6 Innovative Customer Loyalty Strategies for CPG Brands

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How can CPG brands drive customer loyalty in 2024? Here are 6 strategies to try.

Standing out and maintaining brand loyalty is tougher than ever. Consumers are overwhelmed with choices and are quick to switch to the next big trend. For brands, especially in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) sector, it’s crucial to understand what keeps customers coming back. Are you truly connecting with your core audience? Are your efforts translating into lasting loyalty?

You can find the answer to these existential questions by diving deep into consumer insights and fostering continuous innovation. Traditional loyalty programs and sporadic discounts simply won't cut it anymore. By leveraging detailed consumer data and adapting swiftly to their needs, brands can build stronger, more enduring relationships.

Recently, Suzy’s EVP of Enterprise Partnerships, Kristen Lyons, broke down six innovative customer loyalty strategies for CPG brands at Brand Innovators Future of CPG & Marketing Innovation Summit, hosted by Church & Dwight. You can watch the recording of the event here, or dig into these proven and innovative approaches in the blog. Either way, you’ll learn how to strengthen your connection with your core consumers, ensuring loyalty in an ever-changing landscape.

Understanding the Economic Landscape and Consumer Sentiment

First, let’s level set. Understanding consumers always starts with understanding their economic environment. The U.S. economy is on the rise, yet this doesn't necessarily reflect the experiences of many consumers. Despite positive economic indicators, tight budgets and inflationary pressures persist. The job market, although showcasing low unemployment rates, remains challenging with widespread stories of underemployment. This disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street creates significant hurdles for CPG brands aiming to maintain consumer loyalty.

The Challenge of Building Brand Loyalty

Consumers are perpetually on the lookout for deals, often questioning the need to spend on name brands when white-label alternatives are available for less. This makes building brand loyalty challenging. Traditional strategies, such as customer service and social media engagement, are expected but no longer sufficient. Even substantial discounts, like Target’s recent price reductions, are met with skepticism rather than gratitude from consumers.

6 CPG Customer Loyalty Strategies 

So what’s a CPG brand to do? To effectively strengthen brand loyalty, brands must innovate and align with what matters most to consumers while staying true to their core values. Here are six innovative loyalty strategies for CPG brands. 

1. Choose Relevance Over Trends

Brands should focus on making themselves relevant to their consumers rather than chasing every trend. Authenticity and sticking to core values build equity and trust. Crocs shoes are inherently uncool. And they know that. They’ve been called ugly. People have said they were a passing fad. 

Yet here they are, 22 years later and more relevant than ever. Why? They know who they are, they stick with their brand messaging, and they deliver on their brand promise—comfort. 

More than 70% of consumers have been reported to spend more money with brands that they consider to be authentic. According to Suzy’s own research, 78% of consumers are likely to recommend brands they feel are authentic to their family and friends. The lesson here is that brand relevance isn’t about showing that you’re relevant to people—it’s about being relevant to yourself.

2. Be Transparent

In a recent survey, we ran on sustainability, 85% of consumers said they were more likely to trust brands that were transparent about their sustainable practices. Another recent survey found that 71% of consumers don’t believe that celebrity influencers actually use the products they’re endorsing, and the lack of transparency is making consumers pause about using those brands too.

Did you make a mistake? Own it. Did you do something really cool and innovative? Own that too! One brand that comes to mind that does a nice job of staying transparent with their audience is Warby Parker. They keep their customers looped into their business practices by sharing updates on their production processes, pricing models, sustainability goals, and more. It keeps the people purchasing their frames in the loops and allows them to see how the sauce (or glass) is made. 

3. Personalize Authentically

If you take to Google and search “Top 10 loyalty marketing tips,” every single list you read will probably include a note about personalizing your marketing efforts. 

So, no. Personalizing isn’t novel. But it will be changing. As we see cookie deprecation, the key to incorporating personalization tactics into your marketing strategies is first-party data.

How many times have you checked your email to see an email promising something “just for you” only to find out the product is irrelevant to you and your role? One brand example that stands out is offers from Spotify for “exclusive” merch or vinyl once listeners hit a threshold for artists. It’s pretty obvious that these offers aren’t exclusive or limited. 

Consumers are smarter than that. Getting personal doesn’t mean attaching a consumer’s name to the top of your email with a data tag, it means giving them actual relevant information. This can be content, and yes, promotions. It just needs to feel authentic.

4. Commit to Sustainability

According to our data, 84% of consumers consider sustainability practices to be important for CPG brands. And 79% would try new CPG products if they were sustainable. This brings us to our next point—sustainability is more than just a buzzword.

Consumers are looking for CPG brands to be more sustainable across the board. And they want brands to be honest about how sustainable they are or aren’t. Consumers are interested in both sustainable packaging and products but ultimately want to feel like they can trust the claims of sustainability that they see on packaging. And they’re more likely to stay loyal to brands that are already considered to be sustainable or are making strides to become more sustainable over time. A good tip here is to partner with other brands, community organizations, or influencers that can help support sustainable practices.

5. Co-Create with Influencers

Speaking of partnerships, don’t just hire influencers. Create with them. We found that 69% of consumers said they were likely to buy a CPG product if it was created by an influencer. Nearly half (47%) of consumers said they want to see more CPG brands partnering with influencers.

Those are some big numbers! So let’s dig into them a little. Since influencer collabs are so commonplace these days, the next evolution of the media is co-creation. We don’t necessarily mean that influencers need to literally co-create products with you—although that’s definitely a strategy.

Instead, it’s about making sure that the content you and any influencers you partner with tells one cohesive story. If you hire someone to post on their social channels, can they also feature in your commercial? What about an in-store visit? Or an online Q&A? No matter what you do, make sure that the people you hire actually use and care about your products. If they don’t, consumers will know right away.

6. Engage Directly with Consumers

The most crucial strategy is to engage directly with consumers. Regularly seeking consumer feedback helps brands understand what drives loyalty. Trends evolve rapidly, making it essential to have the consumer’s voice in decision-making processes to ensure the brand remains relevant and responsive.

Last Words

Strengthening brand loyalty requires innovation, authenticity, and a profound understanding of your consumers. At Suzy, we empower brands to achieve this through a comprehensive suite of tools and insights that enable you to stay true to your values, maintain transparency, personalize authentically, commit to sustainability, and engage directly with your audience.

Why Choose Suzy?

Suzy’s end-to-end consumer insights platform is designed to help you understand your audience better, innovate continuously, and maintain the authenticity that your consumers value. By partnering with Suzy, you can turn insights into action, drive growth, and cultivate a loyal customer base that advocates for your brand. With Suzy, you can drive your CPG brand forward with:

• Consumer-Centric Insights: Our platform provides real-time access to consumer insights, ensuring your strategies are always aligned with what matters most to your audience.

• Innovative Research Solutions: With advanced methodologies and powerful analytics, Suzy helps you stay ahead of trends while remaining true to your brand's core values.

• Authentic Engagement: Engage with your consumers through genuine and transparent interactions, building trust and loyalty through Suzy Audiences.

• Surveys and Data Analysis in One Platform: Consolidate your research stack and do it all in one place. Go from survey to insight fast with quant, qual, audiences, and data analysis all in one connected platform. 

For more takeaways and industry insights, be sure to watch the full session today!