One of the long-term sustainable benefits of building a relationship with the customer is to build brand loyalty. The term "loyalty" is often taken out of context. It is not at one end of the scale, a cradle-to-grave bonding, or at the other end a supermarket affinity programme. There is little loyalty in either scenario. Loyalty in a brand context means that, given a consistent market niche, for instance flights to New York, and given two comparable products, the established customer would require a very good reason to switch brands from his regular first choice.
BRAND LOYALTY
However, if there is a good reason, he would switch in an instant, provided there is minimal hassle in doing so. It is the latter that has stopped many people from swapping banks despite appalling customer service and unreasonable bank charges. The same has traditionally been true of other state monopolies in utilities and telecoms. It is the relationship marketers who must build the relationship and trust in the brand through a continuing programme of Customer Relationship Management Before defining the relationship marketer's role, we need to understand CRM.