• by Charlene Weisler , Op-Ed Contributor, February 4, 2020

The world is getting more and more complex — but Dr. Robert Passikoff may have the solution. “Consumers don't say what they think and they don't do what they say. Their decision-making is more emotional than rational,”  he says.

To deal with this phenomenon, Passikoff has developed Brand Keys which offers, among other studies, a syndicated annual brand assessment survey called The Customer Loyalty Engagement Index (CLEI).

Charlene Weisler: So the world of brand differentiation is much more emotional than rational? 

Robert Passikoff: Yes, and harder to attain in a more complex marketplace…

It only takes a nanosecond for consumers to note how well a brand is ‘seen’ to meet their expectations for the path-to-purchase drivers that define behavior toward and fidelity to a brand. That’s the 21st century version of brand loyalty….

Marketers who focus on so-called ‘loyalty programs’ expecting real brand allegiance, are totally missing the point. There’s a need to measure these emotions within a predictive framework. Measuring imagery doesn’t do that, Counting tweets doesn’t do that. Net Promoter Scores don’t do that. But our metrics measure emotions predictively, and they correlate with sales.

Weisler:  Tell me about your metrics.

Passikoff:  We use an independently validated research methodology that fuses emotional and rational aspects of the categories, identifies four category-specific path-to-purchase behavioral loyalty drivers for the category-specific Ideal and identifies the values that form the components of each driver, along with their percent-contribution to engagement, loyalty, and profitability. T

This technique, a combination of psychological inquiry and statistical analyses, has a test/re-test reliability of 0.93, and produces results generalizable at the 95% confidence level. It has been successfully used in B2B, B2C, and D2C categories in 35 countries. 

In 2020, CLEI Brand Keys merged independently validated metrics with a new platform – Media GPS analytics – combining brand communication consumption with emotional engagement. We contend that doing that makes these loyalty assessments the most accurate in the marketing world. 

Weisler:  What was a surprising result from one of your recent studies?

Passikoff:   Results showed that 85% for the loyalty path-to-purchase drivers that describe how consumers view, compare, buy, recommend, and remain loyal have changed their order. 85%! It’s a tectonic shift in the marketing paradigm. Brands claim to be customer-centered, but if you’re looking at the category in a different way than the consumers, you’re bound to make mistakes. Additionally, new multidimensional emotional values have appeared in 96% of the sectors we track. Those value components are the bricks-and-mortar from which meaningful, differentiating, and engaging marketing and communications are built.

Weisler:  Tell me about your syndicated study and what it offers.

Passikoff:  The Customer Loyalty Engagement Index (CLEI) is a syndicated service that provides a portion of the insights and learning available through a customized Brand Keys study. We initiated CLEI in 1995. 

For the 2020 CLEI survey, 62,474 consumers, 16 to 65 years of age from the nine US Census Regions, self-selected the categories in which they are consumers and the brands for which they are customers. This year, Brand Keys examined 85 categories and 833 brands. 

Utilizing our proprietary psychological assessment questionnaire, respondents rate their “Ideal Brand” in the category, one brand in the category that they personally use (usually a top-20% customer), and a set of emotional and rational attributes, benefits, and values. 

Brand Keys uses an independently validated research methodology that fuses emotional and rational aspects of the categories, identifies four category-specific path-to-purchase behavioral loyalty drivers for the category-specific Ideal, and identifies the values that form the components of each driver, along with their percent-contribution to engagement, loyalty, and profitability.