned at home, and even though the generic detergent says it works on stains and is less expensive, we reach for Tide. We put our trust in it over the generic choice for no reason other than our belief in the brand.
Brand equity encompasses the whole brand, justifies its value, and is measured based on perceived quality, associations, loyalty, and awareness. Brand affinity is about the positive relationship between the customer and the brand. You need brand equity to achieve brand loyalty and affinity.
Monitor brand reputation and quickly identify any changes in sentiment—get your business on the fast track to good brand health.
Brand loyalty is when a customer prefers your brand over your competitors. They believe your brand completely meets their needs and there is no reason to even try anything else in your product category.
Apple is a good example of brand loyalty. In fact, Apple brand loyalty is at an all-time high of nearly 92%, according to a recent survey. In other words, when 91.9% of iPhone users need or want a new phone, they will buy another iPhone.
Brand loyalty is based on product performance. If your products work for the customer, they will come back for more. Brand affinity prompts customers to make purchases based on emotional connections.
Brand awareness covers how many people are aware of your brand, products, values, and vision. This is measured by asking people to recall your business name, feeling given by the business, information about products and services, and other details. Brand affinity is associated with how much a customer likes your brand—they already have brand awareness.
If people believe in your brand, they’ll feel connected, pay attention to your communications, and trust what you say. This results in some important benefits, including increasing lifetime value and sales volume.
When you build brand affinity, you humanize your brand. It’s much easier for people to love a brand that is personable rather than robotic. Brand affinity is the most important level of a customer relationship.
Your brand personality directly impacts your brand affinity. People want to engage with a brand that is distinctive and has a memorable, recognizable voice. Spend some time developing your brand personality and make sure to use the same tone of voice throughout all of your content from social media to advertisements to your website.
If you’re building a strong relationship with your customers, they have to have some level of trust for your brand. Trust and affinity go hand-in-hand. According to The Kearney Consumer Institute, consumers expect honesty and authenticity if you want their trust. Keep that in mind when creating content across all channels.
Brand affinity can boost customer satisfaction levels through their strong emotional connection to your brand. When customers are satisfied, they share their experiences with others, leading to increased brand awareness.
There is no single way to measure brand affinity, but there are certain metrics you can use to create a picture of your performance.
Your Net Promoter Score is an indication of customer loyalty. It’s a standardized measure that provides you with a quantifiable way to track your brand’s performance.
This metric measures the amount of money your client could potentially spend on your products during your relationship. The customer lifetime value metric reflects your customer retention and loyalty.
Check your social media analytics to track brand mentions. When customers tag you with @yourcompanyname or a hashtag related to your brand or product, you gain a unique insight into what they think of your brand.
Put your brand mentions into context with sentiment analysis. Your results should be primarily positive words—that means you’re on the right track. Sentiment analysis can also be performed on text survey responses with SurveyMonkey.
Use Facebook Insights and YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok analytics to understand how much time people spend watching your content. Keep in mind that Instagram Insights are only available through the mobile app, Facebook Business Manager, or some third-party social media tools (not through Instagram on your computer).
Now that you know what brand affinity is and how important it is for your brand, let’s talk about building it. These building blocks are probably things you already have or are working on, so you’re already well on your way.
Excellent customer service has a huge impact on how customers view your brand. In fact, according to Nextiva, 52% of consumers say they have made an additional purchase from a company after a positive customer service experience. And Americans will pay 17% more to do business with firms with great reputations when it comes to customer service.
SurveyMonkey market research solutions can help you evaluate and monitor your customer service to identify areas for improvement. Start with our customer service survey template