At first glance, the relationship between brands and consumers may appear transactional—a product for a price, with loyalty driven through perceived value. However, today’s consumers expect much more. In fact, 73 percent expect brands to understand their unique needs and expectations.
This shift has redefined marketing. Traditional tactics no longer suffice; brands must foster human-centered connections with their audiences.
This guide helps you elevate your brand strategy by exploring the emotional drivers of brand loyalty, identifying the relationship types your audience seeks, decoding the unspoken rules of consumer behavior, and using customer relationship management (CRM) not just to collect data but to create meaningful, long-term value—boosting customer retention and profitability.
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Why Brand-Consumer Relationships Matter
Customer engagement extends beyond products; it hinges on how consumers feel when interacting with a brand.
Harvard Business School Professor Jill Avery, who teaches the online course Creating Brand Value, highlights a significant shift in the marketing world, propelled by the ethnographic research of Dr. Susan Fournier.
Fournier’s findings reveal that consumers don’t just purchase brands; they form relationships with them. When customers develop a bond with a brand, 57 percent are more likely to increase spending with it, and 76 percent are more likely to choose it over competitors.
For example, a parent selecting a birthday gift may gravitate toward a brand they bonded with during childhood, demonstrating how emotional ties to brands can shape purchasing decisions across generations.
“Thinking about brands in this way opened up an entirely new way of thinking about brand management,” Avery explains in Creating Brand Value.
Brands that place consumers at the heart of their stories can begin asking questions that spark genuine connections, such as:
- What role does our brand play in customers’ lives?
- How can our brand become an integral part of their identity, routines, and memories?
In Creating Brand Value, Avery encourages marketers to shift their mindset: “Instead of thinking about brands and their consumers, think about consumers and their brands.”
When you grasp the emotional depth of these relationships, your business becomes a trusted partner, enhancing consumer relationship marketing and nurturing vibrant brand communities that rise above the noise of a crowded market.
Identify the Right Consumer Relationship Model
Every consumer-brand relationship is unique. Recognizing where your brand fits within these relationships is a crucial first step toward enriching the customer experience.
Insights Fournier collected from a series of interviews have transformed how brand managers craft their marketing strategies today. One of her key contributions is the “Customer Profile Dimensions Pyramid,” featured in Creating Brand Value, which helps brands understand the type of relationship their audience seeks through several dimensions:
- Life themes: Core values and ideologies
- Possible selves: Aspirations and desired future identities
- Identity projects: The roles individuals play in their daily lives
- Current concerns: Frequent challenges they encounter
- Psychographics: Attitudes, interests, and lifestyle choices
- Demographics: Age, income, marital status, and profession
“Before we can build brands that deliver meaning, we have to understand which types of meanings consumers yearn for and that requires understanding how our brand is situated in the larger life of the customer,” Avery says in Creating Brand Value.
Fournier’s research vividly illustrates this concept. For instance, Karen, a working mother and recent divorcee, described her Reebok running shoes in an interview as a vital source of strength and comfort during a hectic time—symbolizing a best friend relationship rooted in honesty, trust, and reciprocity. Any significant change in the brand’s messaging or products would feel like a betrayal.
Consumers form various relationships with different brands, including:
- Best friend
- Dependency
- Teammate
- Enemy
- Fling
- Friend of a friend
- Childhood friend
- Colleague
Vicki, a 23-year-old graduate student interviewed by Fournier, demonstrates how distinct brands cater to diverse emotional needs at different life stages. Her strong attachment to Soft & Dri deodorant highlights a dependency, while her casual use of floral shampoos reflects exploratory flings.
“I’ll always try it,” Vicki shares in Creating Brand Value. “You have to have your little flings every once in a while, right? To see what’s out there.”
Whether your brand is a dependable teammate, spirited rival, or nostalgic childhood friend, aligning your strategy with customer expectations is crucial.
Discovering what your customers anticipate lets you stay one step ahead by crafting messaging, storytelling, and strategies that truly resonate with your target audience.
Related: Listen to Professor Avery discuss how to build a winning brand portfolio on The Parlor Room podcast, or watch the episode on YouTube.
Understand the Unspoken Rules of Consumer Relationships
Consumer brand relationships—like all meaningful connections—are shaped by unspoken rules that guide engagement and conflict response.
“Understanding what relationships you have with your customers, and what rules you need to follow, is crucial to building and maintaining strong consumer-brand relationships,” Avery emphasizes in Creating Brand Value.
Through her research with Fournier, Avery found that each type of consumer-brand relationship carries its own unique set of norms. These rules guide customer behavior and define what consumers expect in return from brands.
Much like human relationships, these expectations shift as the relationship develops. Recognizing and adapting to these changes can be the difference between a one-time buyer and a devoted brand advocate. Typically, these rules unfold in stages:
- Early stages: Initially, consumers assess the benefits of engaging with a brand. Rules during this phase often include incentives or rewards that spark interest and set a positive tone.
- As the relationship develops: As the connection grows, focus expands beyond the product itself. New norms emerge around brand communication, interaction, and boundary-setting, shaping the relationship’s rhythm.
- As the relationship deepens: In more committed phases, emotional expectations come to the forefront. Trust, loyalty, and how the brand manages conflicts or changes become vital to sustaining the bond.
Identifying the stage of your customers’ journey—and understanding the corresponding rules—is essential for creating an effective consumer-brand relationship strategy. These shared understandings not only nurture consumer relationships but also empower marketing managers to guide customers through the buying journey with tailored approaches that meet their needs.
“Ultimately, these rules are the backbone of a successful consumer-brand relationship, influencing customer satisfaction and loyalty,” Avery says in Creating Brand Value.
By embracing these unspoken rules, brands can skillfully navigate challenges, manage conflicts, shape consumer behavior, and build a loyal community of customers who feel genuinely valued and understood.
Master the Art of Negotiating High-Value Consumer Relationships
Building authentic brand-consumer relationships delivers mutual value. CRM should be more than data collection—it’s a strategic tool for relationship negotiation, using relational intelligence and empathy-driven metrics.
“Developing relational intelligence begins with the ability to extract relationship meaning from customer data,” Avery explains in Creating Brand Value.
Beyond demographics and purchase history, brands should use interviews, surveys, and behavioral signals to uncover customer perceptions.
Understanding the foundation of each relationship—whether rooted in trust, identity, or routine—helps marketers prioritize their efforts and focus on the most beneficial connections.
“Customers are not created equal,” Avery warns in Creating Brand Value. “Some provide more value to the firm and some provide less.”
To manage these relationships effectively, Avery outlines five core phases of consumer-brand relationships in Creating Brand Value:
- Awareness: The consumer becomes aware of the brand’s existence.
- Exploration: The brand entices the consumer, sparking curiosity and initial interest.
- Expansion: Consumers evaluate the relationship, defining what the brand means to them.
- Commitment: Consumers go beyond basic expectations, supporting the brand on a deeper level.
- Dissolution: Relationships may fade, end, or plateau without meaningful engagement.
Once brands identify these stages, they can take targeted action—supporting high-potential relationships, redirecting those that are drifting, or reviving dormant ones.
Pinterest, featured in Creating Brand Value, evolved from a passive discovery tool into an active partner by encouraging users to create and share personalized boards—shifting toward a teammate relationship.
Whether through tailored content, loyalty programs, or redefined roles, meeting consumers where they are in the relationship allows brands to negotiate greater value and maximize long-term return on investment.
Take Your Brand-Consumer Relationship Strategy Further with HBS Online
The most successful brands cultivate meaningful relationships rooted in trust, loyalty, and emotional connection. Improving these connections requires more than intuition; it calls for strategic thinking, relational intelligence, and the flexibility to evolve with customer needs.
From redefining your CRM systems to creating a targeted brand story, the key to impact is understanding how consumers feel about your brand and the relationship it represents.
Are you ready to improve your consumer-brand relationship strategy and sharpen your brand’s competitive edge? Explore Creating Brand Value—one of our online marketing courses—and download our interactive online learning success guide to discover the benefits of online programs and how to prepare for one.
