More often than not loyalty is presented as a by-product of satisfaction and a direct consequence of it. Unfortunately loyalty has many more antecedents and some of them moderate the impact of satisfaction. A piece of evidence is given by researchers in the latest isue of the Journal of Marketing. Their idea was to understand why satisfaction has sometimes no influence on repurchase and under which conditions it happens.

Drawing on previous theoretical background the authors of the study hypothetized that satiation and inertia are moderators of the satisfaction-repurchase link. They defined weak-satiation and strong-satiation product categories.

Weak-satiation categories are typically made of hedonic products. Basically it’s not because you have already 10 pairs of luxury shoes that you will not buy another one. However, from a pure function viewpoint, you need only one pair, don’t you?

Strong-satiation products on the contrary are typically utilitarian products. Think about your lunch. Once you’ve lunched the probability that you repurchase a meal 2 hours afterwards is very small, right ? The authors used the example of automobile service for their study and it perfectly makes sense. Why and how should you increase the repurchase intention of customers who, by definition, will visit your shop only when they really need it (i.e. when they need something to be fixed)?

For strong-satiation categories, the authors suggest that the optimal strategy combines “moderate levels of satisfaction with an assortment of substitute initiatives to increase customer repurchase and profitability”.

In weak-satiation categories the suggestion is investments be made in customer satisfaction and that customer, relational, and marketplace characteristics be leveraged to increase both the size and share of the customer’s wallet.

My take :

Practitioners too often forget that satisfaction is not the only antecedent of loyalty. This study not only confirms it but also shows that the link between satisfaction and loyalty can become weak under certain circumstances.