Customer loyalty is a funny phrase.
It sounds permanent and firm like a rock. "Our customers are loyal to us and will never leave"
Problem is, like all of human behavior, customer loyalty can shift quickly.
There are countless tales of a company or executive making a bad decision for short-term gain and customers evaporating. "Those darn customers and their fake loyalty caused the business to suffer"... No man, you just abused your customer's trust and they left.
A better term would be customer trust.
Does the customer trust you to treat them right? (right by their view, not yours)
Do you do things to earn and keep their trust?
When there's a breech of trust, do you apologize and work to repair it?
We also have much more personal experience with trust. Ever have a friend say something that hurt you as a kid? You saw exactly how you trusted them less and maybe stopped being their friend. Judging trust is built-in to humans.
Customer trust also shows that the customer is the one who has the power. They can walk away at any time (excluding contracts, etc). They have what is called walk-away-ility.
In this light, the loss of customer and brand loyalty looks completely different.
It's a loss of customer trust.
Which is something you can work to improve.
Directive: Think of customer loyalty as customer trust, something you have to earn and keep. Not something you deserve just because you exist.
Eric Davis
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