Millennials reward brand excellence with loyalty

The route to a Millennial's wallet and loyalty is quality. In the words of a Millennial interviewed by Arathi Menon, Senior Account Executive for Edelman in Bangalore, "Focus on making an excellent product. If you do so then all of your marketing will be true... and most of the marketing will be done by us."

And once Millennials, sometimes referred to as Gen Y, Generation Why or the Echo Boomers, find a brand they like and trust, they stick with it. Seventy percent of respondents to Edelman's survey (.pdf) were loyal to their preferred brands.

Brands are very important to Millennials. They are a badge that reflects an individual's personality and style. Brand likes and dislikes are topics that over 80% of Millennials regularly discuss online and nearly half (47%) have expressed positive opinions about a brand online.

Likewise, most Millennials will share a favorite brand with friends and family (70%). And here's an interesting finding - they believe that friends and family "highly depend" on their brand opinions.

Finally, woe betides any brand that loses a Millennial's trust. Just as they are willing to share their brand recommendations with those near and dear, over half (54%) are more than willing to steer those same people clear of brands for which they have lost all trust and respect.

They will also take action against a brand. If disappointed 41% boycott a brand, nearly one-third rant via their social network (32%), and 29% will join a community of people who dislike the brand. Facebook seems to be the place to do all three at once, as both BP and Pampers have discovered.

Tags: brand loyalty, Millennials, social media