This article was based on the interview with Lindsey Kling, SVP Brand Marketing + Partnerships at Coterie by Greg Kihlström, Artificial Intelligence and Marketing keynote speaker for The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. Listen to the original episode here:
In the relentless pursuit of customer loyalty, we marketing leaders are often caught in a familiar cycle. We build intricate points-based programs, optimize our funnels for retention, and pour resources into personalized communications, all in an effort to keep customers from straying. We treat loyalty as an outcome to be engineered, a line item on a P&L to be maximized. But what if we’re looking at it through the wrong end of the telescope? What if true, lasting loyalty isn’t a program you build, but a natural consequence of a brand that simply refuses to compromise on its promise?
This question becomes particularly acute in a category as emotionally charged and functionally critical as baby care. Here, trust isn’t a “nice-to-have”; it’s the entire foundation. A misstep doesn’t just lead to a lost sale; it can erode the core confidence a parent has in your brand. Navigating this high-stakes environment requires more than clever marketing. It demands a level of operational and philosophical discipline that many brands, frankly, are not built for. Coterie, a brand that has successfully challenged industry giants, provides a compelling blueprint for how to build this kind of deep, resilient loyalty. Their approach is less about loyalty tactics and more about a holistic brand architecture where every decision, from product development to retail strategy, is designed to earn and reinforce trust.
Innovation as a Conversation, Not a Mandate
It’s easy for innovation to become an insular process, driven by internal roadmaps and competitive pressure. The “next big thing” is often cooked up in a boardroom, with customer validation sought after the fact. Coterie flips this script by treating its direct-to-consumer (D2C) channel as less of a sales pipeline and more of a perpetual research and development lab. By cultivating a direct and continuous dialogue with their customers, their product expansion strategy isn’t based on guesswork; it’s a direct response to a clearly articulated need.
Lindsey Kling explains how this direct line to their community drove their recent expansion into skincare:
“Since we’re predominantly a D2C brand, we have a very close relationship with our customers and we are always asking them, what do they need? What are they looking for? What is missing for them? And that constant feedback loop is really one of the ways we understand what does make sense for us to come out with… 94% of our customers told us that they were interested in a range of sort of hypoallergenic premium skincare products. And eight out of 10 said that they would actually buy this product from Coterie.”
The lesson here for enterprise leaders is profound. While not every organization has a pure-play D2C model, the principle is transferable. How can we build more direct, meaningful feedback loops into our operations? This goes beyond quarterly surveys or NPS scores. It’s about creating mechanisms—whether through community platforms, customer advisory boards, or direct service interactions—that turn customer feedback from a lagging indicator into a leading innovation engine. When your customers feel like co-creators of your brand’s future rather than just end-users of its past, you’re building a bond that transactional loyalty can’t replicate.
Curated Distribution: Your Brand is Judged by the Company It Keeps
The conventional wisdom in CPG is to maximize distribution. Get on every shelf, in every channel, and make your product ubiquitous. It’s a numbers game. Coterie, however, takes a decidedly more deliberate and, some might say, courageous approach. They understand that in the mind of the consumer, the context in which a product is discovered is inseparable from the product itself. The retailer isn’t just a point of sale; it’s a powerful brand signal.
Kling articulates this philosophy with clarity:
“I think where a product is sold says just as much about your brand as the product itself. If you think about retailers out there… certain retailers have their own brand identity. So things like a messy shelf, a poor customer experience can really dilute your brand equity, especially as a new up and coming brand… we really do see retail as a marketing channel. If you think about a brand block at a Whole Foods… it’s like an out of home ad.”
This perspective should give every marketing leader pause. In our rush to build omnichannel empires, are we sacrificing brand integrity for reach? A selective retail strategy requires a close alignment between sales and marketing, treating channel partners not just as distributors but as custodians of the brand experience. The question shifts from “Can they move our product?” to “Do their values and environment reinforce our promise?” This careful curation ensures that every touchpoint, whether owned or partnered, tells the same story of quality, trust, and premium experience. It’s a long-term play that prioritizes brand equity over short-term volume, a trade-off that requires conviction from leadership.
Beyond Points: Building Loyalty into the Experience Itself
Ask most marketers about their loyalty strategy, and you’ll likely hear about a program with tiers, points, and rewards. These systems can be effective at driving repeat purchases, but they often reward transactions rather than fostering true affinity. Coterie sidesteps this entirely. Their “loyalty program” isn’t a separate construct; it is the sum total of the customer experience, designed to be so seamless, transparent, and considerate that loyalty becomes the natural outcome.
Kling highlights how this is woven into every interaction:
“A lot of it is about finding the moments really across the full customer experience to delight them and make sure they’re really feeling heard, listened to, seen. And a lot of it is why we have 70% of our subscribers are active for 12 plus months and 40% of our new customers come from word of mouth because there’s that sentiment and that affinity… that isn’t just about a program, but it’s truly about the collective experience.”
From text-based order management that gives a parent control with one hand free, to transparent safety reports that detail every ingredient, to surprising a new mother with flowers, Coterie embeds value at every turn. This is a crucial distinction: they are not buying loyalty with discounts; they are earning it through superior service and genuine care. For enterprise leaders, this is a call to action to look beyond the loyalty department and examine the entire customer journey. Where are the friction points? Where are the opportunities to provide concierge-level service? How can we use our data not just to sell more, but to serve better? Building this kind of relational loyalty is more complex than launching a points program, but its effects—stronger retention and powerful word-of-mouth—are far more durable.
The Strategic Superpower of Saying “No”
In today’s fast-paced corporate environment, activity is often mistaken for progress. We launch, we iterate, we expand. The pressure to do something is immense. Yet, the most powerful brands are often defined as much by what they don’t do as by what they do. Maintaining an unwavering commitment to quality and customer value sometimes means having the discipline to halt a project, reject a partnership, or delay a launch.
Kling describes this as a core tenet of Coterie’s culture:
“We say no, we say no to things all the time. If something doesn’t meet that bar, if something doesn’t feel like it is in direct service to our customer, we won’t do it. And that’s a really, really hard thing to do, but it’s also incredibly powerful because if it’s not… demonstratively better… then we need to go back to the drawing board… being okay saying no is really a superpower that you have to have as a brand.”
This is perhaps the most challenging lesson for large organizations, where momentum and sunk costs can feel like an unstoppable force. But it is this very discipline that protects the brand equity that has been so painstakingly built. For leaders, fostering a culture where “no, this isn’t good enough for our customer” is a celebrated contribution rather than a sign of obstruction is paramount. It requires a shared understanding of the brand’s core promise and the authority to enforce it at every level. This strategic restraint isn’t about being risk-averse; it’s about being brand-centric, ensuring that every “yes” that reaches the market is a resounding affirmation of your commitment to excellence.
The Coterie story is a powerful reminder that building an enduring brand in the modern era isn’t about finding a new silver bullet. It’s about a relentless, almost obsessive, focus on the fundamentals: a superior product born from deep listening, a curated presence that reinforces your value, and a service experience that anticipates and solves real human needs. It’s about building a brand so intrinsically valuable that loyalty isn’t something you have to ask for; it’s something you are given freely.
This approach requires patience, discipline, and a willingness to play the long game. It means choosing the right partners over all the partners, valuing customer relationships over mere transactions, and having the courage to say no to protect the integrity of your yes. For marketing leaders steering the ship of large enterprises, this model isn’t just inspiring; it’s a strategic imperative. In a world of infinite choice, the brands that will win are not the loudest, but those that have earned the deepest trust. And that trust is built one uncompromising decision at a time.
