The Power of Inertia

Marketers speak of brand loyalty as the Holy Grail, achieved via sustainable competitive advantages and the like, and fostered by relationship marketing or whatever the flavor of the month happens to be in the field. However, while some consumer adoption and loyalty is based on true brand preference, much is based on habit rather than affect, and one of the big secrets of marketing is the power of inertia. In our busy lives it is simply too much trouble to change from something that is adequate. It takes too much time and effort to seek what is significantly better, especially for what may be ultimately a mundane purpose. For example, odds are your shampoo is "fine," and you like it pretty well, as shampoos go. You sense that there is probably a better shampoo out there somewhere, but why go through the aggravation and uncertainty to find it? Or maybe it's your ISP, phone service, laundry detergent, magazine subscription, bank, restaurants, health plan, margarine, dentist, retirement plan, shoes, motor oil, well, you get the idea. You know there are probably better options out there, and perhaps you've been meaning to change, but it's something you'll get around to when you can, as it works "fine" and you don't have the time or energy to go through the hassle of changing right now. These repetitive consumptions require so little effort to receive something that is "fine," the question for marketers is how to get that bird in your hand.

One of the tricks these days, of course, is to make the initial acquisition as effortless and risk-free as possible (often while making the cessation of consumption as effortfull and risky as possible, sadly). AOL, for example, built a gargantuan market share by literally giving away the service, making it difficult to cancel, then charging those that remain. Publications, credit cards, cable companies, and others offer free or reduced cost trial periods, after which it is your responsibility to cancel, which is often problematic, even if one remembers that it is an option and how to do so. The new charge just shows up on the credit card bill, hardly noticeable at all. There are a wide variety of inducements, but as car dealerships know very well, if you take a test ride, you'll probably buy the car (commitment/consistency).

Lest you think this is only the handiwork of pernicious marketers preying on a vulnerable element of the human psyche, consider other "consumptive" aspects of your life. How many stay in "fine" (but in reality perhaps less) relationships, jobs, houses, etc., because it seems so much trouble to change (the devil we know...)? It is fairly easy to say "I do," but terribly difficult, expensive, and traumatic to say "I don't." And underlying the perceived risks of change are concepts of "investment" and cognitive consistency which undergird our rationalizations of why we continue to consume that which could and should be better, but is "fine." We are creatures of habit, which positively provides simplification and avoids stress, but negatively inhibits discovery and betterment. And so when someone next asks you how you are and you respond with the universal "fine," well indeed you are.

Time and Money

When you're younger, you trade time for money, but when you're older, you trade money for time.