Behavioral investments

There is no single feature or benefit that drives customer loyalty. When it comes to customer behavior, there’s a complex set of drivers and motivators at play.

The mistake some businesses make is to rely heavily on a single marketing lever to—brace yourself for the cliché—move the needle. 

When you’re over-reliant on a lever without considering what’s driving the recipient of your message, the needle stays put.

Why?

Because, when a customer comes in contact with a marketing lever, it needs to sync perfectly with other favorable conditions to generate a response. This is where most people get stuck.

What to do?

Consider behavioral investments as part of your marketing strategy. A behavioral investment is a series of small steps that lead to yesses on the path to purpose. 

Behavioral investments say to the customer:

• “Hey, come to our webinar and get some actionable solutions”

• “Why don’t you sample this and tell us what you think?”

• “Use our virtual app to try this furniture in your own room”

Some businesses try to establish switching costs, making their value proposition so useful that customers think twice about switching. This is fine, as long as you’re actually delivering value. But, your customers know better. They can distinguish between perceived value and actual value. 

From the perspective of the competition, your behavioral investments create the opposite of a switching cost: switching opportunities. With every yes along the way, your customer gets to know and trust your brand a little better. They see an opportunity to switch to your product. 

When a customer makes a decision to switch, it’s not just an act of selection; it’s an act of risk reduction. What switching opportunities are you going to create today?