Forget About Loyalty and Grow Better Relationships

Did you ever have as goal to make someone fall in love with you?

No decent person would go into a relationship just to make the other party behave in a manner that is not their intention or in their best interest.  Couples are not formed as a one-sided relationship, and business relationships aim to have a win-win result to be successful.

Yet, the approach organizations take to Loyalty looks like a one-sided relationship.

I worked with a client that wanted to create a Loyalty program to attract and retain users.  However, they wanted to do it for free.  When we needed to look for options that cost something this company vehemently opposed.  Senior management thought that Loyalty was necessary as long as it was free.  They saw no business benefit or value in getting people emotionally attached to their products or their company.

When asked why they wanted to implement a loyalty program their answer was they wanted to build loyal customers because everyone else was doing it.

Most organizations recognize the benefits of loyal customers: cheaper acquisition costs, greater lifetime value, lower maintenance costs and would gladly trade some of those benefits to support a loyalty program.  They see their win in the win-win relationship.

They understand that human relationships are a long-term journey with long-term benefits and that neither side can be forced to do anything against their will or benefits.  They are building loyal relationships without setting a goal of achieving loyalty.

Loyalty is the by-product of a long-term, trusted relationship, not the objective of it.

Are you focusing on loyalty too much? Are you losing sight of your goals of building long-term, trusted relationships?