• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 13, 2020

Falling in love with a brand requires satisfaction, gratitude, loyalty and most of all, trust. Consumers have more choices than ever before, so when it comes to falling in love with a brand these characteristics prove critical.

To better understand why consumers fall in love with their favorite brands, Upland Software -- which acquired Localytics this week for $67.7 million to expand into mobile app personalization and analytics -- released a study about brand loyalty. Dynata carried out the survey of about 1,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 and older to determine how many brands consumers love and what drives that feeling.

Upland Localytics -- the new name for the combined company -- found that while consumers do love some brands, they don't feel that way about as many brands as some may think.

Based on survey results, marketers hoping to create brand advocates will need to rethink personalization and customer experience strategies.  

Men and women fall in love with brands for different reasons. 

Trust plays an important role for men. Ineffective or frustrating communications, at 26%, is the leading factor in why men lose trust in brands. Inferior products at 25% comes in second, and not loving any brands follows at 15%.

Overall, 31% of survey participants say they love between three and five brands, while 18% say they love between one and two, 16%, between six and nine, 12%, between 10 and 20, and 5%, 21 or more. Another 18% said they do not love any brands.

Bbrands that make consumers’ lives more comfortable, convenient, or efficient have a better chance of earning the love. In fact, 30% of consumers say comfort, convenience and entertaining will earn their love, followed by 14% who cite brands that fulfill their internal vision of themselves.

Another 24% cite brands that evoke positive feelings, and 7% love brands that understand them as a person and a consumer. Still, 14% in this part of the study said they do not love any brands.

Thirty-seven percent of consumers also say they love brands that provide superior quality. Some 19% love brands that have excellent communication skills, while 11% cite positive buying experiences, 10% like those that are easy and convenient to use, 8% cite super reliability, and 2% love brands' popularity or buzz.

Consumers' biggest complaints about brands point to communications that are too frequent. Some 40% say if a brand tries to communicate with them too frequently it will turn them off, while 18% say some brands don’t understand their interests and 15% point to being contacted on non-preferred channels, 11% say they don’t like it when a brand is difficult to reach, 9% say some brands don’t communicate enough, and 7% don’t bother to keep track.

The top personalization method is when brands know the consumer’s known interests and preferences. The most popular top priority among respondents suggests consumers want brands to get to know them at 32%. The second most popular personalization method is simply addressing them by name, at 24%. Based on previous purchase activity comes in third, at 21%.

Email at 57% is the top channel when it comes to preferred communication. Physical mail at 11% comes in second, followed by mobile apps at 8%, text messages at 8%, websites at 7%, social at 6% and phone calls at 3%.