Although a customer was absolutely satisfy with every experience with a company, would that customer never defect?
The answer is highly likely NO. The reason is that a customer makes their purchasing or defection decision based on the basis of perceived value of service package being offered at that time rather than simply their current levels of satisfaction. They have relationships with more than one service provider because they perceive each relationship to offer specific value to them.
On the other hand, some customers just get bored and want to try something new, even though, they are extremely satisfy with what they currently have. So, it’s unavoidable for some highly satisfied customers to switch to another brand or provider, just only because they are getting bored and changing things around their life. Unfortunately, this is the normal human behavior that cannot be prevented from happening. Moreover, it should not be too worried about this problem, because it also happens to other competitors as well. Especially, if the company is loyalty leader, most of them tend to convert to you, which might be more than what you lose.
However, there are solutions.
First, a company should create switching and exit barriers, so that, it would mentally add additional cost to customer when they were deciding defection, and, therefore, it would less perceived value.
Second, a company should maintain their performance and relationship with customers. If the company is the real deal and do better job than the competitors, the customers will quickly find out that they had made a mistake, since they already have a reference point (experiences from the company) to compare with what they have now (experiences from competitors). Hence, they will find the way to return (aka, win-back).
In conclusion, it’s very difficult to have zero defection rate. Anyway, a company must not be discourage even their super-satisfied customers will convert to other competitors, because it’s their nature. On the other hand, a company should keep working on further improving customer relationship and create exit or switching barriers, but it must not be too much that customers feel very frustrated if they really want to exit or switch. Lastly, exited customers should still be treated as if they are still customers in order to win them back, and they will stay with you for a long long time.
