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What are the Customer Loyalty Trends to Know for 2022? 8 Experts Weigh In

Loyalty management is primed to be a game-changer in customer experience.

SEPT 02, 2021. 7 MIN READ

If 2021 was the year of brand-switching, 2022 is the year when companies in every industry put in place the technologies and strategies they need to maintain long-term loyalty.

The shift to digital channels is making it easier than ever for customers to find new brands. In fact, 40% of consumers have switched brands and 84% intend to stick with the new brand, according to McKinsey. Now, it’s up to companies to rethink their loyalty strategy to keep customers engaged.

There’s business value to doing this in every industry. Beyond retail, travel, and hospitality, a Salesforce Customer Sentiment Survey of more than 12,000 consumers found that over half would be more likely to do business with a financial services company, subscription streaming service, or communications service provider if they offered a loyalty program. Customers want more from their healthcare providers, mobile carriers, and insurance companies, too.

However, loyalty programs themselves are not as impactful as they used to be. Customers take part in many of them (on average 4.3 loyalty programs in retail alone) and most are neither differentiated nor engaging enough. As a result, 54% of loyalty program memberships are inactive.

What does this mean for the future of loyalty? Eight experts share their predictions on what companies will do to take loyalty to the next level in 2022.

OEM Trend #1: Adding Income with Aftermarket Sales

It doesn’t take a crisis to disrupt manufacturing sales. Business cycles, finicky customers, competing products, and evolving technology make for a day-in, day-out income roller coaster.

But there’s one constant: products and parts break down or become obsolete over time. And the better you engage your customers, the more opportunity you have to sell them new parts and replacement technology they may otherwise get from third-party suppliers.

The stakes are high. Deloitte reports that the average operating margin from global aftermarket sales is about 2.5 times the new equipment margin. Many manufacturers generate 40-50% of their profits from aftermarket sales.

Which is to say, you can’t afford to miss out on this market, especially when it’s yours to lose. You’ve earned the trust of your existing customers, and that trust will drive more sales – if you continue to earn it. To do that, you have to make sure your customers know you have the parts they need and make it easy for them to buy from you.

Today’s digital tools can help. Social media, display ads, email campaigns, search engine optimization, etc. can work wonders in keeping your customers engaged and aware of your aftermarket offerings throughout their product ownership lifecycle. Then you can leverage configure, price, quote (CPQ) systems or ecommerce platforms to upsell or cross sell to help them get everything they need as easily as if they were ordering from Amazon.

OEM Trend #2: Generating New Revenue with Expanded Service-Based Offerings

Challenge by Business Area

To diversify beyond products and aftermarket parts, OEMs can expand service-based offerings. This could start with extended warranties, break/fix repair, and enhanced service level agreements.

As OEMs increase the level of information they capture about their products in the field - including product location, performance, and repair frequency - they can offer more advanced and preventative maintenance services. By embracing the use of sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) technology, OEMs can add proactive, and ultimately predictive, maintenance offerings.

During the pandemic, repair technicians often could not access customer equipment onsite to do repair work. As a result, more manufacturers turned to remote repair and virtual reality technologies to get customers back up and running. Adding these technologies to the OEM service portfolio reduces costs, speeds time to repair, and improves customer satisfaction.

As with aftermarket parts, success requires consistent engagement throughout the customer lifecycle. This ongoing engagement helps develop stronger relationships with end-customers and builds brand loyalty.

OEM Trend #3: Improving Relationships with Channel Partners

Finally, strong collaboration with channel partners is essential for driving revenue growth. Excellent partner relationships lead to excellent customer service, benefiting everyone. But too often, poor communication and competition get in the way. According to a BCG survey, 38% of corporate ecommerce channel managers said channel conflicts are their top business concern. And 44% believe tensions will increase in the future.

Digital technologies can help improve OEM/dealer engagement, drive increased revenues, and improve dealer and end-customer satisfaction. It all starts with the objective of providing an excellent end-customer experience that flows seamlessly from the OEM to the dealer to the end-customer and back.

You can help partners succeed with updated training modules, easily-customized marketing materials, and communication and productivity tools that improve efficiency for them while keeping you in the loop. Successful co-marketing is about adopting an everybody-wins mindset and using collaboration tools to make sharing easier. Establish a better connection with partners and they’ll help you learn more about customer trends. This will enable you to create better products and services.

A trusting, cooperative atmosphere loosens tensions and fosters brainstorming. That can lead to innovations neither party would have come up with on their own. And that can lead to hitting milestones faster, while reaching for new goals.

Bringing all incentive data into your CRM is a game changer.

The Salesforce Advantage

Salesforce has the tools to support you in each of these areas.

Our commerce solutions can help OEMs digital aftermarket parts storefronts parts storefronts that enable seamless self-service purchasing experiences for dealers and end-customers.

Our service, field service, analytics and AI solutions can help you build a data and customer service infrastructure that drives strong service-based business models.

Our Accelerate Channel Management solution can help you build stronger working relationships with channel partners. You’ll find tools for recruiting and onboarding, co-marketing, sales collaboration, business forecasting, training, and more. In addition, with our new Channel Incentive Management Solution, you can leverage both rebates and loyalty programs to drive channel engagement and improve channel performance.