The singular characteristic that all brands with loyal customers share is high integrity. After all, who would become loyal to a business if the brand were not honest, trustworthy and willing to serve?

Here are four signs that your brand possesses a high level of integrity:

1) Your brand demonstrates a willingness to genuinely serve its customers.

Great companies don’t just create meaningless slogans like “Customer Service Excellence”—they champion customer-centric values as a way of operating every aspect of their business. These businesses go beyond expectations to stand above their competitors. In addition to creating beautifully designed products, Apple supports their Mac User Groups (MUGs) as well as Genius Bar to help educate their customers on how to better use their Apple products.

2) Your brand listens to its customers on a meaningful level.

Corporate leaders of high-integrity businesses leave their comfortable offices and directly engage their customers. Sam Walton used to say, “If you don’t know what to do, go ask the customer. If it’s not happening in the store, it is not important to them.” Costco CEO Jim Sinegal apparently agrees; he visits a different Costco store every day.

3) Your brand exhibits caring awareness and a sense of community with its employees.

High-integrity businesses view their employees as family, not workhorses. Financial analysts criticize Costco for its generosity to its workforce but as CEO Jim Sinegal explains, “We’re trying to build a company that’s going to be here 50 and 60 years from now. We owe that to the communities where we do business. We owe that to our employees, that they can count on us for security.”

4) Your brand cultivates a company culture that reflects what its brand represents.

Companies like Apple, Google, Netflix and Zappos live by certain values that ignite passion in their customers. Because the company’s values are aligned with the customer’s values, customer loyal ensues. Led by CEO Tony Hsieh, Zappos has set a new standard in cultivating a customer-centric culture.

Companies with higher integrity aren’t perfect, but they never settle—they continually strive to improve their offerings and better serve their customers. Instead of playing to the competition, they create and nurture their own unique place in their customer’s hearts and minds.

Related posts:

1. A Sign of Integrity
2. The Power of Intention in Brand Building
3. Integrity in Business