Brand Loyalty - Don't be Scammed!

I've been thinking about the concept of brand loyalty lately, and mostly how it usually results in people getting screwed or taken advantage of, though often without them even realizing it. I used to consider myself as having brand loyalty to a number of companies, often without any particularly good reason aside from the fact that they tended to be what I was used to and the thought of switching to a different brand seemed rather tedious. Unfortunately for consumers, companies tend to take advantage of the fact that people like to stick with what they know, and often use the opportunity just to further gouge their customers instead of actually giving them something of value in exchange for their loyalty. When this happens, it is time to give your business to someone else, because really, loyalty has to be a two-way street or else it is just getting taken advantage of.

Case in point, tax software. There are a million other examples, but I am picking up on this one because I recently finished my taxes. We used to always purchase Quick Tax. It was a good program and I was happy with the interface, results, etc. But then each year they started jacking up the price, as opposed to say, offering me a discount for being a repeat customer. Even worse, they introduced multiple tiers of products, designed to meet different levels of complexity in terms of how involved your return was. Doesn't seem like a terrible idea on the surface, but they pretty much designed it so that the most basic (and cheapest) version was so crappy that pretty much everyone would want to upgrade to the mid-level (that is more expensive) version. Even that one strategically didn't have a few of the commonly required functions for all but the most basic of tax returns. In order to gain access to those functions you had to opt for the next level up (another excuse to charge you more money).

What really blew my mind was the fact that with the basic version they wouldn't even carry forward your information from the previous year. I mean really, how petty can they get here? When it comes down to it, there really isn't all that much information to carry over, just a few basic facts about yourself, family members, a couple of numbers from last years return, but honestly what is the point in using the same product year after year if they won't carry forward basic information like this. The point of course is that they want me to purchase the more expensive versions of their software. Well this is one customer whose loyalty they no longer possess.

Last year we switched to something called UFile. Having used both, I can honestly say that they are pretty equal in terms of interface. Both follow a sort of interview format, with prompting me to enter information about myself and my family. Both allow me to file electronically. Both allow me to download updates. UFile however, has only a one size fits all version, which has all of the same functions as the most expensive Quick Tax software, for less than the price of the least expensive (and worst) version of Quick Tax. It also allows me to file a greater number of returns. It also not only offers to carry forward my information from last year's UFile return, but it actually allows me to carry forward information from returns prepared with different software (including Quick Tax). Despite all these advantages, I was still initially hesitant to change programs. Inertia can be a difficult thing to overcome.

This is how brand loyalty tricks you. It takes an effort to shop around and compare prices for the best value, and companies take advantage of this. Instead of giving back something in return for customer loyalty, they use it as an opportunity to gouge you. Not cool. This isn't always the case of course. There are many good companies out there that provide good value to their customers, I am just saying that you need to make sure that you aren't giving your loyalty away for free, just to get screwed over in return. Make sure that the brands you are loyal to are earning that loyalty in some way, be it customer service, price, superior product, whatever. And just because they have earned it in the past shouldn't give them a free pass to take you for granted in the future. If a company ceases to deserve your support, by all means stop supporting them. If they earn it back, by all means go back. Someone I know who works for a phone company assures me that they reserve the best deals for people who are threatening to leave. So if enough people start voting with their feet, companies will either have to change for the better or go out of business. Sounds like a good idea to me.