What is loyalty and loyal attitude (meaning and examples)

Author of the material:

Inna Trofimova

writer, psychologist, gestalt therapist

In the USSR there was one type of mayonnaise and less than 10 types of ice cream. It is not surprising that these products were a symbol of the holiday. Today, manufacturers regularly replenish their product range, and marketers are literally fighting for customer loyalty. But, despite the fact that the term is used widely and often, many do not understand its meaning. How is loyal behavior manifested in different areas of life and business? What is clan loyalty? Is it possible to rewrite the generic script? These questions need to be answered. Because they are very important.

What is loyalty in simple words

Many of us understand the concept of loyalty as favor towards someone or something. And there is some truth in this.

The category “loyalty” is of French origin. Translated into Russian it is translated as fidelity.

Example: At a university there is a group of students consisting of different nationalities. The teacher treats certain nations favorably, but evaluates students of certain nationalities rather harshly and subjectively.

It turns out that loyalty is a subjective concept. A person gives preference to some, but somehow infringes on the interests of others.

Loyalty should be understood as a person’s correct, favorable attitude towards certain processes, phenomena, goods, objects, people. Often the word “loyalty” can be replaced with categories such as fidelity, devotion, affection.

For example: a person has been purchasing clothes from a particular brand for many years. And although competitors’ clothes are slightly better and cheaper, the buyer is favorable to the first brand. And this is also loyalty.

But it is important to understand: the concept of loyalty, which is used in business, work and home, has different meanings.

In everyday life, among the population, loyalty does not literally mean fidelity, reliability, legality. This means condescension, a calm, kind attitude towards someone.

It is important to distinguish not only categories, but also their practical value and place of application.

Family loyalty.

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Loyalty to the clan (tribal script) is a set of attitudes, rules and choices laid down from childhood, mostly under the influence of parents. When a child grows up, he wants to belong to his family, he is ready to share the ideals, traditions, and values of his family. Gradually, everyone develops a set of beliefs in the form of a mythical reference book - unwritten rules about how to live. It is passed down from generation to generation, separately through the male and female lines.

Sometimes it seems that the generic script is imprinted on us forever. But that's not true. On the one hand, they really have a strong influence on our lives. On the other hand, you can consciously choose whether to follow it or not.

It is unrealistic to rewrite the life script on your own and without psychological preparation. But if you read basic books on the psychology of self-development, pull yourself together and live through the unknown, then anything is possible.

How to identify a generic script?

In his books, Eric Berne phenomenologically described the simple logic of the types and options of life scenarios. According to the author of transactional analysis, a Child, a Parent and an Adult live in each of us. We need to learn to recognize and distinguish their voices in order to understand what guides us in certain situations.

Take the test: child, adult, parent

The life scenario is formed in three main areas:

Winners (adults) – those who set and achieve goals in life.
Non-winners (parents) - those who are determined to do hard daily work.
Losers (children) - those who always get into trouble and drag those around them down with them.

Some people get used to living in one state, others switch roles depending on the situation. Moreover, the majority play their roles unconsciously. You can start independent psychotherapy with four questions to yourself. Conscious and detailed answers will give a hint about what scenario restrictions we are used to living within.

These are the questions:

What was your family's life motto? (gives a clue as to what is running the script).
How did parents usually behave during holidays, on weekdays, on weekends, during a quarrel or when working together? (gives an answer about imposed patterns of behavior).
What were you forbidden to do as a child and teenager? (explains the reasons for the lack of freedom of choice: if we continue to obey prohibitions or deliberately act in the opposite way, we are in any case not free).
What actions of yours made your parents happy or sad? (explains how we build relationships, how we try to win love, friendship or trust).

What does such a revision of life attitudes give? After all, the events of the past themselves do not disappear. In fact, we remember not so much the event as our impression. Revision helps change your attitude towards the past, giving it a completely different meaning.

True, in his books Berne gives more theory than clear tips, but he recommends turning to a script psychoanalyst.

Loyal person - who is this?

The concept of a loyal person can be considered from two points of view:

A person's loyalty to another person, for example, a friend, relative, acquaintance. Literally it means treating someone with respect, correctness, and kindness.
A person’s loyalty to any item, brand, company. For example, a loyal person towards his employer. This does not mean that the employee is kind and respectful of management. This means that he is a loyal employee who fulfills his duties conscientiously. He complies with internal rules and regulations.

For family and friends, the first option of loyalty is more important; the harmony of interpersonal relationships depends on it. For the company and employees, the second loyalty option is more important; it determines the employee’s performance.

Levels

The higher the level of staff loyalty, the more reliable the employee is for the company. The following levels are distinguished:

The first level, which consists of external attributes indicating belonging to the company. Wearing branded clothing, using branded ashtrays, cups or stationery is where any company should begin to increase staff loyalty. At this level, it is difficult to talk about complete trust in the enterprise, but there is a high probability that the employee will be able to feel part of it.
At the level of behavior, which involves following rules and complying with norms. At this level, loyalty manifests itself in the form of discussing business events in the company, collective congratulations to the management team, or sharing a snack at lunchtime.
At the level of abilities, it is expressed in accordance with the abilities of each employee to the requirements of the company. The right employee, when performing his daily work, adheres to the principles that his position requires, thereby reproducing the expected behavior. The formation of this level of loyalty should occur during the selection and hiring of personnel, taking into account the personal qualities of each candidate.
At the level of beliefs, it is expressed in full acceptance of the principles and beliefs of the company. This level is one of the highest, and achieving it is an extremely difficult task for management.
At the level of identity is the highest degree, since here every employee must believe in himself, the company and his colleagues. This level is expressed in the full acceptance of all beliefs, performing their work in the best possible way, and, most importantly, employees are ready to constantly improve themselves in order to comply with the company’s ideology.

Types of loyalty

Loyalty is classified according to many characteristics and criteria. It all depends on the area in which this concept is applied.

For example, loyalty in marketing can be divided into three categories:

Transactional . The bottom line: the more times a customer buys the same product, the more loyal he is to the brand, product or service. Loyalty is measured in the number of repeat purchases.
Perceptual . Loyalty is assessed through the degree of consumer satisfaction with the qualities and properties of the products he purchased.
Comprehensive . Loyalty is assessed based on transactional and perceptual loyalty.

Loyalty to the subject and object can be divided into categories such as loyalty to:

Brenda. A person buys different products of the same brand. Often, loyalty is determined by the formed connections between the buyer and the manufacturer.
Product. The consumer expresses loyalty to the same product, which may be produced by different companies. Many factors have an influence. And the task of a particular manufacturer is to retain the client and attract his attention.

They also highlight loyalty to the state, society, and people.

Loyalty levels

Commitment levels are most often discussed in labor psychology, considering the specifics of companies' activities. Employee loyalty is dedication to the company. The higher the employee's level of loyalty, the more committed he is to the company. Employee commitment depends on working conditions, the director’s leadership style, and the individual psychological characteristics of employees.

Levels of Commitment:

Attributes. Formal affiliation with the company through attributes and appearance.
Behavior. Practical involvement in the activities of the company, that is, behavior within the framework of the rules and regulations of the company.
Capabilities. Personal goals coincide with the goals of the company; the employee, using his skills and qualities, helps the company develop. He is proactive and offers non-standard, new ways to achieve common goals.
Beliefs. The employee identifies himself with the company and considers himself a part of it. The company’s values become the values of the individual and are transformed into stable beliefs. Formal adherence to rules is transformed into internal, sincere commitment.

What does the level depend on:

fame and high status of the company;
high salaries, benefits package;
favorable psychological climate;
good working conditions;
democratic leadership style;
employee preferences (building a career or working in one position, frequently changing jobs or committing to one workplace);
employee needs and interests;
employee education;
employee values;
life experience of employees;
work experience in the company.

In general, we can say that these levels of development are relevant for any sphere. For example, the development of commitment to family, informal youth group, team, country, etc. can be interpreted in a similar way.

Loyal attitude to the state

Loyalty to the state is expressed through the citizen’s loyalty and obedience, and his compliance with existing legal norms.

This concept is often called civic loyalty. And this is a completely correct definition. A person living in a particular society fulfills a number of civil rights and responsibilities.

Civic loyalty can be classified into two categories:

True loyalty. A person actually complies with all the norms and laws that are prescribed in regulatory documents.
Formal loyalty. A person does not actually comply with all laws and regulations, but at the same time clearly expresses his position on this issue.

A simple example: a person is at a crossing, the light turns red, there are no cars, nothing threatens the life and health of the subject. But he still stands still and does not cross the road. And such an act can be predetermined as a loyal attitude towards the state and traffic rules.

Experts agree that civil wars and revolutions occur in those states where the actual loyalty of citizens is at a low level. It turns out that in such countries there may be formal, but not true loyalty.

The UAE is considered to be a striking example of true loyalty to the state. But there is another point: the state is loyal to its citizens, citizens are loyal to the state. Typically, this is an interdependent process.

Factors of occurrence

The process of managing staff loyalty is unthinkable without knowledge of what factors can influence its occurrence among employees of the organization. The following factors are identified:

the employee’s existing experience (model of previous business relationships at previous places of work);
personal values;
providing due attention to the employee;
feeling of pride.

It is worthwhile to dwell on each factor in more detail. Speaking about existing experience, they mean the degree of trust in the company that a person had at his previous place of work. In order to understand how difficult it will be to instill a sense of loyalty in a person, it is necessary to clarify with him during the interview how well he got along with colleagues and management at his previous place of work, what suited him and what outraged him, as well as what kind of relationship should be between colleagues and leadership. Based on the answers, you can determine how well a person will fit into the existing level of loyalty and how difficult it will be to instill this feeling in him.

The formation of personal values is directly related to existing experience. A person’s beliefs about certain phenomena are extremely difficult to change. If a person is confident that professionalism does not affect career advancement, and that it is possible to get a highly paid position only by having personal connections, then it is difficult to expect behavior from him that indicates the opposite.

An extremely important factor in the formation of staff loyalty is the attention given to each employee by the enterprise. In this way, one can note the importance of a person for the company

Perhaps this factor can also be called human, since when working with people it is important to emphasize that he is not just an employee, but part of one whole mechanism, and that he deserves the trust of the company

It is extremely important to remember here that each person evaluates attention differently, since for one person congratulations on holidays will be enough, for another there will be nothing better than financial encouragement, and for a third, determining an individual work schedule. But in any case, it is necessary to remember that the company’s attention to its employees must at the same time be comprehensive, adequate and not harm general discipline

The next factor influencing the formation of loyalty is pride in belonging to the company and team. When a company achieves success, each employee experiences certain feelings, and if at the right time you point out to the staff that this is the merit of each of them, then you can increase the feeling of joy for the goals achieved and make employees proud of the team, themselves and the company as a whole.

Loyalty in Marketing

Loyalty in marketing is also referred to as consumer loyalty. In a general understanding, this is the favor and loyalty of a particular subject to certain groups of goods, trademarks, brands.

For example, a person goes to a supermarket where he needs chocolate (it is not so important what the subject is going to buy). On the counter he sees many manufacturers who offer almost typical products with similar characteristics. But for some reason the choice is made in favor of only one manufacturer.

This situation is probably typical for each of us. We make a choice in favor of one brand, neglecting the offer of another manufacturer. Why?

In this way, loyalty to the brand is expressed. And price is not the main factor on the basis of which the choice is made. A person makes a purchase based on many characteristics: product quality, taste, smell, advertising, etc.

Consumer loyalty is a key indicator that marketers take into account. Based on this parameter, a decision is made about what to do next, how to promote the product, what needs to be changed, and what to take as a guideline.

Signs of loyalty

Many marketers interpret loyalty based on their own ideas about this concept, which are very often far from not only the definitions in science, but also from an understanding of practical benefits. Let us highlight the main signs of consumer loyalty to the products of a certain manufacturer:

Emotional consumer commitment to a product brand: from a positive attitude to conscious involvement in the values that the purchase of this product brings.
Awareness and understanding of functional (convenience) and non-functional (fashion, status) benefits from using a product.
Reduced sensitivity to competitors’ pricing policies/tolerance to manufacturer’s erroneous actions.
Positive experience of using the product.
The fact of making subsequent purchases of goods of the same brand or a conscious desire to make them.

How to increase customer loyalty

In order for a client to be loyal to a product, he must receive not only the product. Although it mainly depends on its quality whether they will buy the product or not. A number of conditions must be met to ensure a loyal attitude.

What conditions are the key to customer loyalty:

Quality product. No explanation needed.
Pre-sales or after-sales service. High quality service.
Understanding the client's needs and requests. You must always work ahead. The manufacturer must understand what the buyer needs.

If loyalty falls and product quality decreases, then there is only one way out - to work on quality. If the number of sales falls due to strong competition, price dumping and other factors, then it can be increased.

The most effective ways to increase loyalty:

Carrying out promotions, sweepstakes, discounts. Promotions on a regular basis with small prizes attract customers. They help not only retain “old” customers, but also attract new customers.
Development, adjustment, implementation of loyalty programs. For regular customers, you need to offer discounts, bonuses, and possible prizes. The more a client buys a product, the more bonuses he receives (simplified).
Special price list for regular customers. Not suitable for all products. But for clothing stores, training courses, and service companies, this is an excellent option.
Content marketing. Launching an active brand promotion program on social networks and third-party resources. Launch of targeted, contextual advertising.
Conducting seminars, master classes, webinars. Such events can be held for a nominal fee. People are actively learning something new.

There are actually a lot of options. Each case requires analysis and development of a clear plan.

Loyalty development

Loyalty as a personality trait is formed in childhood and adjusted throughout later life. An active participant in society has to interact with different people, therefore loyalty is an important quality for the development, socialization, and adaptation of the individual. A correct, tolerant, tolerant attitude towards what does not correspond to our worldview helps us find a common language with other people, move up the career ladder, build a personal life and make friends. Every person has a list of shortcomings that he is willing to put up with. Everyone has their own list, for example, some are loyal to aggression, while others categorically will not tolerate even raising their voices in a relationship.

Loyal people are convenient for others, but often they have to neglect personal interests. However, much depends on adherence criteria. There is no single system of characteristics; much depends on the conditions of development and upbringing. Parents lay the foundation for tolerance and show boundaries in social interaction by personal example. If a child sees from an early age that parents do not show tolerance to each other, then he himself is just as demanding, strict, and prejudiced towards them and other people. If from an early age a child sees that parents have a negative attitude towards people of another nationality, then the same intolerant, disloyal attitude is formed in him.

Types of loyalty programs

A loyalty program is one of the effective tools for increasing brand loyalty. Not everyone knows, but such programs can be different. Let's look at some of the most popular:

Discount. The buyer receives a certain percentage of the discount. The more purchases he makes, the greater the discount. Although there is always a maximum limit. For example, no more than 7%.
Savings, cashback program. For each purchase, a certain amount of funds is returned to the buyer’s account or points are awarded. Then the accumulated points can be spent on specific products or paid for part of the cost of the product.
Affiliate. Several companies are developing one program. Having bought, for example, a product in one store, a client can buy a product at a discount in another retail chain.

The main conditions for increasing loyalty

What is a showroom: what does it mean
? Increasing loyalty is a complex event, so it is important to remember about special moments and conditions. In this process, you should remember the following conditions:

All company managers should be interested in promotion.
Increasing loyalty is only profitable if the company is committed to long-term employment relationships with staff.
The owner must be prepared for additional material costs.
The person responsible for increasing loyalty must have the authority that will allow him to coordinate and manage this process.

It is best to assign this responsibility to the head of the personnel department or first deputies. In this way, all the above conditions will be met.

Usage examples

Let's look at a few examples below.

For example, the Sportmaster retail chain in Russia offers customers a discount and cashback program at once. There are three levels of loyalty:

Standard level. Assigned to everyone after the first purchase. Cashback is minimal – 5%.
Silver level. The total purchase cost is 15,000 rubles or more. It doesn’t matter how the client collects these 15,000 rubles: at one time or gradually.
Gold level. The total purchase amount is from 150,000 rubles.

Each level has a special blue, silver or gold card. Depending on the level, the client can change the product within 14, 30 or 60 days. The discount and cashback amount also ranges from 5 to 10%. There are additional discounts on other services.

Another example: a successful global loyalty program can be called “My Starbucks Rewards”, which was introduced by Starbucks. It's simple: if a client buys goods in a coffee shop and pays with a card, he receives a bonus in the form of a “star”. Then, for these same stars, customers can buy coffee or sweets.

In any case, before introducing a specific program, the target audience and its needs are examined. For example, it is difficult to offer bonuses in the form of cashback by a dealer of luxury foreign cars. It is important to take into account the specifics of the business and the client’s needs.

What is a bank loyalty program?

As for the bank, they also offer a loyalty program. It is often implemented through a cashback program.

The client spends money from the card and receives cashback for this - 1, 3, 10%, etc. He can spend the accumulated points to pay for goods and services of those companies that are partners of the bank. And this is just an example of an affiliate loyalty program.

Thus, to successfully promote a brand or product, a company must evaluate customer loyalty and track trends in its change. Business now cannot operate without implementing effective bonus programs. And it doesn’t matter in what area you work and promote a product.

Loyalty is not only a person’s favor and loyalty to something or someone. This is also the law-abiding nature of the subject in relation to the laws that apply in his state.

Labor loyalty

A work team is a system in which the main factors of activity are existing norms and relationships between employees. Employees may have different attitudes towards the employer and members of management.

If employees obey existing rules and perform job duties out of fear of developing a negative attitude from their manager or colleagues, this is normative loyalty.
If an employee has been working in an organization for a long time, he unconsciously perceives it as part of himself. In this case, behavioral loyalty is formed.
When an employee works with pleasure, conscientiously, and shares the manager’s opinion regarding the company’s goals and policies, this is affective loyalty.

Affective loyalty of employees is a guarantee of the effective operation of the organization. In this case, employees give one hundred percent at work, show initiative, strive to promote the company, value their position, and are ready to endure temporary difficulties.

Every competent leader should strive to achieve just such an attitude from his team. This can be done in several ways:

salary incentives (bonuses, salary increases, issuance of preferential tickets, vouchers, etc.);
moral motivation (certificates, letters of gratitude, photograph on the honor board, etc.);
creation of corporate unity (trainings, seminars, corporate celebrations, etc.);
individual approach to each employee;
advanced training of employees at the expense of the company.