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February 14, 2008
Rekindling customer desire
What makes a relationship last?
Researchers who study human couplings will tell you that it's often about adding novelty to the relationship to reignite old sparks.
Arthur Aron, a professor of sociology at Stony Brook University in New York recruited 53 middle-aged couples, asked them baseline questions about the happiness with their relationship, then divided them into three groups. One group was told to spend 90 minutes a week doing familiar social activities. The second group was told to spend 90 minutes a week doing "exciting" things that appealed to husband and wife. The third group, a control group, wasn't assigned any activities.
After 10 weeks, Dr. Aron surveyed the couples again. Those who took part in "exciting" activities reported much greater levels of relationship bliss than those who did the usual stuff (or nothing at all).
If you think about customer loyalty in terms of dating or egads, a marriage, it's easy to do the same thing, every day, with customers. Follow the rule book. Keep things familiar and safe. But then a competitor/suitor with a new, seductive product or idea can trigger brain reward systems like dopamine and lure away someone whom you assumed was committed to you.
The balancing act between maintaining rituals that celebrate the bond and thinking creatively with "exciting" new activities that relight the spark isn't so easy, of course. But on this Valentine's Day, it doesn't hurt to remember.
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Reminds me of a book on the subject by Greg Berns - "Satisfaction: The Science of Finding True Fulfillment". His conclusion is that people are wired for novel experience, and when we seek it out, we are satisfied.
