Boys are from Mars. Girls are from Venus.
It is a statement spoken from young children’s mouths (often in a “nah-nah” tone), one that echoes across school blacktops, backyard swing sets and tee-ball fields. It is a thought that I first heard at a young age. Are boys that different than girls? Why did they send us to Earth? Did mom forget to pick me up from school again? These were all questions that my 8-year-old self needed answered.
For many fully-grown adults, versions of these questions may still lack an answer. Obviously, all men and women are Earth-borne. However, when it comes to consumer purchase behavior, men and women’s definitions of brand loyalty are planets apart. According to a new Living Loyal study from The Marketing Store that surveyed over 1,500 American consumers between 18 and 65, there are illuminating differences in how men and women think of “loyalty” in a broad sense. Here, these differences are broken down in basic general word associations:
Male Association for Customer Loyalty:
- Contractual commitment
- Honor
- Doing the right thing
Female Association for Customer Loyalty:
While most brands can surely understand the importance of effective targeted marketing between men and women, few make concerted efforts to craft loyalty programs based on gender preferences.
Let’s see how these considerations would factor into important features and perks of a typical airline loyalty program. According to the study, women consider “cleanliness” a much stronger loyalty driver than men, and generally value comfort and no-hassle over their baggage. Meanwhile, men showed much higher concern for fair prices, avoiding being “nickel and dimed,” and basic “benefits of a loyalty program.” Depending on how a brand chooses to craft its loyalty program, consumers of both sexes may feel a gravitational pull toward or away from that brand.
“Understanding your customers and their experience with your brand within the context of their life,” Jeremy Ages, Director of Strategy and Planning for The Marketing Store, said, “seems to be the foundation to truly create the kind of experiences that foster meaningful engagement, that inspire stories and that lead to long-term business results.”
For any brand planning to launch a loyalty program, it is critical to consider gender and lifestyle differences in order to cater to a consumer’s most essential expectations. Marketing to men and women isn’t enough – the reward program also needs to fly in the orbit of the brand. Companies who fail to do so may find themselves drifting alone in space.