Brand Management: Top 5 Strategies to Build Customer Loyalty ⋆ Online Business Canada

Customer retention and repeat purchases are always critical for businesses that want a healthy bottom line, but it’s even more important in an unstable economy and evolving search environment. Fortunately, from apps to influencers, brands are enjoying spectacular success in bringing their brand management into the online world. Nowhere is that more true than in brand loyalty generation.

Loyal, repeat customers can be a brand’s most valuable asset and competitive advantage. The result is a customer journey that’s automatically steered towards your business, often bypassing the discovery stage (and your competitors) entirely. It tips the scales in your favour each and every time that customer goes shopping within your niche.

The Difference Between Brand Loyalty and Advocacy

Establishing brand loyalty and advocacy is vital for any brand’s sustained growth. While closely related, these concepts reflect different levels of customer engagement.

Brand loyalty is the consistent preference customers show for a brand, demonstrated through repeat purchases and trust in the brand’s products or services. Loyal customers are typically satisfied, have had positive experiences, and believe the brand is reliable. This loyalty drives customer retention, ensures steady revenue, and reduces customer acquisition costs (CAC) considerably.

“The highest level of loyalty comes when the brand creates engagement, a motivation to actively promote the brand, and, ultimately, self-expressive and/or social benefits,” writes David Aaker in Aaker on Branding. “At this level, loyalty programs with ‘feel special’ status, moments that delight customers, brand-building events with energy, and involving social programs might be found.”

Brand advocacy, on the other hand, goes a step further. Advocates are not only loyal, they actively promote and defend your brand to others. These customers are emotionally connected and happily share their fantastic experiences, behaving as ambassadors who increase brand awareness and credibility.

What are the Top Marketing Strategies to Build Customer Loyalty & Advocacy?

To cultivate both loyalty and advocacy in today’s digital world, brands must adopt innovative, customer-centric strategies. The following five ways to do that have proven to be the most effective for us over the past couple of years. We’ve also included expert insights, Canadian examples, and Canadian data. We’ll go into each method in more detail in future articles, but this one will move you in the right direction as you begin to navigate today’s trends in loyalty marketing.

[DISCLOSURE: We may receive compensation for links to products on this website.]

1. User-Generated Content (UGC) & Influencer Marketing

UGC includes any content created by consumers and shared publicly, such as social media posts, reviews, videos, and blog posts. Savvy brands harness the power of UGC to foster an authentic connection with their audience and amplify their brand reach.

However, user-generated content appeals to consumers in a deeper way than we once thought. It isn’t only based on a desire to be accepted by our peers, nor is it a simple matter of avoiding a bad decision.

“We know it’s way more deeply rooted and nuanced than that,” writes R. Jon MacDonald in Behind the Click. “But the point stands – human beings are social creatures who want to be accepted and admired. We don’t want to look foolish or make mistakes. So we often subconsciously do what others are doing, even if we pride ourselves on individuality.”

Encouraging customers to share their experiences and partnering with influencers helps generate authentic, relatable content. This builds trust and encourages both loyalty and advocacy. They’re your company’s co-creators and should be treated as a valuable member of your marketing team, as well as brand advocates. These relationships should be enthusiastically nurtured at every opportunity, because consumers view their content as less biased and allow it to influence their decision to buy.

Influencer marketing is different than customer brand advocacy, but it works for the same reasons (usually at a larger scale with compensation).

“Fundamentally, influencer marketing happens when someone (an influencer) is involved in a campaign to promote a product or service,” explains Gordon Flenister in Influencer Marketing Strategy.

Twenty-three percent of Canadian marketers identified influencer marketing as a primary driver of ROI in 2024, according to a HubSpot study. Fifty percent anticipate further investment in influencer marketing and content creators in 2025.

Social listening is my most reliable tool in picking up UGC ‘in the wild’. However, we don’t stand around waiting for it. You can encourage customers to create content through engaging promotions built around a contest or hashtag, for example, as well as free stuff or experiences.

Roots Canada uses hashtag challenges and other interactive social media campaigns to encourage consumer engagement, and to create a sense of community.

For example, a Roots Canada Facebook post from last Spring read, “From local getaways to quality time with those you love, it’s always cozier in your Roots. Get ready for the weekend (or March Break) with our newest arrivals, and tag #ShareYourRoots to be featured next!” Their customers post pictures of themselves or their family wearing the Roots brand of clothing. Just the chance to be featured is enough to bring in post submissions, and it doesn’t cost them a dime outside of a little social media management.

They also bring in influencers to help boost the brand.

Showcasing real people and their authentic experiences humanizes your brand, and can transform participants into brand ambassadors. When satisfied customers become brand advocates, they help you shape your brand’s narrative. This naturally attracts new customers, and reminds existing customers to come back and buy more.

2. Gamification & Interactive Experiences

Interactive experiences, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), can greatly increase brand engagement and they’re social media gold. Gamification and interactive experiences can captivate consumers as they immerse themselves in your brand’s narrative. It not only boosts retention, but also encourages customers to spread the word about your brand. The internet makes it easy and affordable for even the smallest businesses to give it a try. It will keep visitors on your website longer too.

Check out the Sephora Canada Beauty Insider Program, Roots’ interactive online quizzes, DAVIDsTEA’s Digital Loyalty and Surprise & Delight program, and Sport Chek’s Fitness Challenges & Wearable Integration, for inspiration.

3. Email Personalization & Customization

Leveraging data to tailor products, services, and messaging to individual preferences creates a sense of exclusivity. When customers feel seen and valued, they’re more likely to stay loyal and recommend your brand.

“Email personalization is the process of using the data that you have to tailor message content to be unique and personal for each recipient,” explains Digital Marketing Fundamentals. “Personalization, when done right, builds trust and can improve the relationship with the recipient… The benefits of personalized campaigns include higher response rates, open rates, click rates, and retention (lower unsubscribe rates).”

Anything you know about the recipient can be used to personalize and customize messages, as long as it’s relevant. For example, the recipient’s name, where they live, when they were last on your website and what they looked at, past purchases, past communication with your company (such as customer service), and so on.

Use email segmentation to personalize communications behind the scenes, before the email is sent. This allows you to customize messages to ensure they’re relevant to a group of recipients, as well as according to funnel stage and campaign goals. Everything from their local climate to website activity can be used to create a segmented group.

Good customer relationship management (CRM) software like HubSpot will reveal all kinds of opportunities for both personalization and customization. Be careful when selecting the data and ideas to implement, however, because the list can become long and the data unmanageable. You’re sure to back a winner if you bet on all the horses, but you won’t bring the money home at the end of the day.

4. Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are among the most effective tools for ensuring customer commitment. In the Canadian retail landscape, brand loyalty programs are a popular strategy used to encourage repeat business and build customer relationships. These programs offer a variety of benefits, such as points for purchases, exclusive discounts, and early access to new products, all designed to reward customers for their continued loyalty.

In fact, digital loyalty programs and subscription models are expected to lead growth in Canada’s $2.83 Billion Loyalty Market by 2029.

One type of loyalty program that’s increasingly popular in Canada, are subscription-based loyalty programs. There are three main types of subscriptions: curation, replenishment, and access.

Amazon Prime is the top subscription-based loyalty program in Canada, offering free shipping, exclusive deals, and access to streaming services. Closer to home, Indigo’s Plum Plus membership offers discounts and free shipping for an annual fee.

However, subscription programs don’t have to charge for membership. Many retailers simply promote the convenience of subscriptions, usually in addition to discounts for subscribers. Merchants benefit from a more reliable revenue stream and deeper customer relationships. It also opens the door to continued contact and engagement. The benefits make this a much more rewarding strategy than simply discounting products.

“The growth of e-commerce, accelerated by the pandemic, has pushed businesses to offer loyalty solutions that cater to online shoppers,” reports Research and Markets. “The transition to digital-first programs will continue to intensify as companies compete to attract younger, tech-savvy consumers. Businesses that fail to adopt digital strategies risk losing relevance in an increasingly online-first marketplace.”

By studying successful programs like Lululemon, Moi, DAVIDsTEA, and Indigo, brands can learn how to transform happy customers into passionate advocates. The most important thing to keep in mind is creating meaningful, personalized experiences that keep customers engaged and invested in the brand.

5. Purpose-Driven Marketing

Aligning with social or environmental causes attracts like-minded consumers. When customers resonate with a brand’s mission, they’re more inclined to advocate for it.

Sustainability is becoming a top sales motivator for Canadians, for example, and it adds a significant differentiator to your products.

“Sustainability-focused rewards will become more common as businesses seek to differentiate themselves in a competitive market,” reports Research and Markets in Canada Loyalty Programs Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Q1 2025 Update. “Programs that fail to integrate sustainability may face challenges in appealing to eco-conscious consumers.”

Build Your Brand Identity

Now that you have their loyalty, make it easy for them to spot your brand with a rock solid brand identity.

“Loyalty requires an object: When you’re loyal, you’re loyal ‘to’ something—and brand loyalists are loyal to your brand,” says Shopify. “To encourage brand loyalty, develop a unique brand identity that effectively represents your company’s personality and values and differentiates you in your target market.”

TIP: Check your current tool stack to see how they may facilitate the above marketing methods. You might not need to add a tool, and it’s much easier to implement any of these strategies using today’s integrated marketing and branding tools or apps (like those offered by/through Shopify).

Using marketing strategies to build and maintain customer loyalty (and encourage advocacy) can be the difference between being part of the customer journey, and owning it.

How are you using the internet to build brand loyalty and advocacy? Please share your experience or questions in the comments below, or join us in the Online Business Canada Facebook group.