Australians are loyal only to brands and retailers that offer them value for money, including discounts, incentives, and customer rewards.
This is according to Emarsys’ annual Customer Loyalty Index, which surveyed over 11,000 consumers across five countries, including 2,000 Australians, to discover the factors that drive customer loyalty.
Aussies are overwhelmingly about the price tag, with 52 per cent driven by cost above all else.
“In Australia, the ‘price-tag-takes-all’ attitude continues to be a dominating force behind consumers’ loyalty towards brands,” explains Kristyn Wallace, Regional Vice President, APJ at Emarsys.
This is according to the five loyalty types defined by Emarsys’ Loyalty Index:
Inflation has led 89 per cent of shoppers to be less loyal to department stores, subscription services and single-brand stores.
Nearly 70 per cent of Aussie consumers will switch products if a cheaper option is available, regardless of brand.
55 per cent of Australians would lose loyalty to a brand if it increased its prices, above being stung by poor quality products (49 per cent) or a difficult shopping experience (34 per cent).
The three factors driving consumers to be ‘more loyal’ are discounts, incentives, and reward offerings (67 per cent), excellent customer service (56 per cent), and high-quality products (52 per cent).
“All five loyalty types can drive consumers to make a purchase from a brand, but the category retailers should be striving for is True Loyalty.” said Wallace.
“As inflation plays a large role in how consumers interact with brands and how they show their loyalty to their favourite retailers, marketers need to be more proactive than ever. It’s never been more crucial for brands to truly understand their customers: it’s not enough to be customer centric anymore, brands must be customer obsessed.
“To make themselves as recession-proof as possible, brands must know customers on a granular level and recognise which factors impact loyalty among different customer groups.”
