Satmetrix’ view: customer loyalty trumps “satisfaction”

I sat across the table from Satmetrix boss Richard Owen the other day and got an earful about the difference between a satisfied customer and loyal one.  You want to cultivate the latter.  Aiming merely to satisfy doesn’t cut it anymore.  In fact, it never did.  Loyal customers will lead your cheers.  Evangelize on your behalf.  Sing your praises to friends and family.  In the parlance of Owens and Satmetrix, they will become “Net Promoters”. Best of all, they’ll be back, more often, to buy more. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.  A satisfied customer?  Meh.  May not even return.  “Satisfaction” is a low bar.  Satisfaction is unsatisfactory.   Zappos knows how to create loyalty.

Loyal customers always run back to Zappos

Apple, of course, has done it repeatedly for years. Best way I can describe it is to strive to offer the kind of experience you want everytime you’re shopping for something.  Anything.  What kind of experience would it take to inspire you to tell a close friend how cool it was?

Amazon buys Zappos: If the shoe fits…

We were interested in last week’s news about Amazon’s purchase of online retailer Zappos.  In doing research for our book last year, NET Value, we learned that Zappos was not your garden-variety online retailer.  Instead, its model was pretty much what Amazon.com’s was, and is.  It wanted to be known as a service company that just happened to sell shoes, handbags, and everything else.  And like Amazon, Zappos realized that the “customer experience” should deliver everything a buyer wants.  Good fit for both companies.  Future value for customers, value now for shareholders.  Zappos understood, from its beginnings, the importance of the Net Promoter metric touted by Satmetrix.  It’s not enough to have satified customers.  What you want are customers who are loyal: the ones who’ll recommend you to their friends.

Amazon Buys Zappos; The Price is $928m., not $847m.