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BRAND ADVOCACY AND BRAND BONDING: NEW PARAMETERS IN

CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION JOURNEY IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

Research · May 2020

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.22854.91203

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 BRAND ADVOCACY AND BRAND BONDING: NEW PARAMETERS
IN CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION JOURNEY IN THE DIGITAL
WORLD

Prachi Gupta
HOD Marketing, ITM Business School, Navi Mumbai
Research Scholar, Faculty of Management, Pacific Academy of Higher Education and
Research University, Udaipur
Under the supervision of Dr. Seema Laddha, Research Guide
Email: [email protected]
Shagun Singh
Student, Department of Marketing, ITM Business School, Navi Mumbai
Email: [email protected]

Abstract

The focus of this research is mainly on to study “Brand Advocacy and Brand Bonding as new
parameters in consumer purchase decision journey in Digital world” and its impact on
various industries like Automobile, Retail, Clothing, Mobile handsets etc. where Retail &
Clothing has come out to be the leading one. It is a quantitative study carried out on youth in
the age group of 18-40 years, with a purpose to understand the new parameters in the consumer
purchase decision process on online and social media channels, where this age group is seen
to be highly interactive.

Respondents are having more or less similar mind-set with respect to recommending the brand
through various channels, wherein the social networking sites and Word-of-Mouth are found
to be mostly used, which doesn’t entail any marketing cost for the marketers. The third- party
shopping review sites found to be less relevant in this study.

With regard to the respondents’ gender, there is minimal difference with respect to their level
of engagement with the brand. Respondents are connected emotionally with the brand they
have mentioned rather than being connected with rational benefits. Thus, they are keener to
make a repurchase with the brand, only if they are having good experience with the brand.
Keywords:- Repurchase intention, brand engagement, brand advocacy, customer loyalty,
digital marketing.

Introduction
The internet is evolving and so the consumers are changing and engaging differently with brands. The
evolution is bringing new marketing mantra and thus consumer buying decision process is changing.
Below is the conventional consumer purchase decision journey process.

Exhibit 1: Conventional consumer purchase decision journey

Source: Harvard Business Review Dec. 2010

In the conventional process, after the purchase the relationship with the brand is focused mainly on the
use of the product. Since the time of internet evolution, this process has changed radically. Now
consumers want to share their experience online after buying the product and it has created new
parameters of Brand Advocacy and Brand Bonding. Below is the consumer purchase decision journey
process post internet evolution.
Exhibit 2: New consumer purchase decision journey process post Internet Evolution
 Source: Harvard Business Review Dec. 2010

Thus, it is clear that Brand Advocacy and Brand Bonding play a vital role in today’s consumer purchase
decision process.

Problem on hand

To understand the new parameters in the consumer purchase decision journey and to evaluate which
mode of channel people are using for recommendation to their friends, family and colleagues with the
help of online and social media platforms. Thus this research aims to understand the impact of Brand
Advocacy on Brand and Brand Bonding on customers.

Importance of the study

• Understanding the new marketing strategies for relationship building in the current digital era

• Engagement being the key to building relationships, thus exploring the channels providing
conducive environment for engaging customers

• After studying the consumer decision journey through insights with respect to new parameters,
marketers need to revise strategy, media spend and other organizational roles .

Objectives

• To understand the concept of brand advocacy & brand bonding in the new consumer purchase
decision journey

• To study the impact of brand advocacy on brand

• To study the impact of brand bonding on customers

• To find the most used channels for brand advocacy on internet

• To explore the parameters important for brand advocacy

• To explore the parameters important for brand engagement & bonding

• To measure the impact of brand engagement on repurchase intention

Literature review

In common parlance, brand loyalty refers to the repeated behaviour of purchasing a specific brand over
time (Kumar and Advani, 2005) and some behavioural constructs were used to measure it like purchase
proportion (Cunningham, 1966), purchase sequence (Kahn et al, 1986) and probability of purchase
(Massey et al, 1970).
Dick and Basu (1994) gave the concept of true brand loyalty, which according to them is not just limited
to consistent repurchase but goes beyond in including all kinds of positive attitudinal elements. Bloemer
and Kasper (1995) supported this argument and also agreed that the main difference between true and
spurious loyalty is that ‘commitment is a necessary condition for true brand loyalty to occur’.

Iglesias et al (2010) studied that loyalty is achieved by brands capable of delivering a unique and
distinctive experience by managing both functional and emotional elements. It further proves that
superior brand experience can promote strong emotional responses from consumers which can lead to
satisfaction, commitment, and loyalty.

With over 460 million internet users, India is the second largest online market, ranked only behind
China. By 2021, there will be about 635.8 million internet users in India. Despite the large base of
internet users in India, only 26 percent of the Indian population accessed the internet in 2015. This is a
significant increase in comparison to the previous years, considering the internet penetration rate in
India stood at about 10 percent in 2011. Furthermore, men dominated internet usage in India with 71
percent to women’s 29 percent.

Source: Statista 2017

According to the Com Score study, 75% of the internet audience in India will belong to the age group
of 35 years and below, which signifies that in the coming years there will be a huge young population
over the internet. With the proliferation of the Internet it has become relatively easy for customers to
gain more up to date information about the products and/or services before they make their purchase
decision. Customers can now validate the claims of the companies related to the products/services
beforehand (Ind & Riondino, 2001). The issue of consumer empowerment is increasingly becoming a
popular area of research in today’s times and trust-based advocacy marketing is emerging as an effective
means to empower customers (Yamaoka, 2004).

The internet as a medium and the e-WOM that it generates has today become an important phenomenon
which has enabled marketers to reach their potential customers through viral marketing campaigns (De
Bruyn and Lilien, 2008, cited in Longart, 2008). In the purchase decision making process of consumers,
new elements of electronic reviews, viral campaigns, e-WOM have added further complexity
(Mintel,2008). Since the text reviews posted on the internet can maintain anonymity, thus it gives ample
scope to the marketers to influence the consumers with fake e-WOM that may be perceived as user
generated content (UGC) by the gullible readers basing their decisions on the same.

Social media today has made inroads into our lives to such a deep extent that to expect our lives without
it appears quite unimaginable. Marketers all around the globe have given social media, the status of a
critical element in their landscape of strategies.

Deloitte study on Brand advocacy

Deloitte conducted a study in Aug 2009 to look at the issue of brand advocacy and how consumers
engage with their favorite brands with the emergence of social networking. Total consumers surveyed
was 1,700 in the United States across three categories of salty snacks, household cleaning solutions,
and beer. Brand advocates are those valuable consumers that have a favourite brand, spend an above-
average amount on that brand, and are actively involved with the brand, through engagement and
advocacy. The research examined the characteristics and behaviors of participants identified as brand
advocates to understand what influences them and the influence that they in turn exercise on others.

The study found that these consumers who are brand advocates, not only spend time in engaging with
the brand but also they spend time to influence others. Also brand advocates are more tech savvy than
the average consumer. They constantly engage in either online recommendations or offline
recommendations. The study also states that brand advocates are not necessarily blind loyal to their
favourite brand. In fact, they have high functional and emotional expectations from products, compared
to the average consumer. Finally, brand advocates are open to trying competing products based on
recommendations and reviews.

Nurturing Brand Advocates

Advocacy is new term in marketing which is evolving and penetrating rapidly. Brand advocates actively
tell others about their experience and their associated lifestyle. Advocacy is an important indicator of
brand power, as opposed to product or service offering. It's an indicator of customer value, and the basis
for word-of-mouth which is widely accepted and acknowledged as more efficient than the other
advertising and promotional tools. Below is the statistics of various industries and their advocacy rates
with respect to particular brand.

Source: NOP World 2004

Social Media’s Advocacy Paradox

A 2011 global study on social CRM by IBM’s Institute for Business Value surveyed consumers, as well
as business executives, to uncover what drives customers to interact with companies through social
media and the extent to which businesses are adopting social CRM strategies. The implications for
businesses are significant. Social media is the new era, brands and companies have to be where
customers are.

By October 2010, when the survey was conducted, 70 percent of executives reported their company
had a profile on a social networking site. While the surge of people adopting social media is astounding,
businesses must look beyond the numbers to understand who is following them and why. For the
majority of consumer respondents, social interaction is still primarily about friends and family, not
brands. Around 55 percent, of consumers surveyed said they do not engage with businesses using social
sites. Concerns about privacy and spam top the reasons for their reluctance.

Research methodology

This research is a descriptive study carried for a sample of 200 after incorporating the findings from
pilot study. The research sampling technique used is convenient sampling. A structured Questionnaire
with Likert's scale is used for the primary data collection. Both Bi-variate as well as Multi-variate
statistical tools are used to analyse the data. The data is analysed with the help of Frequency Test, One
way Anova Test, Correlation Test and Independent T- Test through SPSS 20.
Data from secondary sources was collected from books, journals, online journal sites like Ebsco and
Proquest.
The research type is totally descriptive in nature, as this research has been done by keeping specific
questions in mind and tried to find out the attributes which are taken into consideration by people for
selecting the brand as well as recommending the brand to their friends, family and colleagues.

Data analysis & interpretation

Table 1. Frequency Test

Percentage
1 Age
Below 18 39.5
18-25 31.0
26-40 29.5
2 Gender
Male 52.0
Female 48.0
3 Professional status
Student 38.5
Employee 23.0
Self-Employee 17.5
Businessman 15.0
Housewives 5.0
The sample for study was mainly youth between the age group of 18-40 years, with a balanced
composition with regard to gender. Care was taken to gain perspective from different groups on the
professional status front.

Table 2. Most sought after sector on internet

 Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Automobile 42 21.0 21.0 21.0

Retail and Clothing 83 41.5 41.5 62.5

Mobile handsets 42 21.0 21.0 83.5

FMCG 26 13.0 13.0 96.5

EP&C 7 3.5 3.5 100.0

Total 200 100.0 100.0

Analysis:

From the above table it is clear that consumers interact most with the Retail and Clothing sector i.e.
41.5% followed by Automobile & Mobile handsets each 21%. Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)
and Electronics, Printers & Cameras (EP&C) has recorded only 13% & 3.5% respectively of the total
respondents which clearly signifies less relevance of these sectors through online channels. The
industries like Retail, Clothing, Automobile and Mobile handsets being most sought in the online space
clearly indicates a huge scope for these industries to grow here.

The graph below depicts the Brands which were mentioned by the respondents as the most preferred
ones from the different sectors on which the research is carried out.
 Levis
Van Heusene
US Polo
Wrangler
Armani Exchange
Maruti Suzuki
Honda
Hyundai
Ford
Samsung
Apple
Nokia Series 1
Others
HUL
P&G
ITC
Others
Sony
Samsung
Kodak
HP Printers
LG

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

The top five brands in the sectors under study were found to be Samsung with 55% respondents in the
mobile handset category, Maruti Suzuki and HUL 45% each in automobile and FMCG category and
last two brands i.e. Sony and Levis each having 40% respondents in electronics and retail clothing
categories.

Maximum number of brands were mentioned by respondents in the Retail & Clothing segment as their
preferred ones which indicates this sector to be the leading one followed by automobile and FMCG.

Table 3. One-way Anova Test

Mean Value Sig.

Please rate which channel you would be Below 18 years 2.16 .131
using for recommending the Brand
18-25 years 2.18
most? Social Networks
25-40 years 1.86
( Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc)
Total 2.08
 Third Party Shopping Review Sites Below 18 years 2.87 .174
(Burrp, Zomato etc)
18-25 years 2.58

25-40 years 2.58

Total 2.70

Word of Mouth(Face to Face) Below 18 years 2.24 .614

18-25 years 2.44

25-40 years 2.42

Total 2.36

Hypothesis 1: For one way ANOVA test

Ho1:- There is no significant difference between the different age groups and channel used for
recommending the brand
Ha1:- There is significant difference between the different age groups and channel used for
recommending the brand

Interpretation

ANOVA test is performed here to find out whether age groups have any relationship or effect on channel
used for recommending the brand. ANOVA is being carried out as age groups are divided into three
categories. The result presented in above table states the value for Sig. (2-tailed) to be more than 0.05
i.e. 0.131, .174 & .614, so HO is accepted and Ha is rejected, which concludes that there is no significant
relationship between the age group and channel used for recommending the Brand.

The difference between the mean values is negligible for all the three channels of recommendation for
the different age groups, mostly lying between 2 & 3 i.e. between High & Neutral. This clearly signifies
that all the age groups are recommending on all the channels equally. The third party shopping review
site is having slightly higher mean value than others which shows that this particular channel is used
less by the respondents followed by word of mouth and social networking sites.

Thus, it is clear that Social networking sites and Word of Mouth have the higher advocacy rate which
is a huge space for the brands to grow at minimal marketing cost.
 Table 4. Independent T- Test

Gender Sigma (2 – Mean

Tailed)
Rate your level of engagement Male 1.97
with the Brand you have Female 1.85
mentioned? I feel good after Equal variance assumed .354
buying the Brand(Product) Equal variances not assumed .352
I have good experience with the Male 2.01
Brand Female 1.91
Equal variance assumed .516
Equal variances not assumed .514
I regular participate in the contest Male 3.42
and events Female 3.32
Equal variance assumed .518
Equal variances not assumed .516
I get rewards points for every Male 3.66
purchase Female 3.46
Equal variance assumed .284
Equal variances not assumed .284
I get various offerings(Discounts) Male 3.29
throughout the season Female 3.20
Equal variance assumed .629

Equal variances not assumed .628

Hypothesis 2: For Independent T-test

Ho2:- There is no significant relationship between gender and the level of engagement with the brand

Ha2: - There is significant relationship between gender and the level of engagement with
the brand

Here the level of engagement is seen on two fronts, emotional which relates to the feelings and rational
which relates to the benefits received. Different parameters on which engagement is measured are:

- Feel-good factor after the brand purchase (emotional)

- Good experience with the brand (emotional)
 - Participation in the contests and events run by the brand (rational)
- Benefit of reward points at every purchase (rational)
- Benefit of different offerings throughout the season (rational)

Interpretation

Here the value for Sig. (2-tailed) on first parameter of feel-good factor after the brand purchase is
more than 0.05 i.e. .352 so Ho is accepted and Ha is rejected which conclude that there is no significant
relationship between the gender and the level of engagement with the brand with respect to this
parameter.

From the result of mean value it is clear that there is negligible difference between male and female.
Since mean values are between 1 & 2 on likert scale which in this research would mean between Highest
& High, which indicates that they are emotionally connected with the brand with which they are
interacting the most.

On the second parameter of good experience with the brand value for Sig. (2-tailed) is .514 i.e. Ho
accepted and Ha is rejected, which concludes that there is no significant relationship between gender
and the level of engagement on this parameter.

As is indicated by mean values, there is negligible difference between male and female and it was
observed that they are emotionally connected with the brand which they are interacting the most.

On the third parameter of participation in the contests and events run by the brand value for Sig.
(2-tailed) here is again more than 0.05 i.e. .516 so Ho is accepted and Ha is rejected, which concludes
that there is no significant relationship between gender and the level of engagement with the brand with
respect to this parameter.

Study of mean values show that there is negligible difference between male and female. Here the mean
values fall between 3 & 4 i.e. between neutral and low, thus it is observed that they are not involved
much in participating events and contests.

On the fourth parameter of getting benefit of reward points at every purchase value for Sig. (2-tailed)
is .284 so Ho is accepted and Ha is rejected, which concludes that there is no significant relationship
between gender and the level of engagement with the brand with respect to this parameter.

Mean values show negligible difference between male and female. Mean values fall between neutral &
low which signify that they are not rationally but emotionally connected with the brand they are using.

On the last parameter of getting various offerings throughout the season the value for Sig. (2-tailed)
is .628 so Ho is accepted and Ha is rejected, which concludes that there is no significant relationship
between gender and the level of engagement with the brand with respect to this parameter.
A look at the mean values show negligible difference between male and female. And that they are not
connected rationally but emotionally with the brand.

Overall mean value analysis clearly shows that customers’ level of engagement with their preferred
brands does not depend on participation in contests, getting reward points and offerings from brand.
Instead it depends on the feel good factor and the good experience that their brand provides them after
purchase. This clearly gives a direction to the marketers regarding their focus areas for building highly
engaged customers.

Table 5. Correlation test

Rate your I have I I get I get How

level of good regular reward various likely
engagement experience particip points offerin would
with the with the ate in for gs(Disc you be
Brand you Brand the every ounts) conside
have contest purchas through ring
mentioned? and e out the buying(
I feel good events season repurch
after buying ase)
the again
Brand(Prod Brand
uct)
Rate your level Pearson 1 .208** -.179 -.119 -.136 .134
of engagement Correla
with the Brand tion
you have
mentioned? I
feel good after
buying the
Brand(Product)
Sig. (2- .003 .011 .094 .055 .058
tailed)

N 200 200 200 200 200 200

I have good Pearson .208** 1 -.152** -.124 -.153* .189**
experience Correla
with the Brand tion
Sig. (2- .003 .032 .079 .031 .007
tailed)

N 200 200 200 200 200 200

I regular Pearson -.179* -.152* 1 .718** .759** -.023
participate in Correla
the contest and tion
events
 Sig. (2- .011 .032 .000 .000 .748
tailed)

N 200 200 200 200 200 200

I get reward Pearson -.119 -.124 .718** 1 .719** .031
points for every Correla
purchase tion
Sig. (2- .94 .079 .000 .000 .659
tailed)

N 200 200 200 200 200 200

I get various Pearson -.136 -.153* .759** .719** 1 .018
offerings(Disc Correla
ounts) tion
throughout the
season
Sig. (2- .055 .031 .000 .000 .805
tailed)

N 200 200 200 200 200 200

How likely Pearson .134 .189** -.023 .031 .018 1
would you be Correla
considering tion
buying(repurch
ase) again
Brand
Sig. (2- .058 .007 .748 .659 .805
tailed)

N 200 200 200 200 200 200

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Hypothesis 3: For Correlation

Ho3:- There is no significant correlation between the level of engagement with the brand and the
repurchase intention
Ha3: - There is significant correlation between the level of engagement with the brand and the
repurchase intention

Interpretation

Level of engagement is seen on the same 5 parameters:

- Feel-good factor after the brand purchase (emotional)

Value of Pearson correlation Sig.(2-tailed) is .058, Ho accepted and Ha rejected, which concludes that
no correlation exists between the level of engagement with the brand and the repurchase intention.

- Good experience with the brand (emotional)

Sig. (2-tailed) value is .007 which is less than .05, so from here it can be concluded that correlation
exists between the level of engagement with the brand and the repurchase intention. It signifies that
respondents are emotionally connected with the brand and they consider good experience to be one of
the factor due to which they feel like repurchasing the brand.

- Participation in the contests and events run by the brand (rational)

The Sig. (2-tailed) value is .748, Ho accepted & Ha rejected, which signifies that no correlation exists
between the level of engagement with the brand and the repurchase intention.

- Benefit of reward points at every purchase (rational)

The Sig. (2-tailed) value is .659 which is greater than .05, so from here it can be concluded that there is
no correlation between the level of engagement with the brand and the repurchase intention. Thus null
hypothesis is accepted and alternate hypothesis is rejected.

- Benefit of different offerings throughout the season (rational)

The Pearson correlation Sig. (2-tailed) value is .805 which concludes that there is no correlation between
the level of engagement with the brand and the repurchase intention. Thus null hypothesis is accepted
and alternate hypothesis is rejected.

From above analysis with respect to all the factors it is clear that the respondents are emotionally
connected with the brand rather than rationally and even it was found that respondents who are having
good experience with the brand, only they are willing to repurchase the brand.

Managerial Implications

India is a country with high young population and the penetration of the internet is growing rapidly
among the youth. Thus through this research it is recommended that today’s marketers have to be e-
marketers to profound the growth in the organization.
Brand needs to increase the visibility in the online channels and need to engage effectively in order to
build a strong relationship with the consumers. Brands need to revise the strategy with respect to the
experience and the value they are giving to the consumers.
E-marketers have to build a strong presence in order to give a worthy experience as this is what the
consumers are expecting from the brand. They have to focus on the emotional aspect rather than the
rational benefits so that consumers repurchase the brand.
Utilization of social networking sites and word of mouth is having high advocacy rates so marketers
need to focus more on these channels in order to get competitive advantage.

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