I thought I did, but I read something that made me realize I don't know the truth about customer loyalty. Or I don't have a mindful understanding of it, even though my subconscious does (and yours does, too). Which is funny, because the truth about customer loyalty has a lot to do with the subconscious. Graphic of the outline of a person with their head underwater. Let me explain. The "something" I read is an article by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin called Customer Loyalty Is Overrated. The following excerpt is the culprit of my aha! moment on the truth about customer loyalty: Research into the workings of the human brain suggests that the mind loves automaticity more than just about anything else—certainly more than engaging in conscious consideration. Given a choice, it would like to do the same things over and over again. Now that I've read it, automaticity explains the things many of us do as creatures of habit. Following the same routine in the morning. Sticking to a singular meal at a favorite restaurant. Doing anything we don't enjoy because it's easier than figuring out an alternative. It's even more obvious when you apply it to consumerism and marketing. During my recent viewing of Man Men, it was surprising to find out how many brands from the 60s and 70s are still around. Yet it makes sense. What do Clearasil, Right Guard, Vicks and Heineken all have in common? Even though many of us weren't around when these products emerged, we know what they do and where to buy them. Heineken, in all its green-bottled glory, has been quenching thirst for over 140 years. For many beer drinkers, buying a case of Heineken is more than automatic, it's ritual. If Right Guard has been helping athletes keep odor and sweat at bay since the 1960s, why buy anything else? And Clearasil skincare products have been ridding teens of acne for 60 years. What's the argument for not using Clearasil? These brands and their products were go-to purchases for generations before us. Contrary to what most marketers believe, people still buy these products because it’s simple, and they don’t have a reason not to. Given their lasting popularity, the cycle of automaticity definitely remains unbroken. But Wait, Does The Message Still Matter? Sure, of course the message matters. I’m a marketer, so I’m not discrediting the importance of a solid value proposition and the perfect marketing message. These are still the components of a company’s launching pad for its new product or service. But a better question is: does the message fuel customer loyalty? As Lafley and Martin point out, as long as a product meets customer expectations, the answer is no. Think about it: when you go to the store to buy toothpaste, do stop in the toothpaste aisle for five minutes and consider what to buy? Or do you grab the Colgate (or whichever brand you usually use)? Colgate is prominently displayed and easy Photo Editing Services to access. It’s in small drug stores, big grocery store and even gas stations. If Colgate has cleaned your teeth for years, chances are your subconscious wants to automatically grab the Colgate and move on. While all this is happening, what looks like customer loyalty is actually the human brain doing the easiest thing possible. Once a brand gets you on their track, they should be able to keep you there. A Conscious Unpacking of the Subconscious While writing this post, I realized a friend’s recent experience supports the notion that customer loyalty is about not rocking customers off the boat. Those on the east coast are familiar with Winter Storm Stella, which dumped bunches of snow on the Northeast in mid-March. My friend needed to travel to Florida from Niagara Falls on March 15. He booked a return flight on Spirit Airlines about a week before the storm became national news. A few days later, Spirit issued a “Travel Advisory” and he received this message: A Travel Advisory has been posted for your flight(s). If you wish to cancel or modify your reservation, you will not be charged a change fee or fare difference if: You book the same departure and arrival airports Your flight is rebooked within selected dates (choose 'Change reservation' to view dates with the same price) Good to know, he thought, especially since he really needed to get to Florida on the 15th. He figured he’d be able to cancel the flight with no penalty if Spirit wasn’t able to get him where he needed to go. Like him, I believe that was a reasonable assumption. But boy was he wrong. The day before his flight – when the storm was raging and the Buffalo area had a foot of snow – the majority of flights from area airports got cancelled. Since the forecast also showed snow all day Wednesday, my friend thought his Spirit flight would get cancelled. He decided to look at flights out of Toronto, where the weather was less severe.

In today's fast paced digital world, discovering and implementing the latest SEO tactic or social media trend sometimes seems all-consuming. If there's time leftover, there are still blogs to write and ad campaigns to run. For marketers and marketing teams, the list of things to do is truly endless. In my experience with current marketing strategies, there’s a tendency to worry too much about day-to-day minutia. Marketing is about making your products and services attractive and helpful to customers, and if your products and services do have built-in value, this is easy! I believe today’s strategies are undervaluing a marketing tenet that can calm the collective storm in the minds of marketers: a great customer experience! It’s not that marketers don’t want to deliver a great customer experience, but rather they sometimes don’t understand their roles within the customer experience itself. The truth is, delivering a truly exceptional customer experience begins in the marketing department. Still not sure why? Read on to find out the 3 ways to align your customer experience with your your marketing message! As Employees, Live Your Brand The roots of a great customer experience actually start with your company and its leaders. Marketers often look internally for inspiration for their customer-facing messages, which means the way they are trained and treated as employees will be reflected by the marketing material they produce. As a leader, this is exactly what I want, and it’s my job to ensure we treat our employees the way we want them to treat our customers! Too often, however, companies fail to teach their employees how to properly “live their brand.” A Toronto customer experience agency called Fifth P created a very helpful infographic outlining the customer experience breakdown, which often begins with employees who aren’t trained well enough, as seen here: The Customer Experience Breakdown Leaders: when employees – like marketers – are trained and treated in ways that directly reflect the message you want to project to potential customers, you have laid the groundwork for your people to deliver great customer experience. Just beware that if you do not do this, the opposite is true: this is where poor customer experiences truly originate. Make Promises The Team Can Keep Everybody, at least once, has bought something they didn’t need because of a good marketing campaign. My friend recently returned from Universal Studios in Orlando with way more Harry Potter themed souvenirs than is reasonable. Who can resist the gift shops at the end of those awesome rides? It’s just good marketing! There is, however, a significant difference between good marketing and making false claims just to get sales. Unfortunately, fierce competition sometimes calls for desperate measures, and this often includes saying anything and everything to get the sale. Marketers and salespeople: do not make Philippines Photo Editor promises the products and service can’t keep. If a company makes a car with a max speed of 195mph, they should not say it can reach speeds over 200mph. A golf club company should not say its driver can lower a golfer’s score by 10 shots...because nothing can lower Charles Barkley’s score by 10 shots. Marketing companies shouldn’t promise to get brands a #1 ranking on Google because there is simply no way to guarantee it. The people over at Fifth P found a stat saying 82% of people will not do business with you after an unresolved poor experience. Any sales made under false pretenses just amounts to fool’s gold. Be honest about your products and services and highlight their value, nothing more, nothing less. Make promises you can keep. Don’t do this: The Customer Experience Breakdown Deliver On Your Marketing Messages “You are what you do, not what you say you'll do.” – Carl Jung This quote is an apt maxim for both company leadership and marketers. If a company claims it will treat employees a certain way, and then follows through, those employees are much more likely to deliver the same experience to customers.