Repost: Experience Creates More Loyalty Than Price

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/199609/experience-creates-more-loyalty-than-price.html#axzz2SX7uy9g0

A new study by Forrester shows that most shoppers (they used Trader Joe's, Amazon and Costco as proof points) value experience over price when selecting and showing loyalty to certain retail outlets.

We as B2B marketers can use this information--it certainly changes the game when you aren't competing solely on price, because that becomes a very one dimensional go to market proposition.  But for B2B, the "experience" does take on a different format.  Most of us do not have an online order entry system; we use a channel, whether it's a distributor, a manufacturer's representative, or a direct sales force.  So the ease of doing business has to come out of:

• richer website to show better, more focused information presented
• simpler way of using products--without onerous licensing issues, installs, and reams of documentation
• positioning of products: clean lines of differentiation, so multiple products do not have overlapping functionality

Certainly, we at Invensys are well aware of the impact the customer experience has on their loyalty, longevity (ie, how long does a customer want to do business with us?) and use of products (since you like InTouch, are you also using Intelligence or SmartGlance)?

So these studies, although not apparent, can help us in the B2B space by understanding customer behavior, and more importantly, help us to better server you as an end user!