Are You Loyal to a Manufacturer in the Automotive Industry?

Written by Tom Peace

As we all know, all sectors of business require customer loyalty and retention to maintain stability and growth throughout the financial year. However, the level of maintaining the core customer base can vary across different sectors. This could be due to economic, political or situational factors which all businesses must adapt to.

This week, The Loyalty People are looking closer into brand loyalty in the Automotive industry and asking our community "Are You Loyal to a Manufacturer in the Automotive Industry"

Compared to a lot of business sectors the process of acquiring and retaining customers can be difficult and complicated due to multiple factors.

Buying a car is an expensive purchase, due to certain situations such as the cost of living, many loyal customers will seek out cheaper alternatives.

There's a lot of advice out there to cut through, before committing to a manufacturer and a certain car. Customers can seek opinions from different sources such as online reviews, videos, close family and car enthusiasts.

Picking a model car can be a complicated process for the customer as there are so many factors to consider. 5 seater or 7 seater? Petrol/diesel, hybrid or electric? How much is the road tax? How's the fuel efficiency?

With these factors to consider there is no surprise that many companies are facing declining retention rates. However, there are manufacturers that are offering loyalty programs. A couple of examples include...

BMW - Inside Edge Loyalty Program

The Insider Edge is a program that offers drivers unique rewards and partnerships as well as additional discounts on certain BMW models.

Nissan - Nissan One-to-One Rewards (US Only)

The Japanese manufacturer has created a loyalty program that allows the customer to earn points from service visits and redeem them when they next go to the dealership. These points can also be used to save costs on accessories, and customers will receive exclusive offers when purchasing a new model.


However, are the loyalty programs enough to keep customers staying loyal to a certain manufacturer? With many customers changing manufacturers between every car purchase, it is also difficult to capture customer data to ensure they give the customer what they want.

Overall, manufacturers need to find a way to collect more customer data to create loyalty programs that keep customer retention high.

We will look at how Auto brands can achieve this in a future insight piece.


Let us know what you think by voting and commenting on our LinkedIn page.

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