Consumer Forum

Trust and Loyalty – they’re not the same

We’re ten years old here at PhotoBox this year.  A privilege to have been part of a successful startup story, but also fascinating to have a front seat view of a traditional consumer market being completely transformed.

 

The digital shake up – loyalty under threat?

In 1999 digital photography didn’t exist as a consumer market. Leap forward to 2010 and only 8% of paid-for photo prints will come from roll film. That’s a lot of market coming up for grabs, and some did better than others in winning, or retaining a share of what used to be considered as one of the most ‘loyal’ markets in the UK.

For those old enough, consider.  The film market was dominated by brands like Boots, Kodak, Jessops and mail order giants Bonusprint and Truprint. Relative market shares were remarkably stable, reflecting a legendary ‘stickiness’ – 30 or 40 year relationships with a photo customer were commonplace.

Then digital came along. The question was in such a loyal market, how would the new kid on the block grab market share from the big players. Not a lot of scope there, right?

Well, actually – yes. Admittedly we had a lot of luck, I’m sure, but I believe the fact that we designed the customer to be the centre of our entire proposition allowed us to persuade many ‘loyal’ customers away from established brands and into our arms. “Why not just give us a go? ” we asked. 

Leapfrog trust; then forget loyalty

We set up simple services early and gave customers free orders to try us, free storage of digital photos online, and crucially, same-day turnaround service – because that’s what customers told us they wanted most.  Moreover, we tried very hard for every customer interaction to reflect the values that we (and our customers) thought most important in a photo service.  Lastly, we asked our customers to come back if they liked us, and to tell their friends.

In short, although newcomers, we asked our customers to trust us.

Customers demand trust and security

We handle people’s precious memories here. A service that’s big on trust. Our photobooks can reduce you to tears (trust me), but the same lessons apply to all.  If you can build trust, loyalty follows.  And trust is earned by simply listening hard to your customer’s needs, and trying just as hard to serve them as you yourself would like to be served.

 

PhotoBox succeeded, I’m sure, because we were successful at building trust, and still are. It’s my belief that the really successful brands of the next few years are going to be the ones who understand that we’re beyond the CRM metric known as ‘loyalty’.  Instead, we’re going to have to find ways of encouraging our customers to trust us and trying to find a way to measure that trust. Just like the photo business, it’s an evolution – and we’re excited to be at the forefront.

Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.