Now that I’m looking at customer loyalty and building a traffic scorecard for it based on Eric Peterson’s book on KPI’s ….. I’m also looking at what keeps people loyal to a brand.    I think Seth has the answer - it’s the personal relationships you build with companies you do business with.

It seems to me that insulation from discontent comes from building a relationship. From real people. Relationships that make us feel counted upon, respected, trusted and valued cut through the ennui of dissatisfaction. We got ourselves into this mess by acting like smart marketers, and as marketers we can get out of it by acting like people.

When the big companies get down to it - it’s not going to be the high technology, the personalization that’s being developed, that’s going to keep people loyal - it’s the relationships with individuals in the company that is going to make the difference (these are also the individuals the company tends to lay off at the first opportunity to make some Wall Street Investment firm happy).

So…..when companies talk about Loyalty ….they need to carry it all the way though - and keep people on the team who customers enjoy dealing with - even if it muddies up the 4Q profit estimate they go to investors with.