Consumers yearn to be loyal.
Contrary to what is commonly heard about the impact of digitization, generational change, social media, and the availability of vast information, among other factors, causing an irreversible shift in consumers' ability to be 'loyal' to brands as our parents and grandparents once were, I would like to argue that, although the landscape today is undoubtedly different, when considering the theory of choice and behavioral economics*, current consumers not only desire loyalty but their motivation for it remains unchanged: Continuously making new purchasing decisions, no matter how rational we consider ourselves, is not how we are designed to act. Let me explain:
Every time a consumer has a bad experience with a brand, it results in profound disappointment. This is because their expectation, when favoring that brand, was different. There is money, energy, and time invested, and it's safe to assume that when a customer makes a choice, they always hope that the brand will prove them right.
On the other hand, a series of positive experiences instills a growing sense of trust in the customer towards the brand, which, in terms of behavior, translates into the 'automation of the decision' for future purchase opportunities. Just think about how many brands we prefer in our daily lives without considering other options that may be more innovative, appealing, or even better. Just open the pantry in your kitchen, and you will see that we tend to seek stability in the brands we prefer, which also applies to more sensitive products and services, such as our children's school, the brand of the car we drive, or the hotel chain where we vacation, to name a few. Our minds love what they already know and base their intuitions on that.
The problem is that thinking deliberately and thoroughly to make decisions, as we would have to when choosing brands different from the ones we already know and trust, involves risk, consumes resources, and, in general, is a difficult and uncomfortable task for our brains. Given the thousands of decisions it must make daily, our brains prefer to use that energy on things they consider more critical to process, calculate, and reason. This is why a significant number of decisions are filtered in the realm of intuition and experience, where we rely on this 'preference automation' as a quick method that allows us to focus on many other things that require priority in our daily lives. Therefore, the more 'automated' decisions we have, the better.
It is in this sense that I argue that consumers yearn to be loyal. It is in our best interest that brands always provide us with the confidence not to have to reconsider which brand to prefer. Having earned our preference implies a significant saving of time and mental peace in the pursuit of satisfying our needs. We cross our fingers, hoping not to be disappointed because just a couple of events could be enough to return to a comparative and rational analysis of the other available options, and who has the time or energy for that?
Now, this is not a suggestion to rest on our laurels and take loyalty for granted, assuming that the human mind prefers what it already knows. Customer defection is a real problem. Instead, the invitation is not to give up prematurely on the notion that today's customers are not loyal and not interested in long-term relationships with brands.
The opportunity is still there. What we need to focus on is how to manage it because while consumers tend to be loyal, brands are prone to neglecting or not nurturing the relationship. However, this will be the subject of a future article. In the meantime, let's ask ourselves, "What are we doing to capitalize on the convenience that loyalty provides to our customers? In what areas do we disappoint them most frequently? What are we doing to create better experiences and trust? How do we reinforce their loyalty?"
I recommend the book 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman to delve deeper into the cognitive systems and biases that affect our decision-making, perceptions, and behaviors.