Once upon a time, clients accustomed be just some numbers that you added up to get your total sales. In those days, your clients had limited options about where to buy from and what they could buy. Fast forward that to day when consumers have so many product choices and can buy from literally thousands of companies spread all over the world. For example, let's consider place. A individual who wants to buy a pair of place has thousands of place to choose from and several hundred companies. As a shoe manufacturer, your aim would be to create something in your place that the consumer won't find anyplace else. You would strive to create more comfortable, stylish and better fitting place so that the client buys from you.
This in essence changes the whole dynamics of the client-business relationship. The client now holds the power in most cases and businesses scramble around them to gain their attention. In the last decade, 'client loyalty' has become the holy Sangraal of researchers and marketers all around the world. The traditional ways to measure achiever by conducting client satisfaction surveys didn't seem to add up as they realised that client satisfaction does not necessarily result in repeat purchases.
The chances of a client giving you repeat business by all odds increases if he is satisfied by a previous purchase of your product. But the chances are that he can easily be swayed away by the barrage of advertisements being bombarded at them from all sides. So with this paradigm shift, 'client loyalty' became the latest buzz word to measure achiever of any marketing department.
Several studies have shown that clients become loyal when they have continual outstanding experience with a product over time. Not only that, they become emotionally attached to your product, which power cause them not act rationally next time they're making a purchase of your product. They become more tolerable if you mess up your product sometime. They recommend your product to their friends and family and they're not easily swayed away by latest fads or price differences. In short, they not only buy your product, but they also play evangelists for your products. And we all know, pipeline marketing is the most effective kind ever.
One of the best examples we see now is the Apple's Macintosh cult. These Mac fans swear by all things made by Apple. They've gone through hefty trouble to co-exist in a world dominated by PCs. They wait in lines for hours (sometimes even days) before the launch of a new Apple product. With loyal clients like these, repeat business from them is well-nig guaranteed. This is exactly why marketing firms try to develop a similar emotional connection between consumers and their products. Because they know that if they can attain this brand loyalty, everything else will naturally follow.
