Which brand loyalty are you measuring?

If we were to assess a person’s physical fitness we would measure their weight, body mass index, body fat percentage, blood pressure and a whole host of other factors to ascertain a holistic picture. Why do we still believe one statement in a survey can measure a concept as complex as brand loyalty? We believe it is time for a more thorough approach to truly assessing brand loyalty – one that takes into account its many dimensions as well as the relevance to your brand and specific market situation.

The three dimensions of brand loyalty

Academic articles hinted at the existence of different dimensions within brand loyalty (1). This is something Emotional Logic has also identified in practical consumer insight application.

There are three core dimensions to loyalty:

Attitude – consumers attitudes toward the brand in general or attitudes towards the suggestion of switching brands

Behaviour – consumers tendency to buy the brand over others

Price Sensitivity – consumers tendency to be prepared to pay more for the brand they are loyal to




Behaviour has been shown to be the most reliable measure of brand loyalty. Here we measure actual behaviour – such as how long the consumer has been with the brand and how much they prefer it above the competition. However, with the behavioural measure comes no early warning – by the time the consumer reports they buy another brand more frequently than ours we have already lost them (hopefully temporarily).

This is where attitudinal measures come in – they can warn us that the consumer is already considering switching. Here it is important to measure the right attitudes – attitudes toward the brand in general, how much people like the brand, have been shown to be much less effective in measuring loyalty than attitudes towards (or against) considering a brand switch for example.

We also have to be aware that attitudinal loyalty measures tend to be not as accurate as behavioural ones – and therefore can overestimate how loyal people really are to us.
Finally there is price sensitivity – brands that induce loyalty can charge more than comparative brands – but by how much? How much does a competitor need to drop their price until loyalty erodes? This can also be measured and gives us an indication how much protection the brand has against price wars.
All three elements of brand loyalty need to be measured in order to get a holistic picture of the true loyalty a brand inspires.

The impact of market situation

Which measures of loyalty are most important depends on the market situation. In the early stages of a market, brands will advertise to create differentiation and inspire loyalty and therefore be able to charge a price premium. Here behavioural measures will show us how much loyalty is actually present in the market for our brand and price sensitivity measures can help us ascertain how far prices can be stretched. Once brands are differentiated in a more mature market, attitudinal measures become more important – as we need an early warning system for consumers who may be thinking about switching – to be able to protect acquired share of the market. Price sensitivity measures are also important in the more mature market place as brands have established their positioning and are now starting price competition in order win over the less brand-minded consumers.

Moral of the story

There are three core dimensions of brand loyalty, each consisting of a number of different variables, which should be measured in conjunction to derive a holistic and more accurate picture of true brand loyalty. If you are ready to accurately measure the brand loyalty in your market – please Email us now

(1) See for example: Rundle-Thiele and Mackay: “Assessing the performance of brand loyalty measures”