Magic happens when you give shoppers a way to identify with your brand. Just a few days ago, an article titled, “Product Success Is Not About the Zeitgeist,” flashed across my LinkedIn newsfeed. Eager to see if the author had touched on human universals, a topic near and dear to my work, I clicked on it.

The author, Cass R. Sunstein, opened by talking about movies I was familiar with like Star Wars and Hunger Games. He stitched a rich tapestry of reasons for why the films became popular by addressing the concerns of the 1970s and 2010s. Then, he lit the argument on fire by taking the reverse position – the films would have been successful regardless of era. The article was brilliant and spoke to my interests. I felt the urge to write a comment. So I did. That is when I got hooked on Harvard Business Review (“HBR”).

In the weeks prior, I had been ‘nibbling’ on HBR articles as they periodically flashed across my newsfeed. I even clicked the subscribe button once. That time, I was not eager to find my credit card, fill out a web form on my iPhone and part with $99. Only after a little piece of my identity was inside of HBR (via my comment) did I muster the courage to scale the paywall and become a subscriber.

My experience illustrates how engaged shoppers become customers when they begin to identify with your brand. What brought HBR and me together was a comment box on an engaging article. How do you get customers to identify with your brand? I look forward to learning from you in the comments below.