All loyalty, data and marketing specialists like consumption patterns; But to their surprise, repeat purchases aren’t always the most reliable metric for brand loyalty. It is commonly thought that if the person repeatedly buys a specific brand, it is because he is a loyal customer. Not necessarily. Consumers can select a specific brand for price, time or certain product features and this does not mean true loyalty, since any of these attributes can be improved by another competing brand, and then what was thought to be loyalty disappears.
That is why emotional loyalty is so important; because when you get to have feelings and emotions for a brand, it is more difficult for the consumer to change it for another, even if it is just to experiment. But in most cases it takes a long time to reach this level of bonding. Meanwhile, the consumer may be trying other options, may be interspersing the use of several brands at the same time or may be being repetitive with a brand without necessarily being loyal. How can loyalty & marketing specialists realize the phenomenon of customer infidelity?
Here are 5 signs that can identify these behaviors:
1. Changes in activity: suddenly, the loyal customer is not buying like before; The frequency of visits has decreased or the time that elapses between the last time I buy and the most recent has increased. This client no longer feels as attracted to the brand as at the beginning. Perhaps another brand is flirting with you closely and speaks nicely in your ear, perhaps through price, convenience, product attributes, among others.
2. Does not respond to messages: a customer in love opens, reads and responds to the communications that the brand sends him: responds to emails, surveys, tweets, among others. He answers immediately, with gusto, expresses his deepest feelings by saying what he likes and dislikes about the brand. A very clear sign that he is no longer so in love is that those responses no longer arrive, or he simply no longer opens the communications that the brand sends him or no longer expresses his feelings as before.
3. Low NPS rating: Many brands periodically carry out measurements of different indicators, including the NPS. When measuring the net promoter score, signs of dissatisfied customers abandoning the brand can be identified. Carrying out these measurements is very valuable as long as the brand triggers actions derived from the findings and comments of the clients. The downside is that brands typically select statistically significant groups but don’t test the entire customer base.
4. Degradation in services: A behavior in clients that can show signs that they are evaluating other alternatives or are thinking of abandoning, is the conscious degradation by the client of the services they receive. This is, for example, if the client pays a higher priced membership and decides to make a change for a lower value membership. If actions are not taken immediately to understand why the client’s decision, you could be on the verge of abandonment.
5. Early activation: In new user acquisition strategies, brands must have plans in place so that the new customer is quickly activated with the brand. That is, to activate your account, to complete your personal data and preferences, to store a payment method, to buy an additional product or service to the one you originally purchased, and to carry out an activity very quickly. This is more tangible with digital services such as downloading a delivery app or digital wallet, to name two examples. If the client does not carry out an activity in the first days, it is very likely that they will not return.
It is difficult to control and prevent customers from trying other options. Currently this is very likely to happen. That is why loyalty, data and marketing specialists must be very attentive to the behavioral signals that consumers send, in such a way that initiatives and treatments are activated in time to avoid total abandonment.
