We all know that loyal customers are the key to success. You’ve already spent budget towards acquiring their business and if all goes well, they will continue to drive your business forward through repeat purchases and can even drive new business through advocacy. Superior products and customer experience have always been crucial for building loyalty, but in the era of conscious commerce, consumers are awarding their loyalty to brands that they align with on a more fundamental level.
With consecutive months of inflation and fears of an upcoming recession, consumers are stretching their dollars and being more mindful of where they spend them. To make their dollars count, consumers are continuing to align themselves with the purpose-driven brands that are leading with their values and enabling positive social impact.
But how do you stand out within the growing movement of conscious commerce? Social impact was once a need to have for businesses, but has quickly become a must-have in the eyes of socially conscious consumers. To differentiate your business from the masses, leading with your brand values is key.
Consumers buy from brands they trust and believe in. In fact, 63% of people buy from and advocate for brands based on shared beliefs and values. Having strong core values can help consumers understand who you are as a business, and will position you to find consumers who share those same values. Leading with authenticity and honing into what your business values is a powerful way to build stronger customer loyalty and trust. When a company leads with purpose, consumers are 72% more likely to be loyal to that company.
Taking your brand values a step further to connect them to a cause will enable you to build a social impact strategy that engages your customers in a more meaningful way. Forming nonprofit partnerships is an effective way to show your customers what matters to you, and shows your commitment to making a positive impact.
In the era of conscious commerce, it’s no longer enough to make blanket statements on societal issues and needs— consumers are expecting brands to take a stand and take action to enact change. Aligning your business with a cause is a powerful way to affect broader change and create opportunities for positive impact. Whether through advocacy, volunteering, or charitable giving, your business can leverage a nonprofit partnership to live by your values and build more loyal customer communities through authentic value-alignment.
As a women-owned business, you could choose to support a nonprofit organization that’s fighting for women’s and girl’s rights around the world by using your platform to advocate for and bring awareness to their efforts. As a business focused on sustainability, you could partner with a nonprofit that works to fight against deforestation and generate donations to support their organization on purchases made by your customers.
There are endless possibilities for creating a social impact strategy that will engage your customers authentically and build a stronger foundation for trust and loyalty— the important thing is to build this connection through action vs. platitudes that can be read as greenwashing. Start with identifying what matters to your business, and work from there. Working with an effective social impact platform like ShoppingGives will help you explore a strategy that best aligns with your company values, your business goals and meets your customer’s social impact needs. When you can humanize your business and invite your customers to understand how you’re doing your part to positively impact society, customer trust and loyalty will follow.
Ronny Sage is the founder and CEO of ShoppingGives, an impact-driven technology in Chicago. His best work involves bringing people together, making connections, and inspiring innovation. Before making a move from intrepreneur to entrepreneur, he served as a digital strategy leader at a top national agency, working with Fortune 500 retailers and executives to develop and execute digital strategies that maximize investments.
