If it’s one thing that Synergy Marketing Consultants has always been known for, it is the championing of building strong and loyal relationships with customers. As we do our part to grow our own business ties with clients across Canada, we encourage these clients of ours to do the same with their own customers. It only makes sense to keep your customers happy.

Naturally, our client base is made up of entrepreneurs and business owners of all types. And not surprisingly, we advocate the giving out of our great promotional items as a means of encouraging brand loyalty. And it works! What better way to make your customers want to continue coming back?

As a business owner, it hurts tremendously when you lose these relationships. It’s almost like a romance gone wrong. You wonder what happened and wish you could do something to get the relationship back. Toronto Star business reporter, Tony Wong highlights this feeling in a recent article.

He details how companies can spend major marketing budgets on promoting their brands only to find that some relationships with customers have gone “sour”. After all, with so many brands out there to choose from, every business is bound to experience having a once loyal customer turn his or her back on it.

Wong writes that a recent study by the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business confirms that when a company leaves a bad impression with a customer, it is not unlike a relationship break up. The study of more than 400 consumers revealed that many customers actually think of exacting revenge on the company that did them wrong!

Jodie Whelan is one of the authors of the new report. She found that some consumers “threatened the company’s employees with payback, others said they used the company’s resources wastefully to hurt them, others said they outright stole from the company or broke or damaged their property while others said they ‘broke the law’ in order to get back at the company.”

The most dangerous consumer, says Whelan is the “fearful” one. This is the type of person who is most likely to complain to others about the company and obsess about harming the brand in any way possible. They also often seek to get “payback” for even the simplest of things.

Many consumers, it seems, are really opposed to change. In some cases, a company’s choice to make even a minor change sets some customers off! Said Whelan: “You might be buying Kleenex for many years and they change the size of the tissue on you. That could make some consumers really angry. This could be seen as a personal assault.”