IDEAS

I’m a Number? Fine. You’re a Commodity.

Every company these days seems to promote their “customer-first” philosophy. You know, how much they value our business, how committed they are to our satisfaction and how their people make all the difference. Then we become customers.

Suddenly we’re an account number, a ticket or a lead in somebody’s pipeline. We get emails addressed to “Valued Customer” (although sometimes they forget to put the “Valued” in there) and spend forever explaining our problem to a chatbot before being transferred to someone who asks us to explain it all over again. Yet these same companies wonder why customer loyalty is disappearing.

I have a theory. If I’m just a number to you, why shouldn’t you be a commodity to me? Think about the businesses you’re genuinely loyal to. The ones where you would never shop around for a better price. Chances are, there’s a relationship involved. Somebody knows you. They remember what matters to you. They give you good advice, even when that advice doesn’t produce a sale. When something goes wrong, you know they’ll take care of it. Replacing that business in your world would mean giving up something valuable.

Now compare that with a company where every interaction feels like starting over. Nobody remembers you, nobody seems particularly interested in knowing you, and the experience is pretty much interchangeable with every competitor. Why wouldn’t you shop on price?

We’ve become obsessed with measuring customer behavior. Retention rates, churn, repeat purchases, average transaction values. We study the numbers and try to figure out how to make customers more loyal. How often do we ask what we’ve done to deserve their loyalty?

Customers learn how much a relationship matters by the way they’re treated. If we consistently behave as though the transaction is all that matters, eventually they’ll believe us. And they’ll treat us accordingly.

I’m a number? Fine. You’re a commodity. Seems like a lousy business strategy to me.