How Brand Recognition Boosts Customer Loyalty
Traditionally, I have found that the concept of brand recognition is either often overlooked by business owners, or it’s lumped together and categorized with brand awareness. I can see how this can happen, however brand recognition by itself is a powerful motivator for individuals within your target audience. It’s an asset that can help keep you in business and build momentum for your brand across your product or service portfolio.
Before we jump into how brand recognition will keep you in business, it’s important to clarify how brand recognition and brand awareness differ.
Brand awareness is the extent to which a customer is familiar with elements like your brand’s reputation, quality, features, and values. Brand recognition, on the other hand, has to do with a customer’s ability to identify your brand within the crowded and oversaturated market.
A good measure of brand recognition is a customer’s ability to successfully recognize your business through identifiers like your logo, tagline/slogans, typography, and color scheme.
Quick Brand Recognition Exercise
Take a moment to think of a brand you know particularly well, what comes to mind? Better yet, when hearing the following terms what do you automatically think? “White earbuds”, “green straw” and “just do it.” I assume the brands Apple, Starbucks & Nike were the first to come to mind. These are some of the biggest and most recognizable brands in the world & a big reason for this is due to the brand recognition. Recognition that has been earned over the years through leaders who have continually invested in the development of their brands.
You can read more about the importance of continual brand invest here. Click here
You may not be or lead a massive brand like those mentioned above, but brand recognition can have a mighty impact on your business. Here are two of the most impactful ways brand recognition can influence your success.
(1) It can mean the difference between making or losing a sale
Studies have shown that consumers are more inclined to purchase products from brands they’re more familiar with than those they’re not. While the percentages may vary depending on the industry, in a recent survey, nearly 60% of consumers say they would prefer to buy from a brand they recognize. This statement means that 3 out of every 5 customers that consider a particular product or service that your business offers will be loyal to one specific brand when purchasing. In fact, the probability of selling to an existing customer is anywhere from 60% to 70%, while the likelihood of selling to a new prospective customer is between 5% and 20%. That’s a drastic difference.
(2) It boosts brand loyalty
Research has shown that 59% of consumers say they would rather buy a new product or service from a brand they’re familiar with, regardless of how familiar they are with the new offering. Also, 21% of shoppers say they have purchased a new product solely based on the fact a brand they like and trust marketed it.
However, how does brand recognition keep you in business? It simply keeps customers coming. Now, it is important to note that their first purchasing experience profoundly influences customer’s opinion of any given brand. So assuming that you have provided a positive experience during customer interaction and your product or service offer great value, you can expect brand recognition to spark brand loyalty that encourages customers to continue coming back for more.
Brand recognition can be essential to your top line revenue. It’s been shown to be 5x more expensive to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing one. It can keep existing customers coming back & also help spread the word of your brand to others, so I encourage you to place a focus on investing and developing touch-points that create a cognitive connection and recognition in the minds of your target audiences.