Consumer Decision Making

Why customers switch brands

Loyalty is habit. Switching is the interruption of habit. Promotions are how marketers manufacture that interruption.

Consumer Decision Making4 min read← Knowledge Centre

Behavioural research consistently finds that most category purchases are repeats. The customer does not re-evaluate the shelf — they scan for the shape they bought last time.

A switch requires two ingredients: a strong enough reason to break the default, and a low enough friction cost to try the alternative. Prize mechanics supply the first; money-back guarantees remove the second.

Brands that treat switching as a media problem overpay. Brands that treat it as a behaviour problem design the incentive first and buy the media second.

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