The Data Point: 75% of Consumers Will Buy More in ‘Relationships’ Like Subscriptions

eCommerce will keep roaring no matter what the markets do this quarter or next. What will change is the mix of brand and merchant programs consumers will keep, and which not.

What’s becoming plain — and now clarified and verified by data — is that the retail subscriptions, loyalty and membership programs consumers like best are those that find a way to rise above the transactional, adding value by knowing the whole consumer.

In Relationship Commerce: Building Long-Term Brand Engagement, a PYMNTS and Ordergroove collaboration, we surveyed over 2,800 consumers participating in a blend of subscription, membership and loyalty programs to discover how these dialed-in programs deliver results.

Get Your Copy: Relationship Commerce: Building Long-Term Brand Engagement

75% of consumers will buy more products from the companies they partner with

Relationship commerce has a few superpowers, but the giveaway is in the name. Consumers with recurring revenue relationships with merchants and brands report that the overall trust and reliability of their chosen providers is so well done, they intend to do more of it.

“On average, 75% of consumers with commerce relationships will buy more products from the companies they partner with, and a striking 90% who believe these companies understand their buying preferences are likely to purchase more products from them,” per the study.

For a real stunner we segmented by relationship category, finding that 95% of consumers with retail subscriptions and feel brand affinity “say they will purchase more products from them, as do 95% of consumers who participate in loyalty programs who feel close to those brands.”

An average 60% of those in commerce relationships feel more connected to brands

Consumers who sign up and remain engaged with retail subscriptions and memberships stay because they feel these brands “get them” as consumers and as people, putting the “relationship” in relationship commerce — its most powerful appeal.

Per the study, “consumers in retailers’ Relationship Commerce programs report they feel the brands better understand their buying preferences. Seventy-two percent of consumers with retail subscriptions, 65% with retail memberships and 67% who participate in retail loyalty programs feel this way.”

52% of loyalty program members say discounts or deals the most important benefit

Savings are always popular — even among those who can easily afford something — and we found that consumers attach high value to the discounts and deals, especially in 2022.

The benefit of platforms that enable subscription and membership brands to create and field compelling discounts is therefore very useful when, as the study states, “Approximately one-third of consumers with retail subscriptions or memberships and 52% of those who belong to loyalty pro- grams say discounts or deals are the most important benefit they receive from their existing relationship with a brand. “

Get Your Copy: Relationship Commerce: Building Long-Term Brand Engagement