Here’s Why Reliability, Not Quality, Keeps Customers Coming Back For More: 3 Lessons I’ve Learned
Your boss says companies keep buying your product because it’s good, but don’t believe him
You buy upon quality
You come back and buy again based upon reliability
When I started in business, like everyone, I believed selling quality products meant clients would keep using them.
My first job was in advertising sales at a small startup selling ads on a major social platform (no longer around) and venturing into the mobile market.
We had a good product with high traffic and leads that clients enjoyed, yet happy clients didn’t return. Why?
Since then, I’ve picked up a ton about marketing, sales, keeping customers, scalability, and most importantly, reliability. Here are the key lessons I’ve learned:
Lesson 1–”Better” products don’t win
After the emergence of OpenAI’s products, Google’s LaMDA, Anthropic’s Claude, and Meta’s LLaMA (LLaMA-13), it became clear that although some products are slightly better than others, they are essentially the same.
“Better” never wins in the long term.
Customers don’t stay loyal to a marginally “better” product. They stay loyal to products and services that can demonstrate consistent results over time.
David L. Deutsh, the world-renowned copywriter, talked about how challenging it was for him as a junior copywriter to differentiate a product, and he was writing about something as simple as a guidebook to Bermuda, not complex SaaS solutions.
So, how should a customer make a decision? How should they choose one product over another?
Customers continue to use a service based primarily on its reliability, not just its features or price. Competing on features is easy; competing on price is even easier.
But price is just the tip of the iceberg. What about cost, maintenance, ease of use? These are all aspects that contribute to reliability.
People stick with products and services that deliver long-term results. Companies that can provide this offer customers much more than just competitive pricing or appealing features. They deliver a superior user experience, scalability, data integrity, customer retention, and reduced support costs.
At the end of the day, it’s about consistency and reliability.
Lesson 2–Reliability relies on consistency
Consider Apple’s approach to product development.
Apple has managed to build a loyal customer base not merely through innovative features but by consistently delivering reliable products.
When customers buy an iPhone or a MacBook, they know they are getting a product that will perform exceptionally well, last for years, and provide excellent customer support if anything goes wrong.
Businesses looking for reliable solutions need products and services that scale. Enterprises need to ensure that their tools and platforms can handle growth without compromising on performance.
For example, cloud service providers like AWS and Microsoft Azure are renowned not because they offer the cheapest or the most advanced features, but because they provide scalable solutions that enterprises can rely on as they grow.
Keeping data integrity is another vital aspect of reliability.
Customers need to trust that their data is secure and will not be tampered with. In an age where data breaches and cyber-attacks are common, maintaining data integrity is essential for building customer trust and loyalty.
Lesson 3–Reliability is the key to customer retention
One of my aha moments in my career was realizing that companies stick with you and your company because you consistently solve their problems and deliver results, not just because of your brand.
Zappos and Amazon have built their empires on the relentless focus on customer service. By providing reliable solutions and going above and beyond to solve customer issues, these companies have established a loyal customer base.
Reduced support costs are a byproduct of reliability.
Reliable products mean fewer issues, which in turn means fewer customer support interactions. This reduces the operational cost for the company and also enhances the customer experience.
Customers appreciate not having to contact support frequently, and when they do, the efficiency with which their problems are resolved can further reinforce their loyalty.
Conclusions
While features and price are important factors that can attract customers initially, they are not the elements that drive long-term loyalty.
What keeps customers coming back is reliability, driven by consistency.
Companies that focus on these aspects will not only attract new customers but will also retain existing ones, building a robust, loyal customer base that can sustain them through market fluctuations and competitive pressures.
The key to long-term success lies in building reliable products and services that customers can depend on, day in and day out.
Nikita
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