Microsoft misjudges customer loyalty with kill-XP plea

Microsoft grossly overestimated the loyalty of those it thought were its most steadfast customers when it asked for their help in getting friends and family members to dump Windows XP, a corporate communications expert said Friday.

"There's nothing wrong with asking your customers for help," said Gene Grabowski, an executive vice president at Levick, a Washington, D.C. firm that specializes in crisis public relations and corporate reputation messaging. "But you have to establish loyalty before you ask them, and even then you have to structure [the request] so there is a distinct advantage to the customer."

Microsoft neither had the customer loyalty it had assumed it had, nor a plan that made the effort attractive to those it asked for assistance. "Essentially, Microsoft was asking its customers to help it sell more product," said Grabowski.