After authoring two New York Times bestselling business books—“Contagious: Why Things Catch On” and “Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior”—Jonah Berger has found himself in high demand from businesses looking for help in launching a new customer loyalty program or healing one that is ailing.
For the professor of marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, he has found that businesses are interested in increasing what he calls “behavioral loyalty,” which is about maintaining sales, when they really should be focusing on what he calls “attitudinal loyalty,” which is about how much they actually like the brand. If a customer truly likes the brand, they will continue to purchase the products and even forgive the company of a mistake happens.
We spoke with Berger as part of our Authors and Academia series.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Berger works with a wide range of businesses—from Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups, and multinationals to non-profits—to help drive new product adoption, sharpen effective messaging, and develop marketing strategy.