Accelerating into the loyalty loop - Lessons from Apple - Part I

This article is continued from "What is the loyalty loop in marketing?"

Apple is a brand that really frustrates me

As a marketer, I've always been miffed at Apple, I just don't get how is it possible for a company to make products that are so expensive with feature sets that are so rigid, and yet have such a rabid fan following, people who will LITERALLY camp overnight outside their stores to catch the launch of the latest iPhone. It's been a long time that I have been trying to solve this puzzle and I think the answer is probably this:

1. Product/Anti-product mastery

I think Apple has mastered the art of balancing 2 things - product (hardware + software) and anti-product (planned obsolescence + deliberate convenience restraint).

What a beautiful looking thing - I think Apple might have achieved product mastery 

Hardware and software are straightforward - Apple reportedly makes something if only they can make it better. For example, in hardware this means the usage of stainless steel over plastic, Ceramic Shield over screen glass, developing superior in-house SOCs such as the A13 (iPhones) and M1 (Macs), while in software it means paying attention to how smoothly the OS operates and small details that other OEMs tend to miss and so on. This makes for a decisively superior experience for the customer - Customers know that Apple products are superior in terms of hardware and software and so are confident in them. And indeed, in order to gain entry into the loyalty loop a strong core product is sine qua non, table stakes.

However, Apple also does something else really well that I am calling the "anti-product", a catch-all terms for all those decisions that motivate (annoy) the customer into upgrading to a better version of the product. Its slippery slope because on the one hand you want customers to be happy with your product but on the other hand you don't want them to be too happy for then they will never upgrade. It's a difficult balance to strike, but frustratingly enough for me, Apple manages to strike each time.

Examples in support of my claim are in order, so here goes (takes deep breath):

1. Obstinately sticking to LCD screens till iPhone 11 - Inducing customers to upgrade to "revolutionary" OLED screens in iPhone 12
2. Low entry level iPhone storage - So customers could shell out a bit more to upgrade
3. Removal of the headphone jack from iPhones - To create a market for AirPods
4. No more chargers included with new iPhones + making charging cable USB C to lightning preventing interoperability with most chargers/laptops out there (who likely have USB A ports)
5. Slowing down older iPhone models - So that customers would upgrade to the lastest "fast" iPhone
6. Literally having a single USB C port in the Macbook Air - Literally necessitating buying of peripherals like USB hubs
7. Still using LCD screens in even the highest end iPads - While most comparative tablets have log transitioned to OLED
8. Apple Watch SE does not have an always on display - Reserved only for the Apple Watch 6 that of course costs more
9. (my forecast) iPhone 14 will remove the charging dock as well - To create a market for MagSafe accessories 

And this is just the tip of the iceberg of all the criticism of Apple Inc. available on the interweb.

What is even more annoying to me is how all of this is layered with a thick marketing paste to make it seem something that it is not:

Apple removed the charger from the iPhone box to protect the environment - Though no reduction in price or even making the accompanying cable compatible with most chargers out there

Yet, a whole lot of customers (not me though) continue to prefer Apple as their brand of choice. Whats going on here?

I think that by using a combination of genuinely strong overall product and excellent marketing/brand sheen Apple is just able to convince its core users that the overall proposition is worth the small annoyances that it builds in to ensure customer. I'd wager that Apple would be spending a lot of money in figuring exactly what those trade offs are that the customer is OK with.

In my opinion, Apple never wants to fully satisfy its customers, it will leave just enough room to fit in the next upgrade cycle with a new iProduct - Hence providing customers with a story of progression of how each subsequent purchase makes their life a little better

However, a caveat, Apple doesn't just remove/limit product features just to selfishly get customers to pay for it additionally, it also embellishes the solution it provides so that the end result is better for the customer and so this eventually ends up becoming industry standard. Apple's loyalty still relies heavily on making existing products better.

Apple's anti-product move of removing the headphone jack might not have been so bad after all

Take the example of how apple famously removed the headphone jack from iPhone 7 models onwards: while initially customers were miffed, the eventual solution (AirPods) genuinely increased customer convenience by freeing customers of the task of untangling wired headphones, plugging them in and of the risk of smashing your iPhone on the ground if you were forgetful enough to get up from a table without realizing you still had them on. It also literally created the wireless earbuds industry and today a lot of phones have ditched the jack, leading to innovation on how better (cheaper) wireless earbuds can be made for any pocket. In a way Apple benefitted a whole lot of non Apple customers too.

So how does mastery in product and anti-product matter for loyalty curve?

A marketer needs to know what their customers want now in order to build a strong product that will ensure current growth of the organization, but also needs to know what customers are willing to let go in order to build a strong anti-product that will ensure future growth.

A marketer needs to use both product and anti-product strategy to weave a story that keeps customers hooked into "turning the page", buying the next product and hence staying firmly within the loyalty loop.

In a nutshell, product mastery is about solving customer problems that exist, while anti-product mastery is about first creating problems that don't really exist and then solving them - Mostly a marketer works on the product (to ensure present growth), but a few times they must also work on the anti-product (to ensure future growth) 

Apple seems to get this.

Read Part 2 of this article here