Monday 27 October 2008

The customer is always right (unless they're wrong)

I was reading a loyalty white paper today from Accenture on retail loyalty. It was discussing a survey they carried out asking customers what they wanted from a loyalty programme. As expected (and as shown in many surveys before it), customers said that price was one of the top reasons for continued loyalty. The article continued by pointing out that one of the top reasons for loyal customers defecting to another retailer was also price.

Does this suggest that customers are only loyal to the retailer providing the lowest prices? Well evidently not or else there would be just one retailer in each sector with some very long queues.
When was the last time you actually checked the price of things though?

Do you know how much a pint of milk costs - and if you do are you aware of how much it costs at the retailer next door?
In practice customers say they care about "price" - but most are not actually aware of the price they are paying. This was born out last week when I attended some research focus groups for a credit card loyalty programme - customers were asked what elements of a credit card they considered important and almost all customers agreed that APR was top of the list. When asked though what the current APR was on their existing cards, no one could provide an answer.

Price it seems is more important in initial customer acquisition when customers will research the best options available, but for existing customers the price ceases to be something they really use to evaluate their relationship with the retailer. Many financial companies have actually taken advantage of this fact which is why there are financial products where the interest rate declines overtime - with the companies hoping that customers will not actively re-evaluate their relationship.


Rather than price, customers defect from retailers because of other factors including service, relevance and benefits.


If a store you frequent changes its range, ceases to keep up with your requirements or tastes or removes benefits it provided (or doesn't offer benefits competitors are promoting) then this will create moments of reflection when you'll begin to consider other retailer options. If this consideration turns into trial then price may well come back into the equation - more likely however a customer will actually defect if the service and experience they receive from the new retailer is considered better than they've been used to.


I'd argue that retaining customers is not about providing discounts, promotions or everyday low prices - its about how you treat customers and the service you provide. Feel free to ask your own customers - but I suspect they'll be wrong.

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