Loyal Customers Sometimes Have Unreasonable Expectations

iStock/Thinkstock(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Do you have a sense of “deservingness?”

That’s the term Ohio State University researcher Rebecca Walker Reczek has for people who think that just because they’re a loyal customer of some retailer or business that they deserve special treatment.

Very often, customers do receive perks but as Reczek points out, deservingness even extends to promotional contests where winners are chosen at random and the rules specify that no purchase is necessary to enter.

She gives the example of someone who regularly uses the same hotel chain and the feeling that they’re more entitled to win a free gift basket “even though the drawing is open to all hotel guests, including those who are not regular customers.”

Although there’s really no logic to it, Reczek contends, “Devoted customers think they are luckier than others when it comes to these contests with random outcomes.”

This “lucky loyalty effect” is something that corporate managers should be aware of, according to Reczek, although those with a sense of entitlement should try and scale back their expectations when outcomes can’t be controlled.

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