Brand and Customer Loyalty in Online Brand Communities

In the previous chapter, the concept of social identity and online brand communities (OBCs) was introduced. The current chapter discusses the key drivers of brand loyalty in OBCs. The chapter discusses four principles of loyalty in the determination of marketing strategy. As marketers prepare to adapt their marketing strategy, the expectation is to attract new customers to their target list. However, while attracting new customers is important, it should not come at the expense of existing customers (Breugelmans et al., 2024). Individual customers have a variety of needs, values and expectations, but the most common factors that cause them to leave and switch to other brands is the perceived indifference of the brand or a change to the original brand. This raises two points: (1) new customers—companies must invest significantly into learning who their new customers are before building a relationship with them; and (2) existing customers—brands can risk alienating existing customers if they do not maintain attention to their needs, and brands should progress the customers’ current brand loyalty status into a stronger value return that generates loyalty. According to Harvard Business Review, digital companies’ market growth is not determined by profit but by their prioritisation to address customer relationships and experiences to maximise return of investment for their digital platforms (Furr & Chakraborty, 2024). Even with artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies that support marketing efforts, new and existing customers must be critically examined from a customer lifetime value perspective, with a mutual consideration of the costs to acquire new and existing customers. While startup companies would be required to address the costs to learn of and acquire new customers, established companies can utilise digital technologies to extend their customers’ lifetime value and lower costs to retain these customers (Furr & Chakraborty, 2024). Many years on, and data and experiences still support the view that customers with long-term devotion towards a brand remain essential as brand advocates compared to new customers or customers who do not harbour an intense loyalty for the brand and generate low value for the brand’s online engagement objectives.