The Moderating Effect of Brand-Inertia on the Relationship between Switching Cost and Loyalty

Abstract

Web mail is the most used communication tool on the Internet. In this study the rarely used concept of brand-inertia serves for examining previous research into the impact of satisfaction and switching on loyalty. A web questionnaire is used with Yahoo web mail users. The findings reveal that satisfaction plays a crucial role in the formation of loyalty with both high and low brand-inertia consumers. However, the impact of high switching cost appears to be significant with low brand-inertia consumers only. That is, for those attaching great importance to brands of choice, the impact of high switching cost on loyalty is stronger. Therefore, this study suggests that a strategy of raising the switching cost to prevent brand switching behavior is only effective with high brand-inertia consumers.