Customer loyalty is a burning issue for a lot of companies. Marketers know that if you become a “customer for life,” you are worth your weight in gold (and if you’re a lifelong customer at The Cheesecake Factory, just imagine your potential worth!).

So, what makes you loyal to a company?  What makes you want to continue to do business with some companies over and over again, but to “drop others like 3rd period French” and never return?

As it turns out, there’s a single answer to that question when it comes to your service interactions.  Our sister program, CCC (the Customer Contact Council—just like CEC, except for heads of Customer Service) has released the definitive study on the drivers of loyalty in the service environment. The secrets are featured in this month’s Harvard Business Review—you can download the article for free—but I’ll give you a sneak peek a the answer. It’s easy.

No, seriously.  Easy.

CCC has uncovered clear evidence that when a customer has some kind of service issue, the primary determinant of that customer’s future loyalty is their effort—how easy or hard it is to do business.

In fact, if you have a high-effort service experience, you are 96% likely to be disloyal.  But if you have a low-effort experience, you are only 9% likely to defect (or, potentially worse, to spread your negativity virally).

96-to-9.  It doesn’t get any clearer than that!

So—for us in Comms, here are three takeaways we oughta keep in mind:

1) Make this theme one of the “go-to” terms you use in all your customer communications (“We make it EASY for customers…” or “We’ve worked hard to create the ultimate low-effort experience…”).  Throw this into your message mix, and keep pitching it.

2) Work directly with your CS folks to make sure they can carry out this promise.

3) Do a mental “effort check” regarding your own interactions with internal and external Communications customers as well.  Are you considered easy to do business with?  Are there any partners who feel like your processes, services, and/or team attitudes create any degree of unnecessary effort?

Caveat: Not SO easy that they ask you to do a lot of lower-value tactical projects that won’t create any strategic results!

Take a moment and think about the companies YOU personally love to do business with.  The companies you’re most loyal to.  Companies for which you’re an “active supporter.”

What do they all have in common?  When you think about any great service experience you’ve ever had—chances are it was a “low-effort” experience.

What companies do YOU think offer the best service?