Customer Satisfaction is in the Past, Loyalty is in the Future

[mandy]

Critical observers noticed a gap opening up where satisfaction promoters said there should not have been one, as supposedly satisfied customers showed a propensity to march right through the gap to defect to a competitor. How could they defect if they were satisfied? We all scratched our heads for a while as if we were trying to untwist one of those brain-teasers the guys on NPR's "Car Talk" uncork each week. The short answer is, they can and they do. A slightly longer explanation is that satisfaction dwells primarily on the past, and loyalty is about the future. A lot of satisfaction is about feeling you got what you paid for.

Loyalty takes things a step further and tries to figure out if you'd do it again -- if you'd buy more. You aren't loyal if you feel you did not get a good deal, and you are looking for a new vendor -- that's a given. Also, if you can't buy more -- perhaps your budget is shot or the need is taken care of for the foreseeable future -- you're not loyal either. However, if you feel you got a good deal, you might be a good reference. Lastly, you are not loyal if you feel you got what you paid for, but it wasn't enough -- or you have problems with the relationship for reasons that could include pricing, service or someone's attitude. You are only loyal if you are satisfied, and if you are ready and able to buy more and perhaps tell a friend...

That was my position going into the briefing where the company in question tried to show me a customer rating scale that went from dissatisfied through satisfied and all the way to loyal. Satisfaction and loyalty really are not on the same scale. Satisfaction is all about attitude; loyalty includes behavior...

full article: http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/ORyfKlCyDw...alty.xhtml