Transcription
So, someone asked me the other day what the secret to building client loyalty in luxury was. And I thought, well, there's a unicorn question if ever there's one. You know, luxury loyalty is one of those um things that everyone insists they've got, isn't it? But the evidence is suspiciously thin.
You know, you're more likely to find genuine devotion in a Greg sausage rail queue than in most loyalty schemes. Really, right?
You know, when I worked in hotels, we used to bang on about guest loyalty as though um, you know, guests were sworn to us for life. And in reality, they just didn't want to learn where the bloody light switches were in some other hotel. Most of them came back for the same reason people stay in bad marriages. You know, they can't face the admin of leaving.
It's a good reason not to get married. Yes. Uh, yeah. By the way, you and Gregs is like becoming this. Yeah. I don't know quite what. One day they're going to name a whole pastry after you just out of sheer pity, I think.
Well, I mean, I would consider that a nighthood, but there you go. Well, yeah. I mean, nighthood. Greg sausage roll. Okay, I suppose. But yeah, you're right. Actually, there is, you know, you're grimly accurate, aren't you? The familiarity is powerful, isn't it? You kind of mistake the comfort of knowing what you're getting for like genuine affection, don't you?
Exactly. You know, familiarity is a lovely drug. You think it's love, but it's just predictability. You know, there's a bias called cognitive inertia. Then humans cling to what they know even when they might find something better because better might mean effort. You know, I have a client who used the same private jet operator for a decade and still does. And when I asked him why, he said because he has their number saved in his phone.
And that was it. 10 years of loyalty was courtesy of a phone contact. You do realize that that's literally every brand manager's nightmare, right? They've years and years spent crafting these emotional storytelling things and it all comes down to just someone being too busy just to Google alternatives, right?
Yes. And they'll still insist that it's, you know, because of their exceptional service ethos and, you know, because everyone in luxury is desperate to believe in the romance of loyalty. It flatters the ego, doesn't it? Our clients come back because they love us. No, they come back because they don't want to explain themselves again.
Right. Exactly. It's the illusion of intimacy, isn't it? You know, the relationship feels close because it's repetitive. Nothing else.
Yeah. This is true. I knew a jewelry salesperson who swore that one of her clients was just like family. I hear this all the time. And, you know, but the problem was the woman declined, bought a next piece from someone else because the moment a rarer stone appears, then they're off, right? Cuz it's family until the better stone comes along, of course.
Right. So much for family, you know. I bet she didn't even send a Christmas card. No way. She probably sent it to the other salesperson instead.
Right. Quite right. You know, loyalty is always cheaper than honesty, though. You know, we like to think people stick around out of affection, but real loyalty only exists when it costs you something, right? Cuz the client who waits 3 months for their tailor rather than going elsewhere, that's loyalty.
Yeah, let's not mention Taylor at the moment. I'm very pissed off with mine. But yes, I mean it's the member of staff, for example, who stays despite being offered more money because they actually give a damn. You know, there's a reason that effort justification works. The more you invest, the more you believe in it, don't you?
Of course you do. Because Hermes built an entire business model on that, didn't they? They make you wait and wait and wait and by the time your name kind of crawls up that list and ees up there, you've convinced yourself it's a spiritual experience that you're one of the chosen ones. Right.
Yeah. Exactly that. So that's not really loyalty. It's psychological investment. But it looks the same on paper.
Right. And that's why it's so fragile because the moment something goes wrong that loyalty it evaporates, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. And brands start mistaking habit for affection and then they stop trying. You know, again, like marriages again, really, isn't it? You know, she's still here, therefore everything must be fine. Then one day she runs off with the Amazon delivery man because he remembered her birthday.
I mean, we're not selling marriage, are we? And you do realize that that's a metaphor for kind of clients and rival brands, right? Yeah, of course I do. People move on the second someone makes them feel more interesting.
Loyalty is not earned once. It's rented and then it's renewed, right? And then the industry's response of course is to kind of invent a loyalty program cuz you know points can replace emotion or something.
Yeah, I know. The exclusive client club. I get invited to these all the time. you know, a private shopping event somewhere on a Thursday evening and, you know, it's a hundred people with a DJ and if that's the private one, God only knows what the public one is like.
Oh my god. And it's all about the like illusion of belonging, isn't it? It's the old who was it that said if if they want me, I don't want to belong. Was it Carl Mars? Was it Marks?
Groucho Marks. Yeah. Groucho Marks. K. Marks. Sorry. People want to feel seen, don't they? They even if it's manufactured. Yeah. And that's the key really though, isn't it? You know, true loyalty isn't about reward schemes. It's about it's about recognition. That feeling of being known when a client thinks they'd notice if I stopped coming.
Right. That's exactly it. The mat who remembers that you like the corner table or the assistant who says, you know, you bought the navy one last time. Shall I show you the gray this one this time? And those little small things, they're tiny tiny things, but they really are communicating that you matter, that you're important.
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And that's the one thing I think that most that you just can't fake. You can automate emails. You can design fancy packaging, but you can't automate genuine attention.
No, not in the slightest. And that's what people mean, right, when they talk about a brand with a soul. It's not spiritual. It's just human. Someone has actually noticed you, right?
Yeah. Because, you know, luxury is only luxurious when someone's actually paying attention, right? And all the like grand gestures that matter most actually, they cost nothing. In fact, they're not even grand. They're just gestures, right? They But they do take time and they do take thought. They're human, which is also why they're so often skipped, isn't it?
And that's the irony of it, isn't it? You know, the irony is that most luxury is the most valuable luxury is free. You can't scale it and it drives the MBAs nuts.
Yeah, of course it does. Because how how on earth do they think they can automate charm, Paul? Like they'll try. They'll try. But I mean, clients can tell the difference between warmth and a workflow, right? So then we're back right where we started cuz loyalty is a myth unless you're willing to earn it again and again, isn't it?
Yeah. You never really own it. You know, you just get to borrow it until someone else makes your clients feel more interesting than you do.
Right. And that's horribly true, isn't it? Oblique is my brand, Helen. Yeah. Well, and apparently the secret to loyalty. Exactly. You know, nothing keeps people coming back more than a little bit of despair. Really, does it?
Truth.