Emotional Loyalty in the AI Era: Amanda Cole of Bloomreach on Reimagining Brand Relationships

1. How can brands foster more emotional bonds with customers, and why is it so important to do so?

Emotional bonds aren't just "important" for businesses anymore — they're make or break. I think as consumers ourselves, we all understand that pretty well. I mean, when I connect with a brand personally, I don't just shop there occasionally…I become their unofficial ambassador.

The challenge is that building a brand customers love has typically been limited to delivering great products and great customer service. Because, let's face it, it was always much harder to achieve that with truly great marketing. Highly personalized, contextual marketing has been too hard for brands to achieve with the tools and technologies they had available to them.

AI is shattering these limitations – not incrementally, but completely. We're witnessing a radical shift where every single customer touchpoint can be uniquely tailored to each customer’s needs and context. When we use AI to personalize at human scale – making every email, push notification, or interaction feel like it came from someone who deeply understands you – customers don't just feel satisfied, they feel a genuine emotional connection.

2. How does a shift from transactional incentives to emotional drivers in marketing influence brands’ approach to customer loyalty?

We all know that coupon shoppers aren't loyal shoppers. They may provide a quick hit to your quarterly KPI, but they won't help you build a lasting brand. True loyalty only emerges when your brand means something deeper than the price tag.

And you really can’t make your brand mean something to a customer if you don’t understand your customer. So at the heart of the shift from transactional incentives to emotional drivers is a deep, connected understanding of customer data. Not siloed data living in disconnected systems, but a unified view that reveals who customers truly are and what genuinely motivates them.

3. What role does post-purchase engagement play in converting customers into brand advocates?

The post-purchase experience is where advocacy either solidifies or dies, but it’s really common for marketing teams to underestimate its importance! We obsess over acquisition but then revert to generic communication after purchase.

Of course, there are a lot of customer service-related actions that play a role in driving post-purchase loyalty… easy returns, for example (in a similar vein, our loyalty report with EMARKETER found that services like available customer support and free delivery are key to customer retention).

But don’t overlook the impact that genuine emotional connections and deep personalization can have in post-purchase, too. Personalized recommendations and follow up communications, reminding customers when it might be time for a product refill… these post-purchase, personalized touches can play a huge role in helping brands strengthen their relationship with customers.

4. How can brands ensure consistency in emotional engagement across various customer touchpoints and channels?

The fragmented, channel-by-channel approach to emotional engagement isn't just ineffective—it's actively damaging the connections we're trying to build with customers. When Monday's email feels deeply personal but Tuesday's push notification screams "generic discount," we're not just missing an opportunity; we're eroding trust.

This is where AI really makes a difference, particularly now as agentic AI is making marketing more autonomous. Brands can leverage agents to create this kind of message consistency across every channel —  from email and SMS to social media and in-app notifications — and can do that at scale for every customer. It lessens the manual burden of trying to create this kind of experience, and unlocks a level of scale that really hasn’t been possible until now. With AI, you can ensure that every customer is receiving a personalized, consistent experience with your brand, attuned to the emotional drivers they actually care about.

5. How can organizations address potential trust issues that may arise from negative customer experiences or brand missteps?

Trust isn't built through perfect execution. It’s built through authentic human response when things inevitably go wrong. It's how you handle the stumbles that defines your brand's emotional connection with customers. When missteps happen (and they will), transparency isn't just the ethical choice; it's the only strategy that preserves the emotional bonds we work so hard to create.

Along with that transparency, there needs to be clear value creation. If customers don't believe that sharing their data results in genuinely better experiences that matter to them personally, you’ll never build a strong relationship. We need to fundamentally reimagine the value exchange between brands and customers — transforming data collection from a transaction into a partnership where both sides clearly benefit from deeper, more meaningful connections.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.