Lock-in reduces our agency to freely choose among competing products. Someone might drink a Coke today, and if it doesn’t appeal to him, he can drink a Pepsi tomorrow. But if that same person has a bad experience today with his cell phone plan, or email provider, or credit card, he’s probably still going to have the same cell phone plan, email provider, and credit card tomorrow. The cost to switch, in money, time, convenience, or learning, is just higher. That’s lock-in.
