Don’t mistake habit for loyalty.

Most of your customers are not loyal.

They are lazy and self-centered. (We all are.) This doesn’t make them loyal, it makes them habitual.

Your customers did not make their first purchase from you out of some deep-seeded personal devotion (that’s loyalty). They bought because they thought you could solve a problem or reduce a pain or provide some pleasure . And they continue to buy from you because you met or exceeded expectations or because it is too much of a pain in the ass to find another alternative (that’s habit).

Buying from you is a habit.

Habits are not always bad. Exercising is a good habit. But being delusional about having loyal customers, when you actually have habitual customers is dangerous. 

Comments

[Katie]

AMEN Jeff. Case in point. Starbucks. They know my name (not that they ever call me by my name), I'm there so often. Here's the deal. I can't stand Starbucks. The only reason I go there is because it's the closest drive through coffee to my house (aka habit). I estimate that I spent about $1,500 at Starbucks last year. It's not loyalty, it's convenience, at best.

[Ben Young]

Valid point, it's easy to pick an answer to a behaviour (ie repeat business) and assign it to your preference. What you're really saying is dig deeper, test, find out more.