You are doing Loyalty the wrong way.
There are two models of loyalty: emotional and intellectual.
Emotional loyalty is when the customer develops feelings about doing business with you and your products, when they absolutely “love” what you do and would not think of doing business with anyone else. Price is not an issue and the experiences you provide are geared to extending and growing those feelings. Think of it as a relationship where you will do all you can to have them continue to like you, to appreciate what you offer, and to develop an emotional bond.
Intellectual loyalty is a much shallower relationship, where the customer has to justify each and every interaction with you as opposed to going with someone else. When they wonder why they have not moved their business to someone cheaper, or newer, or better and they can find some reasons to stay where they are. Intellectual loyalty focus is on the current interaction, and maybe one or two into the future. Organizations only want to get new customers and keeping them – for the lowest cost and effort. There is no intent to create a long-term relationship.
Fewer than three percent of companies I have worked with have focused on emotional loyalty (Apple is probably the best known of them, Four Seasons is another).
The rest just focus on the one-nighter equivalent of loyalty: intellectual loyalty.
Are you building long-term relationships – or are you just giving your customers a one-nighter?
Image via flickr
Original Post: http://estebankolsky.com/2009/05/the-two-loyalty-models-compared-in-a-nutshell/
