[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/10\/01\/consumer-success-or-loyalty-which-comes-first\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/10\/01\/consumer-success-or-loyalty-which-comes-first\/","headline":"Consumer success or loyalty: Which comes first?","name":"Consumer success or loyalty: Which comes first?","description":"The key is combining the right people, processes and technology to make it easy for consumers to give you their loyalty.","datePublished":"2014-10-01","dateModified":"2024-04-12","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/andy-odell\/#Person","name":"Andy O'Dell","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/andy-odell\/","identifier":97,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4952deb942355cc6aedfb6771fe042edf718c47d9977d7a68b7de7cc661b5bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4952deb942355cc6aedfb6771fe042edf718c47d9977d7a68b7de7cc661b5bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/emotional-marketing-examples_FTR.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/emotional-marketing-examples_FTR.jpeg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/10\/01\/consumer-success-or-loyalty-which-comes-first\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/customer-engagement-marketing\/","name":"Customer Engagement","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_engagement","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q5196451"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/","name":"Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q39809"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/marketing-general\/","name":"Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q39809"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/omnichannel-commerce\/","name":"Omnichannel Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omnichannel"]}],"wordCount":607,"keywords":["Brands","Customer Engagement","Customer Experience | CX","Customer Loyalty","Marketing","Omnichannel","Omnichannel Success"],"articleBody":"While this success or loyalty question is ultimately a chicken or egg situation, I would argue that success actually comes first. As a consumer, I must have a successful experience with a retailer or brand before I become loyal to them. This feeling of allegiance toward a particular brand is initiated by an interaction \u2013 and only positive ones will generate the goodwill and repeat business that transform into loyalty.This customer loyalty, created by those successful experiences and interactions, then fuels and enhances success, bringing the process full circle.Consumer satisfaction that leads to customer loyaltySo the question now becomes, how can you ensure that consumers will have successful experiences that, in turn, lead to loyalty? The answer: people, process and technology. Great people create the right process around the right technology.Yet many brands still struggle with making this a reality. One of the biggest issues is the long-existing internal silos within the corporate structure that no longer reflects how customers are consuming. Only through eliminating these outdated barriers \u2013 creating the right process by uniting people across functional teams and leveraging the right technology \u2013 can brands create a unified marketing and e-commerce strategy to deliver the best experiences for consumers in today\u2019s omnichannel world.It was not too long ago when the online channel first changed conventional retail. By providing a convenience that was not available before, brands were able to change consumer behavior, with shoppers increasingly embracing this new, easy and effective way of buying products. The successful experiences led consumers to give these brands their loyalty, which in turn led brands to continuously innovate new ways to improve the online customer experience.      Is brand loyalty dead? Building customer loyalty in a fickle era                Is brand loyalty dead? Not really. It's just changing. Find out how to build loyalty even as customer expectations and preferences constantly change.      Consistent experience across all touchpointsTake Amazon \u2013 the e-commerce behemoth has been wildly successful in delivering a consistently positive experience to consumers, which has in turn fueled loyalty. Ask any Amazon shopper why they continually make purchases from the online retailer and they\u2019ll most likely say that it\u2019s easier. While there\u2019s much going on behind the scenes to make the site able to deliver on its speedy shipping promise and reliable deliveries, it\u2019s completely frictionless for the consumer. Clearly, Amazon has brought together the right people who have rethought standard procedures, creating new \u2013 but highly effective \u2013 processes (like storing dissimilar items together in warehouses to maximize space) that are made possible by the technology of which Amazon takes advantage.Another example is Apple: Apple brilliantly applied its legendary simplified user experience to completely change the in-store shopping experience. The Apple store defies all of the long-established rules. For instance, Apple eliminated all visual barriers \u2013 there are no aisles and tables are low so customers walking into the store can see everything. Every employee is essentially a POS. While invisible to us, there is order in the chaos \u2013 just like with online shopping. This completely new, fresh approach to the storefront has enabled Apple to deliver an incredible experience to consumers, which in turn reinforces loyalty to the brand.The bar has been set high by these and a handful of other forward-looking brands but anyone else can experience the same success \u2013 and resulting loyalty \u2013 if they focus on creating a predictable and pleasing experience for consumers that will keep them coming back for more.\u00a0 The key is combining the right people, processes and technology to make it easy for consumers to give you their loyalty.  Smarter sales, service, e-commerce.Start HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2014","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/\/10\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"01","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/\/10\/\/01\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Consumer success or loyalty: Which comes first?","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/10\/01\/consumer-success-or-loyalty-which-comes-first\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]