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4 Reasons Why Nigerian Business Owners Experience Brand Hate 

Emmanuel Nnaemeka
  It is very common for brands to experience customer hate once in a while. In this age of the internet, brand hate is regularly displayed on various social media platforms. There are times when customers can run agog with hate and declare threats of boycotts on the social media pages of their brands. This hate can consume your brand if you are not careful as a brand owner.
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According to studies, brand hate may take several dimensions, which are not restricted to the calculated and intended motive to discredit, repudiate, or avoid a brand. In Nigeria, brand haters demonstrate their distaste for brands through private and public criticisms, product defamation, boycotts, protests, retaliations, and brand switching. The consequences of brand hate can’t be overestimated. This article explains how brands can deal with hate before things get out of hand. One of the reasons why some brands are hated is their inability to offer bargaining satisfaction to their customers. Shopper bargaining is a culture in Nigeria and Africa, and online outlets need to offer customers the opportunity to bargain the prices and quantities of their products. When brands don’t offer opportunities for customer bargains, it triggers brand hate as many are denied the opportunity of getting a favourable price for purchased products and paid services. Hence, when a brand is not offering an opportunity for price bargaining, customers reduce their purchasing frequency or switch completely to another brand. Brands that pretend to be indispensable will naturally attract the wrath of customers sooner than they expect.
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The ability to feel that you are irreplaceable as a brand can unwittingly make you disregard customers, even if there is a need to give them attention. Hence, the brand fails to deliver and doesn’t feel bad about it. Brands that feel indispensable and irreplaceable often offer condescending services making customers feel betrayed, misunderstood, and even underestimated. This can naturally ignite hate and then rebellion. Therefore, the ability to constantly of top-notch notch services and continued servicing of custotouchpointsints is the easiest path to overcome and even avoid brand hate altogether.  It is common to see brands celebrate customers they know while ignoring those with concealed identities. This one-sided approach irritates anonymous customers who are gradually on the fast rise in emerging markets like Nigeria. Hence, when a certain group feel less appreciated and unimportant, they might display brand hate.
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In fact, in the banking sector, some banks are hated by a large section of the country because they see the bank as a bank that treats those outside the upper class with condescending customer service.  One of the reasons why tech brands like Techno are loved by many is because they rate accessibility. In emerging markets like Nigeria, customers are usually the first to test and buy new and unknown brands. For example, the famous Computer Village in Lagos is a go-to space if one needs to access all kinds of mobile device brands. Before mobile devices are sold in outlets, they ensure that the brand of their phones is available in the Computer Village. Therefore, it irks the customer when brands don’t make their products accessible. 

Closing Remarks

By all means, brands must do their best to avoid or contain brand hate. When brand hate is out of hand, the consequences can be irredeemable. Hence, this article offers key insights into managing, avoiding and controlling brand hate. This article states four ways: offering bargaining satisfaction, never acting indispensable, never ignoring anonymous customers and making products accessible. Featured Image Source: Wordtracker
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