Customer Loyalty isn’t Marriage. It’s Dating — with Higher Standards
If your brand’s effort fades, so will your customers. And they won’t leave a note… they’ll just mirror your silence.
- On: April 23, 2025
Aviles Carcamo
CX Lead and Customer Journey Management
If loyalty today is all about relevance and value, what’s one outdated belief about loyalty that the automotive industry still clings to?
The belief that once someone buys a car from you, they’re “yours” for life.
We still treat loyalty like it’s a one-time achievement — “They bought from us once, so they’ll come back.” But that’s not how people think anymore. Especially new generations. I believe loyalty today is more like dating than marriage. You have to keep showing up in meaningful ways and not take things for granted: reminders for service that actually help, digital tools that work without frustration, and offers that feel like they were designed with me in mind.
Think of a hotel that still sends a happy birthday email without knowing I haven’t stayed there in years. Or a dealership that sends a generic thank-you message versus one that writes a short handwritten note after my service visit saying, “We hope your road trip to Portugal went well.”
One feels automated. The other feels remembered. That’s the difference.
What do you think is the most overhyped trend in customer experience right now? And what’s underrated?
Overhyped? AI-driven personalisation. (Do not get me wrong, I am a huge fan of AI, technology and everything in between).
It’s exciting, sure, but what’s the point of knowing my favourite colour if your app crashes every time I try to book a service? We’re layering fancy tools over broken basics.
Underrated? Human, operational empathy. The stuff no one puts on stage at conferences.
Have you ever seen anyone presenting a big picture of Ana on stage and how their smile and human approach made customers happy while registering their car for service?
Or how they are letting Mark waive a late fee without calling three managers?
Or how training teams notice when a customer looks lost in the dealership and walk over just to say, “Hey, do you need help?”.
I truly believe in the power of “keep it simple”, and to illustrate my point, I want to tell you a short story: A few months ago, I stayed at a Holiday Inn in Munich, and the first thing I saw when I entered my room was a small handwritten note wishing me a nice stay and great day ahead. No AI, no big budgets, no complex implementations.
As I said, I love technology, and it is great. But feeling seen is better.
What’s more dangerous for a brand today: being irrelevant, or being inconsistent? Why?
I believe inconsistency might be worse.
Being irrelevant is like slowly fading out of people’s lives. They just… stop thinking about you. But inconsistency is betrayal. If I trust your brand and you let me down, say, a great car with a confusing app or a helpful salesperson followed by a nightmare service experience, I don’t just forget you. I stop trusting you.
And, like in any relationship, trust is hard to earn back.
Imagine going to your favourite restaurant, and one day the food is perfect, and the next it’s cold, and the next time your order’s wrong and you felt the waiter treated you badly. Eventually, you stop going, and you might even tell your friends about your bad experience. The same happens with brands.
We don’t need perfect. We just want predictable, consistent, honest, and human.
Interested in more? This is just a short preview of the case study “Customer Loyalty is Dead, and That’s a Good Thing”, which Rodrigo will be presenting soon at the 15th Annual Enhancing Customer Loyalty and Retention Summit.
Join us on the 4th – 5th of June in Barcelona!
Short Speaker BIO:
I’m here to explore new ideas, push boundaries, spark conversations, and dive into the evolving world of CX by challenging the status quo and blending creativity, strategy, and technology to redefine customer experiences.
With a background spanning advertising, business, consulting, and CX, I’ve led global teams, built award-winning campaigns, and driven digital transformation.
Curiosity fuels everything I do, and I believe innovation isn’t just about thinking differently; it’s about making change happen.
Hobbies: Running, ice bathing, reading, cooking.
Fun fact: I love cold weather and jumping into cold water (literally), even though I grew up in Cancun, Mexico.
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