Why Your Customers Have Brand Loyalty
The part of our brain called the limbic system is the one that is responsible for our trust, loyalty, the decision-making. The structures of the limbic system involve motivation, emotion, learning, and memory. And guess what? That part of our brain does not understand language.
WHAT Part: So when we talk facts and figures, benefits and features, the part of the brain that understands that is not the decision making part and therefore does not cause people to buy.
So when we share our WHY, our purpose and especially when it’s bigger than ourselves, we are talking to the part of the brain that makes the decisions that gut feeling of intuition then we use the benefits and features to rationalize.
You know when you look at all the facts and figures and it looks good on paper but you have that feeling that it isn’t right. It’s a gut feeling and you keep saying it doesn’t feel right. People want you to pinpoint exactly what it is. Well, that part of our brain does not control language so all we have left is a feeling.
Your customers decision making process.
If you don’t know why you do what you do, how will anyone want to buy anything from you?
How will identify brand loyalty to your company?
How will they become connected and want to be a part of what you do?
You inspire people through your WHY. It evokes emotion from them and they buy emotionally, then validate with facts and features. Your WHY represents your branding. You end up with loyal customers, associates & employees who work with their blood sweat and tears. They believe in your beliefs and are so inspired and motivate by your WHY.
Brand Loyalty: Starbucks
The best example of this is Howard Schultz the CEO of Starbucks
You cannot inspire unless you have inspiration within you. Passion is everything and, as a leader, you must share that passion at every opportunity. You see, Schultz likes coffee, but he’s passionate about building a company that treats people with dignity and respect. He said coffee is what Starbucks makes as a product, but that’s not the business we’re in. Schultz is still communicating the same message and using guiding principles to inspire his employees and excite his customers.
It was not the calling of coffee, but the calling to try to building a company that my father never got a chance to work for, said Schultz. When we began Starbucks what I wanted to try to do was to create a set of values, guiding principles, and culture. According to Schultz, Starbucks was the first company in America to offer comprehensive health insurance and ownership in the form of stock options to all of its employees, including part-time workers.
What is the lesson?
What you do is different than what you’re passionate about. Your product is not your story. Your story is how the product improves the lives of your employees and your customers. This is why your customers buy from you! Devoted brand loyalty is evident in our customers and employees when we place a high value on their lives.
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