So customers aren't loyal?

In some recent work conducted by the Future Foundation, the conclusion was customers show little loyalty to retail stores. Is that a shock? I don't think so.

Could this herald the start of getting to grips with what real loyalty is?

Whilst marketing teams do their best to create loyalty to a particular brand, the front line of retail is largely unaware of the volatility of customer loyalty. Real loyalty is based on real experiences, which happen every day all day. An experience in one outlet maybe completely different to that of another because of the unseen factors creating damaging changes on people’s desire to return or recommend.

This is simple text-book stuff. The problem has occurred largely as a result of centralisation of large retailers where the decision or policy makers have distanced themselves from the frontline experience.

Most of the time, there is a disconnect between local staff and local customers. This is either deliberate to maintain a central control of the experience or a consequence of there being little value placed on individual customer experience in the first place.

Most consumers would agree. Consumer’s primary relationship is with the local expression of the brand, not the brand itself. So, the national advertising campaigns carry little weight if the consumer’s experience is very poor.

So the solution is actually quite simple, even though it may require a shift in retailer’s thinking. For a start, a shift is needed to focus on customer loyalty, not customer satisfaction. Often these metrics are confused or misunderstood. Loyalty is an emotional investment someone would make to a brand, including recommending to others, whereas satisfaction is simply a transactional metric that does not indicate whether a customer will return (finding it cheaper elsewhere would be enough to switch).

Is there an easy answer? Yes.

First of all branches need to encourage people to express their views in as simple a way as possible. This means making it really simple and convenient to do so, not interrupting people having their tea or insisting on answering a 20 question satisfaction survey for example. Secondly, we must ensure this feedback is channelled quickly back to the front line staff to take responsibility for and act upon. By constantly reinforcing positive staff behaviour, responding to customers, and fixing what needs to be fixed, you have a framework for the constant improvements in loyalty that retailers need.

Indeed, this approach begins to mimic the old style of retail whereby local staff were more aware of the thoughts and feelings of local customers and were in a good position to make the necessary changes.

Only time will tell if the UK retail sector would be willing to embrace such a change.