There's no brand loyalty

There’s no brand loyalty

Recently on my LinkedIn wall, a brand manager expressed his fascination that people could exercise wearing 3-4 different brands across their body. Where’s the brand loyalty in that? he wondered.

I’ve recently run my second marathon, and at these distances, there is no brand loyalty unless you get sponsored. You wear what works best. My Kiprun shorts are the best ones I’ve tried. My podiatrist recommended a specific ASICS range that has been better than any other shoe I’ve tried. My Falke socks even at marathon distance have never given me blisters. My Versus hat is machine washable. My Adidas technical shirt is so much more enjoyable than my Joma one.

But to none of these brands I feel loyalty. I will ditch each one for another brand based on product quality. Even my trusted ASICS I’ll leave if a better shoe comes around. I don’t use these products to support these products. I use them to run, and I want to run comfortably and efficiently.

Therein lies a lesson for any business. While some products may have die-hard believers, most of us just use what works best for the best price. I switched from Windows to Apple during Windows Vista because the software sucked so badly, and Apple’s didn’t. There’s a turning point where I’d switch away from Apple too.

The same goes for the products at Automattic. We can create amazing support experiences that are fast and personable, and we can create a great vibe and community around the WooCommerce brand. But people will choose us and stick with us because of what they value in our product. We are only as good as the product we create so merchants can sell online.

That’s why support and marketing can’t live in their own bubble. We need to constantly work with our product and engineering teams to ensure there’s a close feedback loop. Without that loop, our product and what customers want will start drifting apart.

Because at the end of the day, our product is why people choose us and stick with us.

March 11, 2026

1–2 minutes

344 words

Comments

3 responses to “There’s no brand loyalty”

April 30, 2026

Philip Tregunna

Interesting read, Job. I think it’s a bit more nuanced.

It really comes down to where a product sits on the spectrum between performance and lifestyle. Your marathon example sits at the high-pressure end. Running 42 km is about as hard as you can push kit. Running shoes, shorts and socks all get tested to the limit and that extra bit of comfort or support matters a lot. In that context there’s barely any room for loyalty, you’ll happily ditch a beloved brand the moment something does a better job.

Flip it though. Buy sneakers to walk around town and the bar drops right down. They need to feel and look, but that’s about it. You’re buying the brand for how it matches your look and how it fits your lifestyle, the specs barely come into play. That’s where brand loyalty has a big impact. Vans is a good example, the quality of their sneakers has deteriorated over the years but people still buy them because as a lifestyle brand the bar on quality is so low it takes a while to actually disappoint anyone to the point of switching. Vulture capitalists exploit this by buying up strong brands (often strong because of good products) and then cutting costs, gradually hollowing out the product and user experience to milk it to maximise profit.

Fully with you on the closing point though. Support and marketing can’t live on their own island, brand has to be rooted in reality and a tight feedback loop with product is what keeps the whole thing credible and sustainable.

Reply
1. April 30, 2026
  
  Job
  
  Thanks for the feedback and pushback! You rightly point out that it’s about performance here. And I guess that’s where the trigger was for this post. The LinkedIn post was focused on exercising. The point I’m trying to make indeed is that in pressure points, quality will be the most important thing, not loyalty. The same goes for my industry: I work in ecommerce, and at the end of the day, people care about making money with our software, not about being part of Woo or Shopify.
  
  That said, great nuance to add here.
  
  Reply
  1. April 30, 2026
    
    Philip
    
    That’s very true. Woo or Shopify are at equally high pressure points. For an online store every single bit of performance gets measured, tested and improved. If any of your clients think their store will do better with a different solution, they’ll 100% be quick to switch.