This week Marketing magazine has published a round-table report on brand loyalty within mobile telecoms providers.
As one of the many slaves to Apple who clamoured for an iPhone as fast as my legs could carry me, I was, once again, forced to sign up with O2 as they held the exclusive contract, with Apple, to supply the iPhone .
I had been a customer of O2 for many years previously (circa 7 or 8 yrs) before I left to join Orange for an 18 month spell. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting O2 to lay out the proverbial red carpet or even wave a little flag for me upon my return, but part of me did think “A long-term defected customer is returning. What generous offer can you give me to welcome me back?”. The answer to any query I had was a big fat no. I even asked the customer service assistant in the O2 shop when I went to get my iPhone , but I didn’t get anywhere.
They just didn’t care.
They knew that they held the ultimate power in the consumer/service provider face-off. They knew that if I REALLY wanted an iPhone, I would siphon the milk from my (dead) grandmother’s tea in order to get my hands on one if need be. They didn’t need to offer me anything as a returning customer, they had me right where they wanted me (aka: signing my life away on a binding contract for an exorbitant monthly fee).
Then after the first few months of waving my iPhone around in the faces of those stuck in contracts with other providers, Vodafone and Orange announce within 48 hours of each other that they are also going to be supplying the iPhone in due course.
I quickly glanced at my phone in anticipation of a call from O2 for some serious ‘stroking’ and offers of a plentiful bounty of treats were I to stay with them and not defect, once more, to Orange or Vodafone. But that call didn’t come…and it still hasn’t. I doubt it ever will.
It strikes me, as a mobile phone user, that the service provider brands just seem to have given up the ghost in terms of wanting to create, and more importantly maintain, brand loyalty. It’s less about the service they provide now and more about the products they supply us with. They are a vehicle for the phones to market, and no more.
Sure, their advertising might be really appealing and their brand may ‘look’ glossy and attractive, but that’s really where their ‘brand’, as an experience, seems to end. Mobile service providers have become like commodities these days. They’re no longer chosen based on the strength of their brand, or how great their customer service is. They are chosen based on two factors:
1. Do they provide the phone I want?
2. Are they the cheapest?
I would like (and expect) more for my money. O2, you need to start seeing me as a ‘valued customer’ as opposed to just a standing order sum being deposited into your account each month. If not, my iPhone and I will be taking a walk down the road to Vodafone or Orange. Frying pan – fire? Maybe…I challenge you to make me change my mind.
