Such a relationship is mutually beneficial, but any successful relationship requires mutual effort. It ends when the customer says so, and there may be nothing you can do about it - they may never tell you why. If you persist too hard in demanding answers, or trying to get back together, the word for you will be stalker . Which leads me to the next revolution the Internet is making possible. That revolution is one of ethics.
Most successful businesses are highly ethical, and one result of their ethical behavior is goodwill.
When challenged, a smart business will defend its ethics , but even here history shows care must be taken. Attacking your critics, as GM did with Nader and as Microsoft did with Justice, won't protect your goodwill. Sometimes, as Coca-Cola did with New Coke, you apologize for something you didn't really do wrong. When public relations was born, its practitioners were called press agents. My point today is the Web will allow marketing and public relations to merge.