What We Can Learn About Customer Loyalty from Southwest

Southwest Airlines was known by travelers for their bag policy, that being that two bags fly free. Southwest was considered a leader in the industry when it came to a focus on customer experience and transparency. This built trust, but with their announcement on March 11, the company may be in trouble when it comes to retaining customers.

Southwest announced that they are changing their policy that allows travelers to have two free checked bags; starting May 28, customers will have to pay for their bags, like they would on any other airline. Arguably, this policy was Southwest’s competitive advantage, and getting rid of it, as United Airlines CEO calls it, was the “the slaying of a sacred cow”. Other airlines are now viewing Southwest customers as “up for grabs”.

What can your business learn from Southwest?

1.    Stay true to your mission, vision, and values. When your business starts sounding or acting outside of these, it pushes away customers. In some cases, businesses can become unrecognizable.

2.    Identify your competitive advantage. What makes your customers choose your business over a competitor’s?

3.    Prioritize your customers. Your customers should feel like they matter to you, because they do. Your customers are the reason you’re able to do what you love.

4.    How well your operations are running can be the difference between losing and retaining a loyal customer. How well are you serving customer needs?

We have yet to see just how this decision will play out for Southwest, but it could be what costs them their competitive advantage, customer loyalty, and customer preference. Need further proof? Just see what people are saying in the comment section of Southwest’s Instagram post.

Let’s take this as a chance to learn from others. As always, we want to see you succeed. For more topics, visit our blog at www.bluluxmarketing.com/blog.