Brand Switching Behaviour

No Brand in this world wants their customer to go away from them but still many customers do go away and that is called brand switching. It’s a behaviour when your brand loyal customer shifts to the competitor brand and that is the situation that you never like to arise.

Today there is a lot of competition in the market and even your loyal customers keep an eye on the competitor offerings and sometimes they just thought of giving it a try. According to some research it is found that 33 percent of consumers shift their brands with just one bad experience they got from their brand.

Losing your customer impacts you greatly in the long run and also leads to the decrease in the market share. Let us understand with the example of the blackberry phones, Blackberry phones have been dominating the smartphone industry and start to gain some loyal customer base but as the time passes more and more smartphone brand come in the market and people start to shift to other brands and in long run you known how many of your known one owns a blackberry smartphones.

Here is something that you need to know that the consumers are not willing to switch from their current brand, because that involves a cost, cost in the form of time or money. As they continue to buy the same products from the same brands that they have trust in and think are reliable.

Reasons why people Switch to other brands?

If a brand knows the reason why their customers are shifting from one brand to the other then there are chances that they can stop them from switching to another brand, but the first thing that any brand needs to assure is that their product satisfies the needs of their customers in the best way possible. Here are a few reasons given below and most importantly how you can fight it.

1. Price paid is greater than the value delivered:- The first thing that any consumer look for is the value, People are ready to pay the higher prices but on a condition that the price paid should be less than the value delivery, why do you thing that the apple users spends lacks on their devices because of the value it deliver to the people, as they would not pay same amount for the same product and service to another brand, as when they they their apple product with them, they get a feeling of carrying a brand with them, a luxury brand with them

The value can be in any form it can be in form of the product, features, the value it carries out the experience that it creates or its ability to connect with you emotionally but the most important thing is that it must carry some value along with it.

2. Your Company Marketing Mix:- Marketing mix of the company has the power to create a company and if taken in a wrong way it also has the ability to destroy your company. Many companies make the mistake either by  putting their prices high or having the inferior product list or choosing the wrong distribution channel or the wrong promotion method can have a great impact on the brand and this can lead customers to shift to other brands.
3. Poor Customer Service:- No matter how great your product or your service is but if your customer service is not good enough then surely your product will fail in the marker, Even if you start to pick up your own experiences you will find that many times you had shifted your brand because of the service problem, and this is the problem that many users and brands face on regular basis.

For example a customer buy something from you but now for any reason he want to return it back to you but if your customer service is bad you might provide them a negative experience and they might never buy from you again, but if you provide them with the positive customer service they might advocate and spread positive words about your  brand around you.

4. Outdated Technology:- Customers don’t like to stay with the brands that use outdated technology, Innovation attracts the people around and the same is true if you don’t innovate it can also take your customers away from you.
5. Lack of Marketing Communication:- Many times customers switch because the marketing was unable to convey the right message at the right time, Tata Nano was one of its examples.
6. Brand fatigue:-  Overexposure to the different brands and their product leads to the brand fatigue where people love to try new things and this also leads to switching behaviour, especially if you are in an industry where the competitor is always ready to take your customer away from you, Kodak fit the best example here.
7. Lack of Satisfaction:- If your customer is not satisfied with your product and service then the chances are they will look for the alternative to cater their needs and once they get the best alternative they will switch from your brand.
8. Perception of People:-  If the people start to have a negative perception about your brand or your product then for sure they will switch such as in case of  TATA NANO people build a negative perception toward the product.
9. You don’t understand your consumers best:-  If you don’t understand the needs of your customers then they will shift to the brand who do understand them and their needs and that is the reason that leads to brand switching.
10. Lack of Trust:- Trust is the most important thing in any relationship whether its personal or business. You need to gain their trust, In order to keep them with you.
11. Bad Experience:-  Bad experience is a thing that leads people to switch their brand, most people don’t even tell anyone and just leave. So always try to create a positive experience for your customers and avoid the bad experience as 33% of customers leave the brand after just 1 Bad experience.

Above are some of the points that lead consumers to switch their brands and if any brand understands them and works on them for sure they are going to retain their customer for the longer period of time, always remember you cannot force them to stay with you, it’s their choice and you need to respect it.