Mobility brands are looking at novel ways to interact with customers along their journey, as well as enhance consumers’ lifetime value. China’s Electric Vehicle (EV) player NIO is shifting away from a traditional dealership model and embracing the user operations model for client acquisition, building its own strong community of “super fans” to help drive customer loyalty. NIO has built its success on its novel loyalty strategy, appealing to the local community and outperforming its competitors.
Thriving China EV market means enhanced engagement to differentiate
China’s EV market is thriving as EV registration volumes, including Battery Electric Car (BEV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Car (PHEV) and Hybrid Electric Car (HEV), are expected to grow by 11% from 2025 to 2029. China’s EV landscape is expected to become increasingly competitive with Xiaomi’s recent SU7 launch and Honda unveiling new EV brand Ye.
NIO took 3% of BEV registration volumes in 2023, and leads in sales volumes compared to other key BEV local players in China such as Xpeng and Zeekr
Source: Euromonitor International
Considering EVs are consumer durables, aftersales service and customer loyalty become key to engaging with customers. NIO stands out as one of the key local BEV brands with an exceptional loyalty strategy focused on creating strong brand engagement.
Brand communities play important role in strategy creation
Customer testimonials and referrals are key for client acquisition in the EV market. Top trustworthy information sources among younger generations in China are word-of-mouth from peers, according to Euromonitor International’s Voice of the Consumer: Lifestyles Survey (fielded January to February 2024), which highlights the importance of developing brand advocates and brand communities to appeal to this demographic.
Brand communities help companies to efficiently track sentiments and preferences of members to inform product development, marketing and client engagement strategies. Continuous engagement with consumers through brand communities can help drive client acquisition and retention.
The NIO approach – user engagement and community at the core
NIO’s vehicle distribution shifts away from a dealership model to a user-centric operating model, showcasing the power of relationships and communities as a differentiator in China’s EV market. With user development and community at the core of NIO’s sales and operation strategy, NIO establishes multiple omnichannel touchpoints to ensure frequent engagements with its users.
- Hyper-focused on user experience
NIO’s entry model car brand retails for over USD40,000, which is a premium price point compared to other Chinese manufacturers such as BYD. Like any other luxury goods companies, brand experience is key. NIO creates a premium offer through quality customer service across all touchpoints. NIO users already report that any issues with NIO vehicles are easily addressed through the company’s 24-hour customer service hotline.
- Lifestyle proposition
A lifestyle proposition helps NIO enhance all touchpoints with its customers. The company has created its own private luxury clubhouse called “NIO House” - a community space with shared workspace, library and café aimed to appeal to its customers and their friends, while its “NIO Points” loyalty programme encourages user engagement and positive user behaviour, such as rewarding safe driving. NIO’s lifestyle ancillary arm, “NIO Life”, offers innovative, user-centric lifestyle products ranging from apparel to mahjong pieces for members to purchase or redeem towards through the loyalty programme. In fact, from 2018 to 2023, NIO launched 2,515 items on its platform totalling over 10 million items being sold or redeemed by NIO users, highlighting the popularity and relevance of these products for its customers.
- Building community
Not only does NIO create a space for users to connect and build communities through “NIO House” and online through “NIO App”, but the company also considers users’ comments and feedback as part of its company strategy. For example, NIO involved its community in voting where to host its NIO Day in 2020, as well as creating a 5-person “user consultant group” as part of its community to work with NIO leadership and board members, such as Lihong Qin and Bin Li, to help collectively organise the event. Such initiatives empower its user community and help create a strong emotional connection with the brand, turning users into brand ambassadors.
- “Super users” drive brand advocacy
NIO successfully leverages the “fan economy” with the help of frequent omnichannel engagement with its customers, which in turn creates greater brand equity for its premium offer. This group of “super fans” comprises NIO’s best brand ambassadors, who help drive higher client acquisition and retention. In fact, members of NIO’s highest-tier referral-only social club “EP Club” spend on average over USD8,000 in the NIO ecosystem, and made 25 successful referrals per member in 2021. In addition, NIO’s recent charging app “Jia Dian”, which covers 91% of charging facilities in China, exceeded five million registered users within just seven months of its launch.
Embracing customer-centric strategies will help brands deliver higher satisfaction levels by addressing consumer needs and preferences. It can lead to the establishment of long-term relationships with loyalty scheme members, improve the customer journey and ultimately increase a customer’s lifetime value. Broadening the range of rewards, incentives and services will further help strengthen customer engagement.
Learn more about loyalty in our reports Building Value Through Loyalty Strategies in Mobility and Elevating Engagement: The Loyalty Landscape in Asia Pacific.