Page 30 - HBR's 10 Must Reads 20180 - The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review

CUSTOMER LOYALTY IS OVERRATED

cation and innovation, many strategists seem convinced that sus-
tainability can be delivered only by constantly making a company’s
value proposition the conscious consumer’s rational or emotional
first choice. They have forgotten, or they never understood, the
dominance of the subconscious mind in decision making. For fast
thinkers, products and services that are easy to access and that re-
inforce comfortable buying habits will over time trump innovative
but unfamiliar alternatives that may be harder to find and require
forming new habits.
So beware of falling into the trap of constantly updating your
value proposition and branding. And any company, whether it is a
large established player, a niche player, or a new entrant, can sustain
the initial advantage provided by a superior value proposition by
understanding and following the four rules of cumulative advantage.

Counterpoint

Old Habits Die Hard, but

They Do Die

by Rita Gunther McGrath

I love the notion that customers’ purchase decisions are more closely
related to habit and ease than to loyalty—it brings much-needed in-
sight from behavioral science to the study of consumer decisions.
And, as Lafley and Martin suggest, it has major implications for how
products are developed and brands are managed. I completely agree
with the authors that customers’ unconscious minds dominate their
decision-making process—and I suspect that any company can ben-
efit from making their routine choices easier, faster, and more con-
venient. That’s one reason the subscription model has become so
popular in so many industries—it eliminates the need for customers

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