The Spike: Why Excitement Is the New Loyalty

If you ask most marketers how they measure customer success, you’ll hear familiar terms: Clicks, conversions, retention, NPS.

But if you ask a customer why they stay loyal to a brand, you’ll often get something else entirely:

“They just get me.”

“It felt different.”

“It surprised me.”

At Spikes, we’ve spent the last few years studying those moments that make people feel something.

We call them Excitement Points®. They’re rare. But they’re real. And they’re often the start of lasting loyalty.

This edition explores what those moments look like… and how the best brands are building around them.

🎙️ The Spike

“From Transactions to Transformations: The Power of Excitement”

In a world overloaded with content, offers, and noise, attention has become a scarce resource. But emotion is even scarcer, and more powerful.

The shift we’re seeing is simple but profound:

The best brands are moving beyond transactional engagement and toward emotional resonance. Not just delivering value, but creating meaning.

It’s no longer enough to be seen. The brands that win are the ones that are felt.

🔍 Deep Dive: 4 Patterns We’re Seeing Across the Excitement Landscape

🎯 1. From Loyalty Programs → Loyalty Triggers
Most loyalty programs are built around transactions: Spend more, earn more.

But real loyalty often begins with an emotionally charged moment. Something unexpected. Something personal.

You don’t earn loyalty, you spark it.

📊 2. From Generic Insights → Emotional Intelligence
Marketers are awash in dashboards. But most of them describe behavior, not feeling.

The gap we see again and again: knowing what someone did vs. knowing how it made them feel.

Closing that gap helps brands design experiences that resonate, not just convert.

🔁 3. From Internal Silos → Shared Customer Language
Customers don’t care who owns the app, the store, or the email journey. They just feel the brand.

But many companies still operate in silos, with disconnected insights and handoffs. 

Mapping excitement creates a common language that helps teams align around the customer, and the emotions that matter most.

💡 4. From Inspiration → Imitation → Innovation
There’s no shortage of “best practices” in marketing.

But chasing what worked for someone else is rarely the way to create excitement.

The best brands treat emotional insight like R&D, using it to build ideas that are original, relevant, and repeatable.

✨ What’s Next?

If the last era was about frameworks and precision, this next one is about adaptability and presence.

Your tools may look the same. Your channels may overlap. But your posture (how you lead, listen, and learn) will define your trajectory.

“It’s not about discarding our experience. It’s about bringing it with us, but carrying it lightly.”

So maybe it’s not just about evolving your brand.

Maybe it’s time to evolve the marketer behind it.

Thanks for being here,
– Gordon
Founder, The Spikes
 www.the-spikes.com