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Fasil Shah explains how loyalty is evolving in the age of short-form content, shifting from long-term brand commitment to trend-driven engagement—and what brands must do to retain customers in this new landscape.
Customer loyalty is no longer built in a straight line.
As digital ecosystems expand and attention shifts toward short-form content, brands are finding that engagement is increasingly fluid, fragmented, and influenced by moments rather than long-term relationships.
The rise of social platforms, creators, and always-on content has reshaped how consumers discover, evaluate, and connect with brands. What once depended on consistency and trust now competes with speed, relevance, and cultural timing.
This shift creates both a challenge and an opportunity: how to convert fleeting interest into lasting value without losing relevance in the process.
“Over the last five years, we did a study into loyalty, and we discovered that there were five types of loyalty… But recently, we discovered in the last year that there’s a new type of loyalty, which is the trend loyalty. And of course that’s now come about due to TikTok and reels and things like this and influencers and content creators,” says Fasil Shah, Senior Solution Lead, Middle East & South Africa, SAP Engagement Cloud.
At last year’s Festival Dubai, hosted by SAP Engagement Cloud, Fasil Shah explored how loyalty has evolved from traditional, long-term commitment to more dynamic, trend-driven engagement—forcing brands to rethink how they attract, retain, and grow customer relationships.
Top insights Martechvibe learned from Fasil Shah;
1. Loyalty is shifting from long-term trust to short-term trends
Customer loyalty is no longer static. While traditional loyalty was built on trust and consistency, emerging behaviours show a rise in trend-driven engagement influenced by social platforms. So, brands must adapt to shorter attention cycles without losing long-term relationship value.
2. Retention requires capturing value at peak engagement moments
With trend-based loyalty being short-lived, the challenge is not just acquisition but retention during moments of high interest. Therefore, brands need to identify these peaks and act quickly to convert temporary engagement into sustained relationships through timely, relevant experiences.
3. Unified customer understanding is key to sustainable loyalty
Effective loyalty strategies depend on aligning teams, connecting data across channels, and building a holistic view of the customer. When organisations operate in silos, they fail to deliver consistent experiences, weakening both engagement and long-term retention efforts.
