True Loyalty and False Loyalty: Are You Retaining Chronically Unhappy Customers?

In a previous post, we emphasized the importance of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing and the importance of developing an appropriate WOM marketing strategy. The loyalty concept is a very potent concept that every practice puts efforts into increasing right from its inception. There is an accepted knowledge that maintaining a recurring customer costs less and brings more revenue to the practice than attracting a new customer. We differentiate none loyal customers who stop buying from us from loyal customers who buy regularly from us and for a significant period. A customer who buys from your practice for a significantly long period may not necessarily be considered loyal because if we look closer at the concept of loyalty we recognize there are false and true loyal customers. Creating and maintaining loyalty programs is an important part in word of mouth marketing strategy. However, companies should be able to differentiate between true loyal customers and false loyal customers. A quick, easy, and simple way to do that is to discover who is likely to recommend you among those who are satisfied with the products and services you provide.

Being satisfied can be temporary as long an alternative is not available. Sometimes even if an alternative exists, there might be no significant difference between you and them or the switching cost is remarkably high or unjustifiable. Moreover, customers may not switch because of the benefits and reward points they have accumulated in your loyalty program that they don’t want to lose. The day will come when your so-called loyal customer who is a false loyal customer will dump you with no regrets when either he finds an alternative, a lower price, or finds no obligation to buy from you.

As eye care providers our purpose is to help people to see better, we don’t differentiate or select to whom we provide our services. However, when it comes to calculating how our business is doing and what products, services, and innovative experiences we should be developing and offering to improve our quality of care and productivity it is crucial to know who are our loyal patients and customers. Customer satisfaction plays a major role in increasing loyalty in both competitive and less competitive markets. However, in markets where competition is low or simply absent, customers may find themselves obliged to buy from you but that doesn’t mean they are truly loyal customers. Moreover, customer satisfaction may not be the only driver of false loyalty, however, your inadequate processes of keeping true loyal customers who you should allocate your practice resources to serve profitably have driven you to attract the wrong target of false loyal customers who are difficult-to-serve, chronically unhappy customers who drain your practice’s resources hurting your morale and your staff’s morale without bringing any profit.

You must become able to read and listen to what the data about your customers say and mean. Accurate conversations with patients around recommendation and referral are to be routinely conducted. Priorities your time to serve true loyal customers and work diligently with false loyal customers. Perhaps sometimes you should not be reluctant to actively discourage a false loyal from remaining your customer if you find yourself morally hurt by this customer who might disparage your practice to other potential true loyal customers. Excellent observation of the market and the changes in both your competitors or your customers need to be met with a preparedness to shift to another strategy with different processes, products, and offerings.