it has long surprised observers that, if a customer has a problem and a brand resolves it in a satisfactory manner, the customer becomes a more loyal customer than if the fault had not occurred in the first place. Odd, until you realise that solving a problem for a customer at your own expense is a good way of signalling your commitment to a future relationship. The theory of ‘continuation probability’ would also predict that, when a business focuses narrowly on short-term profit maximisation, it will appear less trustworthy to its customers, something that seems all too plausible.
