I Spent 30 Days Quietly Analyzing How $100M Brands Steal Customers — Here’s What I Found

The psychology behind why customers abandon brands they love for competitors they’ve never heard of.

Illustration by author

Customer loyalty is dead.

I don’t care how much your customers love you.

I don’t care how many 5-star reviews you have.

I don’t care if they’ve been buying from you for 10 years.

Someone, somewhere, is plotting to steal them.

And they’re using psychology so subtle, your customers won’t even realize they’re being seduced.

The $2.3 billion theft nobody saw coming

Dollar Shave Club stole Gillette’s customers.

Not with better razors.

Not with lower prices.

Not with superior technology.

They stole them with a 90-second video that made Gillette customers feel stupid for paying $4 per blade.

Within 48 hours, 26,000 people signed up.

Within 6 years, Unilever bought them for $1 billion.