Reasons for Brand Switching

Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands

Factors in Buying Another Mobile Phone Brand

I am not an expert, but I have a few observations from practice. Some factors are:
- Presence/lack of technical barriers. A clear example is Apple with its iPhones. Because the operating system on which they run ("iOS") is proprietary to Apple, if you would like to switch from Apple to another brand it automatically means you have to change all apps you are using and you have a big job to convert your data. So you are not likely to switch. If you switch from one Android phone brand to another this would not be the case as they all use the same apps.
- Advertising /Positioning: if a manufacturer is able to put some nice feelings about their brand in your mind, you are less likely to switch.
- Curiosity: out of curiosity you may switch to another brand or type, just to see what it is.
- Decreasing life cycle: Because phones only last for a few years, you have more switching moments, so you are more likely to switch at one of these moments.
- Fashion: some brand may be more fashionable than others at a certain moment in some market(s), region or globally. This is heavily influenceable by advertising.
- Word of Mouth Advertising: if a friend is enthusiastic about some brand you may also be interested in it.
- Opinion Leaders: Some individuals (opinion leaders) are believed to be able to repeatedly persuade and influence other people's behaviors according to her/his own preferences.
- Killer app: sometimes a particular phone brand may have a "killer app": an app that is crucial or very attractive to certain consumers but that is only available on a particular phone brand.
- Technical specs: Some mobile phones might have superior technicals specs in one area or the other. For example a superb camera might be attractive to certain people.
See also Persuasion Theory, Framing… The list is almost endless😃. Go here for a comprehensive list of marketing methods… Hope this helps.

Sarah Daghman
Lecturer, Russian Federation

Brand Switching Factors

In today's world, consumers are becoming more conscious of the "value for money"-concept and so they are always looking for better deals, and are more willing to switch brands to get a better product/service that aligns with their needs.

So let's get to understand the concept of "Brand Switching" a little better. And look at how can you prevent it from happening to your brand.
Brand switching can be defined as the process of moving loyalty from one brand of a certain type of product/service to another brand by the customer, due to dissatisfaction, inconvenience, or other problems. In other words, one brand losses a loyal customer to a competitor. You might say it is the opposite of brand loyalty.
Companies may face many problems due to brand switching such as loss of market share, low profitability, lower corporate image, inability to retain customers, and incurring the cost of finding new customers, etc. Therefore, it is essential for managers to analyze and understand the causes of brand switching, in order to build a more successful marketing strategy.

FACTORS CAUSING BRAND SWITCHING

1. DISSATISFACTION – The behavior of consumers varies, on the basis of their satisfaction levels with a brand's product/service. So when a customer has a bad experience with a certain brand, their trust in the brand will shake, which in turn will make them unsatisfied and leads them towards switching to other brands. That happens even if the customer was loyal to the brand. Therefore, your main concern must be to focus on the level of the customer's satisfaction with your product/service, to try to reduce brand switching behavior.
2. THE PROVIDED VALUE - When a certain brand does not provide "enough value" against the offered price to the customer, this will cause brand switching. The value can be monetary, emotional or it can be targeted towards the personality of the buyer. Therefore you must increase the value offered to your customers to prevent them from switching to other brands.
3. MARKETING MIX- When the current marketing mix is not able to maintain or motivate the existing consumers. For example, if the price is too high, customers might switch towards other brands, if they have limited income. Therefore, you need to constantly evaluate and redirect your resources and capabilities and make several adjustments in your marketing mix to prevent your customers from switching brands, and to maintain a strong position relative to competitors.
4. OTHER BRAND PROMOTION - Good promotional activities by competitors can cause consumers to change their choices about your brand and switch to others. Therefore, you must well promote your products/services as well as its performance. The more attractive your promotion is, the less the customers will lose interest in switching to other brands.
5. MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS - When your competitor is better than you in creating communication with customers and can attract new customers and build up the brand. Therefore, you must have a strong communications strategy that will help you maintain your brand equity, make you look like a strong competitor, and help you retain the market share.
6. VARIETY-SEEKING - It's when people seek to try new things. This occurs when a customer is motivated to review available alternatives of different types of brands due to a change in competitive activity in the market place, or due to boredom and saturation in a certain brand, or just caused by the curiosity of trying new brands. In this case, it's most likely that the customers will return to your brand again and hence they will not have a significant impact on your net profit.
7. BRAND IMAGE - It is known that a positive brand image results in greater customer preference towards a brand due to its market position and due to the higher demand of the brand among their social circle. The positive brand image also helps companies to attract other customers and prevent customer switching behavior for their current customers. Therefore, you should focus on building your brand image and analyze more carefully the reason for customers to switch brands in order to increase loyalty.
8. LIFESTYLE - there is a significant relationship between lifestyle and brand choosing. The customer's lifestyle influences her/his decision in choosing a brand. When a brand is not suitable for the customer's lifestyle, then she/he can easily choose another brand that represented her/his lifestyle. Therefore, you must get to know your customers more deeply and provide the products/services that suit their lifestyles.
9. CUSTOMER TRUST - Trust increases the customer's loyalty to a particular brand, then it will not be easy to switch to other brands. Therefore you must maintain the trust between you and your customers and build long-term relationships with them to prevent brand switching behavior.
10. EXTERNAL INFLUENCE - When customers are exposed to some sort of social pressure to accept a certain purchase behavior, irrespective of their beliefs and attitudes towards the behavior. This leads to changes in the purchase intention and may cause to switch brands. For example, family, friends, and relatives have a significant impact on convincing customers to a certain brand.

Can you think of any other reasons that cause customers to switch brands? Please help me to further enrich the list.

Sources:
- I. Fintikasari & E. Ardyan (2018) Brand Switching Behaviour In The Generation Y: Empirical Studies On Smartphone Users, JMK, vol. 20, no. 1 pp. 23–30.
- R. Shah, M & Husnain (2018), Factors Affecting Brand Switching Behavior in Telecommunication Industry of Pakistan: A Qualitative Investigation, American Journal of industrial and business management, №. 20, pp.359-372.