In Brands we trust: The sensitivity of consumers' trust with brands

Consumers make purchase decisions based on various evaluation criteria, including the price, quality, brand, store, and service. In particular, brand sensitivity plays an important role in the purchase decision-making process

Brand sensitivity refers to the degree of value a consumer grants a brand when evaluating its products.

For Brands, being brand sensitive means that brands play an important role in the psychological process that precedes the buying act. This means that through brand sensitivity one could identify the underlying intrinsic motivation of consumers to buy a certain brand.

Why do Consumers get attached to brands?

Consumers construct their identities and present themselves to others through the brands they choose. How you see yourself is automatically how you will attach yourself to brands that preach the same message via campaigns or via the product they make or the service they render. It always ties with either their personalities or their values. Therefore to create a brand image that targets a specific audience, it is relevant to understand the values and principles of consumers that may have use for your product and preach those values in a way that makes them directly see themselves through the brand.

Why do Consumers get disengaged with brands?

Consumers have various reasons why they disengage with brands. many of these may well be the fault of the brand or they may have absolutely nothing to do with the brand. Either way, the reasons for disengagement cannot be ignored for the sake of brand growth. Here are Key factors and reasons according to research why your consumers disengage with your brand. If you find yourself among the factors then you are in luck.

Your products are not meeting their expectations

The number one reason your consumers might leave your brand is that you are not meeting their expectations. That is the first-hand reason. This is Because they are your customers, The product was made purposely for them in mind, and so when their needs are not addressed, naturally they will migrate to another brand that will give them what they want. But how can you be so certain that you are always pleasing your customer? By using the Jobs-to-be-done Framework which is an approach to developing products based on understanding both the customer’s specific goal or “job,” and the thought processes that would lead that customer to “hire” a product to complete the job. I wrote a more detailed article on how to use the JTBD framework to your advantage here:

Poor Customer service

How you go about handling your customers is an important reason your consumers would disengage with your brand. In this era, so many automation tools can be added to marketing efforts to ease the consumer’s burden of having to rant or complain about poor service. Paying attention to your consumer’s needs and creating an enabling environment where prioritized needs are addressed and thought through prevents consumers from having to have problems with your services or product. Using the Jobs-to-be-done Framework you can prioritize customer or consumer needs, and create a solution, this gives you an opportunity to innovate and be two steps ahead. making your brand irresistible.

Non-advertisement and poor visibility

Your Brand’s most valuable asset is visibility. The entire point of marketing, after all, is to get your message in front of your audience and build awareness and demand for your offering. If that’s not happening, then your marketing efforts need to be reexamined. Your brand’s equity has a lot to do with your visibility. The more visible you are, the more valuable your product, brand, and service will be which leads to an increase in sales. Your product or service might be the best however in advertising he who makes the loudest noise wins.

If your brand is not positioned to be visible, Consumers might doubt its validity over time and might switch to a more visible brand that also preaches the same message they want to hear.

Product changes

Your Product or service will definitely not be the same forever. Price will change perhaps due to an increase in quality or increase in the cost of production or perhaps with the company evolving. Either way it is imperative that changes are in line with high priority consumer needs. The last thing you want is to sack your consumers because you went overboard with changes that may no longer be of use to them. You should also make sure ample communication is in place so that consumers are not taken by surprise.

Just Sheer Tiredness

Last but not least Consumers may just disengage due to sheer tiredness, might get attached to a new trend or product, or might be outside of territories where the product or service is offered. However sheer tiredness might be an important clue to always evolve by understanding competition and creating offers for the diverse categories of audience you have onboard. Every Market is different hence understanding how consumer behavior works per market is key to staying two steps ahead of the competition and always keeping the consumer or customer happy.