The Business Model Navigator, 2nd Edition

Chapter 27

Lock-In

Forcing loyalty with high switching costs

The pattern

In this business model, customers are ‘locked in’ to a vendor’s world of products and services in such a way that changing to another provider would incur substantial costs or penalties. It should be noted that, in this context, the term ‘costs’ does not refer to monetary costs alone: the time needed to switch to a new option and learn how to use it may be just as relevant for some customers.

Customers can be tied down to a company through various means. They may, ...