It’s not uncommon to hear these three words — loyalty, recurrence, and captivity — used as if they mean the same thing in business conversations. They overlap, yes, but they’re not the same. It’s worth putting a label on each one, because failing to distinguish them after that first purchase can lead to poorly designed customer strategies that ignore their long-term impact on costs and cash flow.
Loyalty means convincing, not retaining
A loyal customer is someone who chooses us as one of their go-to providers. They know us, know what to expect from us, and, most importantly, trust that they’ll get a consistent standard of quality that justifies the price they pay. Here, the price-to-value equation is predictable and trusted. As customers, surprises are only welcome when they exceed the expectations we already have.
The foundation is satisfaction — product, service, experience. Without genuine satisfaction, there is no loyalty worth mentioning. It’s that classic “when I need this again, I’ll come back to you — no question.”
Recurrence is loyalty with a rhythm
Recurrence is when, on top of loyalty, we manage to get the customer to buy from us continuously. This is the holy grail for many businesses: stable, predictable revenue in both timing and amount, often under a subscription model (though not always).
The key is to understand that every recurrence comes from loyalty — but not every loyal customer becomes recurrent. A customer might love our product, service, or experience, but they may not need it again for months.
“Recurrence is the holy grail because it turns loyalty into a steady cash flow, diluting that initial acquisition cost by adding multiple, regular checkouts over time.”
Otherwise, we know what happens: you keep burning money on acquisition — always pricier than retention.
Captivity: loyalty with chains
Then there’s captivity — often confused with loyalty. But it’s not the same thing. Captivity happens when you stay not because you want to, but because switching is expensive, hard, or simply not feasible. Think of sectors with high switching costs, oligopolies, never-ending contracts, or exit barriers disguised as “commitments.”
The consequence is obvious: if the customer has no real incentive to leave, the provider feels less pressure to improve the experience beyond the basics. Think about your banking app: you know it could be better, the navigation clearer, the UX smoother… but switch banks just for that? Not worth the hassle. Or your health insurer: maybe the doctor network is solid, but the website to book or manage appointments is clunky, frustrating, or full of friction. Will you change your whole plan for that? Tough call — especially if you trust your doctor (even if you don’t trust the insurer’s app).
Of course, solutions do emerge to fix these inefficiencies — just look at eHealth, which isn’t a separate sector but rather the digital and tech-driven side of healthcare that modernizes, optimizes, and expands what traditional healthcare already does.
“A recurrence can easily break down when you mix customer frustration, a clearly superior alternative, and switching costs that are acceptable.”
In captive contexts, loyalty isn’t transparent: trust isn’t renewed — it’s just assumed. And when satisfaction isn’t maximized, you lose the chance to build long-term relationships on something sturdier than the hassle of leaving.
The takeaway
Loyalty is non-negotiable — but it’s recurrence that should pay for the party. And captivity? Better not to get confused: long term, it’s always better to have customers who stay because they want to, not because they have no choice. Nothing is forever — not even your competitive advantage (patents expire, too).
Loyalty is the side of the scale that balances out new customer acquisition. We must always keep acquiring: no business can switch off its sales engine because there will always be churn — customers dropping off for one reason or another. But the goal is to move every new customer from one-off buyer to loyal customer as soon as possible, so that their next purchases come with zero acquisition costs.
“And that’s where recurrence comes in: activating and boosting that base of satisfied customers so they not only come back when they need you, but keep generating a steady flow of transactions.”
Obviously, the type of product/service/experience and the need it solves will determine how recurrent it can be. The more transactions, the stronger the cash flow and the more profitable each customer, because the costs should be purely operational (keeping digital channels running, updating a mobile app, improving the user experience…) — not acquisition costs.
Loyalty, recurrence, captivity… We’re still missing one piece: advocacy, which comes right after loyalty. But we’ll save that for another post.
