What are your Disloyalty Cards?

You probably have loyalty cards. These cards provide a free prize after you buy things from a store multiple times (a free sandwich after you buy ten sandwiches, for example). They’re supposed to give an incentive for customers to keep showing up. The thought is that we’re more likely to choose businesses if there is a reward.

However, most cards end up with only one or two punches.

These are disloyalty cards. They are the broken promises that we probably didn’t sign up for in the first place. Someone just forced a card upon us and then expected it to change our behavior.

I am terrible with loyalty cards. I rarely remember the card even at places I like. I’m still eight meals away from free chicken, even though I’ve been to the store dozens of times. My favorite foods—ice cream, pizza and cookies—are costing me full price because I never remember the card.

Subscription services are designed because they fear we won’t show up enough—that we’re not actually loyal. That’s why they’re so popular right now. Netflix doesn’t have to worry if everyone will watch next week. They already have our money.

However, there’s strong disloyalty in a lot of subscription services. They’re not trying to make the best product if it’s hard to unsubscribe. Disloyalty subscriptions are the posture of cable companies, meal-prep services and phone apps. They lock you in and hide the key to leave.

It’s not about hole punches or complicated unsubscribe tactics. Customers are loyal to good services that fit their life. Loyalty comes from making a promise and then delivering on that promise.