Customer Loyalty is on a steady march to its death.
I know as people who care about our customers and wanting to provide the best product and service possible, this is a hard pill to swallow.
While we care deeply about the quality of our products and services, we also (at least somewhere in the recesses of our minds) believe we are earning our customers’ loyalty. And maybe a decade, we were earning their loyalty. But, I believe that’s no longer true.
However, in today’s market there is something that often passes itself off as loyalty although it’s nothing like loyalty. We as the makers of goods and services often feel like it’s loyalty and even convince ourselves, “We’ve done it!” We’ve earned some level of loyalty from our customers, especially those who’ve been with us for years. But it’s all a farce.
What’s masquerading as loyalty in today’s world?
Convenience.
Customers seek convenience. Does your service or widget provide more convenience to them than that of your competitors? Once they are using your product is it more convenient to stay with you than switch, even if the other guy has something slightly better? It’s ugly and disheartening to hear, but that’s the truth. Convenience is the only show in town.
But we offer value, right? Yes. But, value and convenience are on the same spectrum of evaluation. Customer: “Your product provides everything I want, but dealing with your company is inconvenient. Or using the product is less convenient that using another product that does 90% of what I want.” So, value and convenience are intertwined.
I learned about convenience over loyalty the hard way.
Several years ago, I had a long time employee leave my company and take a significant portion of the clients with him. He had been assigned to them even though many of them were customers long before he joined the firm. While I stayed in contact with these customers, this friend of mine was the one who went onsite and dealt with any day to day needs they might have.
When I discovered he was taking clients with him, I contacted all the clients I identified as leaving and asked to discuss their decision with them. Many agreed to meet. The message was the same from every one of them. “We’ve known you a long time. We are aware that you know more about the industry than this employee. But, he’s the one that knows all of our people, even the new ones. He knows where all of our assets are, even the ones from last week. Honestly, we know we are giving up some knowledge and experience because you won’t be there helping guide him, but it’s just more convenient to go with him.”
Wow! It was a wake up call. More than just loyalty, they knew I added value, but the value I added was too abstract for them to fully appreciate. But convenience was easy to understand.
Honestly, I get it. It took a while, but I did finally get it.
It changed the way I view everything from the customer to my product to my life.
Where do we go from here?
In some ways we should be glad it’s all about convenience. It motivates us to create a better balance of features, intuitiveness, low-barrier to entry, and customer service than if we genuinely had the customers’ loyalty despite poor performance in one or more areas.
Focusing on the convenience aspect definitely removes any opportunity to depend on customers sticking with you despite a gaff in service or product – at least repeated issues. You must stay diligent and engaged with your customers and their desires. Remember, you cannot just focus on features. You must now focus on convenience too.
It should lead us to concentrate on product and service offering from end to end. It’s no longer customer service that will save you. The product needs to be easy to set up, easy to use, and still do many or most of the things the user wants it to do. Help needs to be easily accessible, too.
Another benefit to this change from seeking to build loyalty to imbibing convenience into everything we provide for our customers is how it helps us hone our target audience. Convenience for one demographic of customer may look different than that for another demographic. We really have to know our customers better than ever.
Finally, we will create a better product or a better service by focusing on convenience for the customer. It’s true. Our customers have come to expect more. They realize if we won’t provide it the way they want it, in a way that’s easiest for them to use, someone else will.
Good for them! Now, let’s go earn their business on a daily basis through products that deliver value in the most convenient way possible!
