We’re all sluts, so says the research.

Consumers, even the most blindly brand-loyal of us, are ditching their our favorite habits in favor of strange, seductive brands you met at a bar. And not just for one-night stands, either, a study by the Chief Marketing Officer Council and Pointer Media Network found.

Fewer than half of highly loyal customers stuck with their traditional consumer packaged goods favorites (a term that covers food, toiletries to laundry detergent — pretty much everything that comes in a package) in 2007 and 2008. And a
third of consumers ditched their previously favorite brands altogether in favor of new flings.

A PR Week story on the study reports:

The research found that less than half (48%) of highly loyal customers, those defined as “shoppers who made 70% of their category purchases with a single brand during a 12-month period,” remained dedicated to the brand in 2008. In addition, 33% of these customers completely stopped buying the brand even while they continued purchasing items in the same product category.

Revenues for these brands could have increased between 4% and 25% had these customers remained loyal to these CPGs, according the press release announcing the study’s results.

“Building long-term customer loyalty is arguably the most pressing issue marketers are facing,” said Dave Murray, EVP of the CMO Council in a statement. “As this study demonstrates, granular-level, predictive modeling advancements offer new opportunities for relevant and personalized consumer interactions. CPG brand managers must take action to address the financial impact of loyalty erosion by identifying and engaging with today’s at-risk loyal consumers.”

You hear that, ad wizards? If only you’d sent flowers or remembered to say “I love you” once in a while things might have turned out differently. Put simply, if you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it.

Once loyal consumers defecting from CPG brands [PR Week]
(Photo: Carl Fleischhauer)

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