Mythbusters are on the Case!
Is Customer Loyalty is Dead?
While it is true that the consumer has more options than ever, all the gurus claiming that customer loyalty is dead is total lie.
Believing this myth will create a death spiral in your business. What happens is if you believe that a customer won’t come back then it means you can afford to spend less on getting a customer – your marketing becomes less effective.
The customers that do come in will be treated the way the Vikings treated countries they invaded – pillage the land and take everything of value right now and then move on.
The customer feels used and abused and is less likely to come back. So they look to buy from whoever has the cheapest – after all, the product is the same everywhere, right? The service is just as crappy everywhere, they may as well buy on price.
With lots of businesses fighting to be the cheapest in every product category the consumer knows to shop around and to get the lowest price because they know most businesses now operate with a short-term mindset.
See every business that operates this way is getting treated how they get treat their customer.
Just because everyone else is this short sighted doesn’t mean that you need to be.
I will tell you that everybody yearns to be respected and valued. They want a relationship. A genuine real relationship. They are a rare thing these days.
Everybody reminisces about the good ole days when customer service was a real thing, not the job of some snotty teenager with 5 piercings, visible tattoos and a hair colour that looks like it was gotten off a paint chart who clearly would rather be plugged into their iPhone than talking to you. (Yeah, you probably know more about what they are selling than they do too).
The fact they are reminiscing about the good ole days means they still want that experience. You can give it to them. Build a relationship. Offer service, value and reward customer loyalty.
It will make you unique. There always were and always will be disloyal price shoppers. Who needs a client whose sole purpose is to get the best deal?
There is no point to appealing to them. Bunnings, Kmart and their ilk look after that market. Don’t believe the myth that customer loyalty is dead. Realistically there are so few things that are worth being loyal to, that if you go down that path then you are in a league of your own.
Myth: Busted.