Should I stay or should I go...with Grenade & SportsShoes.com

2024’s reload summit went ahead in September, bringing speakers and experts from right across the industry, as well as agencies and brands, to press refresh on what’s next in eCommerce. Alongside speakers from Google, Klaviyo, Shopify and TikTok, we sat down with Dan Cartner, Head of Marketing at SportsShoes.com, and Austen Crump, Grenade’s CRM Manager for a Q&A on brand loyalty. 

The concept of customer loyalty is always evolving, and businesses may be moving in an opposite direction to their audience. Whether it’s about offering discounts and freebies, or building a deeper, more meaningful way to connect with customers, we take a look at the tricky balance of building a loyal customer base…

Luke: Do you agree that loyalty has waned a little bit?

Dan: Loyalty is definitely under pressure. With the growth of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, and the shift to digital over the past few years, there’s more competition. It’s not that loyalty has waned—it’s just more challenging, and brands have to work harder to build lasting relationships. That's definitely a sentiment that I share, is that I don't think people are less loyal. I think that loyalty is just a little bit harder to earn, a little bit harder to buy, and brands and retailers just need to work that little bit harder with the strategy.

Austen: Loyalty for us is built on trust. From the beginning when Grenade was first founded we aimed to create a brand that people trusted and respected.  Trust for us as a foundation of loyalty. So what we continue to do is ensure that we're instilling trust within our consumers, within our products, within our service, within our brand, and ultimately that then exchanges for loyalty in the long run. We see loyalty as a long-term exchange: if customers trust us—our products, services, and brand—they’ll stay loyal.

Luke: How much of that do you think is the power of having a great product versus maybe all of the other pieces that fit around the customer journey? 

Austen: You've got to get the basics right: offer great products and excellent service. We've got to make sure that we're providing the best customer service, the best delivery service, whatever it might be, making sure that we're doing the basics correctly.We know that our products are good, we innovate really well, and it was a catalyst for growth last year for us. We recognize that as a brand that we continue to provide really good products that fit a need for our consumers, and provided that we continue to provide excellent service. It puts us in the best position to continue to command loyalty from our consumers 

"Our product innovation and service quality have been key in driving growth and loyalty. If we continue to deliver on both, we keep our customers coming back."

Luke: Is loyalty more earned and more meaningful now compared to the past?

Austen: It’s more difficult now because consumers have so many choices. For example, if you search “protein bars” online, you'll have 15 shopping ads from 15 different brands, different companies, different search ads coming through, and you'll have so much information available to you at your fingertips, so you can make an informed decision so quickly.

"For us, it's really important that we give customers that information, because it is so easy to be disloyal to a brand. I think habit still comes into it. Consumers still have them habituals that they want to continue to do I.e. eat a protein bar and on the way to work. But where they shop from, that changes due to ease of convenience, being able to access information just a couple of clicks. I think it's super important that we continue to give our customers a reason to come back with not only great products but memorable experiences that set us apart, so that when they do want more protein bars, “Ah, Grenade! “I remember what they did for me last time.”

Luke: Can creating a community around your brand help drive loyalty?

Dan: Absolutely. At SportsShoes, we focus on building a community. We put a real emphasis on offline automations now that have value and are memorable. We're not just a place to buy running shoes; we host team runs, marathon campaigns, and more.

"People come to us for expertise, not just products, and that community builds trust, which in turn drives loyalty. We want to be more than just a retailer. And I think ultimately that's probably what a lot of people reading this want to be, and more than just a service provider."

Luke: Does loyalty always have to be driven by discounts?

Dan: No, loyalty doesn’t have to rely on discounts. While discounts can drive short-term sales, we all have numbers to hit and targets. We want to reduce reliance on them as part of our growth strategy over the last five years. Instead, we focus on giving customers reasons to stay loyal, like exclusive content and experiences. We recently launched an app where members can access competitions and special content—offering more than just discounts i.e. free access to the London Marathon. I'm trying to give people a reason to become a member, stay a member, and keep going back for more content, and hopefully digesting that content as well as buying products. Ultimately, we need to understand our consumers better. We do that through a lot of surveys and research. The reality is, people say cheaper delivery, cheaper returns, cheaper price, but I think for me, it's below the line that's important.

Luke: Do discounts still play a role in maintaining loyalty?

Austen: It depends on the business. You need to go away and speak to your customers. Understand what it is that ticks their boxes effectively. For us, in a highly competitive space, price is important. But we combine competitive pricing with added value through our loyalty program. Our "Bunker" concept offers members special pricing, and we’ve seen that these members have four times higher lifetime value than non-members. So, it’s about balancing price with the overall experience we want to drive that behavior from our customers. As Dan says, we're trying to look towards, how do we do a lot of cool stuff when it comes to marketing? How do we better link into that? How do we go and provide these experiences that money can't buy? How do we take them on this journey, and how do we ultimately get them to be these brand advocates that we can go and put on a pedestal when it comes to marketing, and say, Look what you could do if you're one of our best customers.

Luke: Are customers simply more cautious or are they doing more research before committing to a brand?

Dan: Customers are definitely doing more research. With so much information available online, consumers are making more informed decisions. They compare prices, check reviews, and visit competitors before purchasing. It’s critical for brands to offer all the necessary information up front—like clear return policies and product details—to build trust it’s a big opportunity. 

Austen: I agree. It’s not just about being cautious; it’s about being well-informed and how convenient the online experience is. Consumers today can easily switch between brands within one click instead of traveling miles to the next shop. So we need to ensure they have a reason to choose us. Whether it's through social validation, great reviews, or detailed product information, brands need to provide everything a cautious consumer needs to make a confident decision. 

Luke: What are the biggest challenges in building and maintaining customer loyalty today?

Dan: One of the biggest challenges is technology. We recently re-platformed our website, and staying ahead of tech developments is a constant challenge.

"There's always people that are innovating quicker. There's always new tech out there, there's new partners. We need to double down on that and invest heavily into it, when actually, the sales growth will run quickly. But we're just not really nurtured the development side of the business. So I think that's where our big challenges are. On the previous point, Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is now a big priority for us. It’s not just about driving traffic; it’s about maximizing every visit and ensuring that our site layout and user experience drive conversions."

Austen: For us, the challenge has been forecasting demand for new products and innovation. When we launched a new flavour of our product, it sold out within a month. We have to ensure we’re prepared to meet the demand without sacrificing customer service. How do we ensure that we continue to nurture our customers and ensure that the service that we're giving them is second to none, whether it be from full desk at the start levels or just from a customer service standpoint. Another challenge has been staying true to our roots after being acquired by a larger company. We've seen other companies, particularly in our vertical, that have been acquired by big corporate companies and they almost lost their essence of who they are as a business. We want to maintain that startup spirit we were founded by £500 in a back bedroom and close connection to our customers while not losing what makes Grenade, Grenade. 

Luke: Staying authentic in marketing is always important. How do you manage to maintain authenticity as you evolve and grow?

Austen: It’s all about the people. We’ve got some incredible people on our marketing team, many of whom have been with us since the beginning. They built the brand, so they know it inside out. That consistency in messaging and brand ethos has really helped us stay true to ourselves over the years. At the same time, we recognise the need to adapt. For instance, Grenade is a bold brand—we literally have tanks in our branding—but in today’s climate, that's not always the most sensitive image. So, we’ve had to carefully balance our core message of "Get Sh*t Done" with the need to appeal to a wider, more mainstream audience.

Luke: What do you see as the key differences between older generations and the upcoming Gen Z and Gen Alpha when it comes to customer loyalty?

Dan: The big difference is the expectation that younger generations have around digital shopping. Whether it's through TikTok, social commerce, or unified commerce, they expect seamless shopping experiences wherever they are online. But beyond that, I think what will really set brands apart for Gen Z and Gen Alpha is authenticity. They want to know what a brand stands for and why it’s different from the rest.

Austen: I agree. The younger generations are digital natives, so eCommerce is going to play an even bigger role for them. We’re already seeing consumers buy products online that historically would have been considered offline purchases, like perishables. But beyond the convenience of tech, personalisation will be key. Younger consumers expect brands to know them and cater to their individual preferences. They don't want generic Black Friday blast offers—they want personalised experiences that’s the expectation. 

Luke: What role does data play in helping you personalize the customer experience and foster loyalty? And what are the key metrics that you use to decide whether customer loyalty is improving?

Austen: Data is crucial. We use Lifetime Value (LTV) as one of our primary metrics, but we've also started focusing on "boxes per year" to understand customer behavior better. Some customers buy a large number of products in bulk and don't return for months, while others make smaller, more frequent purchases. By understanding how much a customer consumes over a year, we can better tailor our marketing and retention efforts.

Another key focus for us is tracking "active customers." This helps us figure out whether we need to increase our customer acquisition efforts or focus on retaining the ones we already have. Customer feedback is also essential—both the good and the bad. We amplify what we do well and work hard to improve where we’re falling short. So we need to ensure that we continue to do the things we do well, do more of that, amplify it more, and then as priority, we must address the things that we're not doing very well at all.

Dan: Tracking has certainly been challenging, How can we forecast on that as well? Now is incredibly challenging, I think, just on the KPI, on something we really look at now and invest a lot of time and switch profitability. Which channels bring in the most profitable customers, and that includes returns, exchanges, cancellations, looking at that consumer and their entire journey, you know, I think we may have fallen into the trap over the years of just having that vanity top line or a new growth number, not that sort of sanity profitability level. 

We've learned that it’s easy to spend more money and achieve the same revenue. So, we’re constantly asking ourselves where we can gain efficiency without sacrificing customer experience. Profitability has been a key KPI for us in recent years, and it will continue to guide our growth strategy.

Customer loyalty is a game where the rules are always changing, and staying one step ahead is about staying in the know. With that said, refresh yourself with all of our insights and highlights from Reload right here, or if you want to speak to Visualsoft about creating your own digital strategy to drive loyalty, get in touch with the team.