November 24, 2014 · 1:05 pm

Three Types Of Customers

I saw the results of a survey by the folks at SAP a couple of weeks ago and have been meaning to write about it as we hit prime shopping time for the holidays.  They announced results from the Customer Journey Poll, a survey aimed toward helping organizations improve their understanding of customer happiness and encourage brand loyalty.  They polled more than 3,000 Americans, ages 18 and older, to gain insight into what makes customers loyal to a particular brand.  What they found is interesting, albeit not very surprising.

They uncovered three very interesting personas that they claim definitely did not exist 10 years ago:

SAP found three distinct personas that surfaced from the poll data: The “virtuous” customer who patronizes companies that have values to which he or she relates; the “invested” customer, who loves to interact with companies and often seeks guidance and information; and the “ignored” customer, whose inquiries about a product or service sometimes get delayed or ignored. By understanding which customer falls into which persona, brands will have the ability to deliver content that customers consider most important and, in turn, improve overall engagement.

First is the Ignored Consumer:

While email is the most popular way cited to communicate with companies, nearly half of respondents (48 percent) reported problems with delayed or no email responses.  These customers… likely wouldn’t continue to patronize a company that cuts them off.

No kidding.  But how many of us are guilty of creating exactly that group among our customer base?  On the other side of the fence is the Virtuous Customer:

Virtuous customers are those who repeatedly buy from companies they deem to have values similar to theirs. Poll data showed that shared values was cited by 30 percent of Americans as a reason to stay loyal to a brand, making it one of the top three reasons for loyalty. Seventy-five percent said the product/service itself spurred loyalty, while 41 percent cited discounts/offers.

Finally, there are Invested Customers:

Invested customers are the ones who love to interact with companies. Fifty-four percent of respondents said they’d either like or might like (depending on the company) to be offered help via chat or phone before they even ask for it. A whopping 80 percent would either like or might like to be kept up to date on new products.

Interesting.  Just as there are different types of customers there are different methods with which to engage them.  It’s increasingly important that we not offer up one-size-fits-all solutions and focus on reaching each segment in a manner that addresses their loyalty hot buttons.

Worth some thinking?

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November 21, 2014 · 12:41 pm

The Same Old Thing

It’s the last Foodie Friday post before Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and I thought this might be a good time to reflect upon that meal. I’ll start cooking this weekend by making turkey stock and I’ll be doing a little each day right up until mealtime on Thursday. Hopefully the 25 folks in attendance will all get fed at the same time and fall asleep watching football in a food coma.

English: Thanksgiving cheer distributed for me...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If the truth be told, I don’t love this meal although it’s one of my favorite holidays. It’s a favorite because the family gathers together, something that’s a precious occasion as we all get older and become more spread out. But I don’t love the meal because it’s always the same menu with the odd little variation – a different take on a vegetable or maybe a new pie.  It’s kind of boring as a cook but I know the people who are being fed love it.  Which got me thinking.

All of us in business seem to be under a constant imperative to innovate.  To make our products better.  To change things up because if you do what you’ve always done you’ll get what you always get.  If you’ve spent any time here on the screed you know that I buy into looking at our businesses through new eyes as often as we can.  Then I think of the Thanksgiving meal.

The family likes the familiarity.  They look forward to some of the dishes that they only eat this one time each year.  They know what they’re going to get when they traipse over to Rancho Deluxe for the meal. Our customers are like that too, I think.  When you walk into most QSR chains you know what you’re going to get when you order a menu item. Whether you’re in New York or Los Angeles it will be the same.  For many people who are risk-averse, that’s comforting and critical.

The balance between innovation and stability is something we need to maintain as we go forward in our business thinking.  When I switched over to frying the turkey on Thanksgiving I still roasted one so the family could make the move in their own minds instead of me imposing my will.  We no longer roast a bird because everyone’s preferences changed.  There’s no need for any of us to repeat the “New Coke” disaster.

I’ll be serving the same old thing for Thanksgiving.  It makes my “customers” happy.  You?

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November 20, 2014 · 11:48 am

The Lady Does Protest Too Much

You might have read Hamlet. Perhaps unwillingly in high school English, perhaps for pleasure since it’s one of the greatest dramatic works in the English language. At one point Gertrude says “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

Tiger Woods Photo by Paddy Briggs

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That line has been used as a figure of speech ever since (and since 1602 means for a long time) to mean that a person’s overly frequent or vehement attempts to convince others of something have ironically helped to convince others that the opposite is true, by making the person look insincere and defensive. Thank you, Wikipedia!

I thought about that quote the other day as Tiger Woods responded to a satirical piece written by the great Dan Jenkins. Jenkins wrote an “interview” with Tiger which was clearly labeled as made up in which Tiger was made to look cheap, dumb, and nasty. What happened next is instructive for all of us and for any business.

The “interview” ran in the print-only edition of a golf magazine.  Had Tiger left it alone, it would have been read by hard-core golfers and died.  Instead, Tiger took it upon himself to issue a 600 word rebuttal on ThePlayersTribune.com which was picked up immediately by the media.  The interest in the controversy grew quickly, and the golf magazine then posted the original article on its website where anyone could read it.  The mostly ignored problem became a front and center issue.  Which is the point.

Maybe you’ve heard it called “The Streisand Effect.”  This is when an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely.  It’s instructive.  By protesting too much we fan the flames of the problem.  Should every negative comment be ignored?  Of course not.  But had Tiger responded publicly (and I’m not sure he should have in this case) with an appreciative chuckle and a wink of the eye (“I’ll have to work harder and adjust my thinking to live up to the bad guy image you made up”), this all would have gone away.  Better would have been a phone call to Jenkins and a quiet meeting someplace to straighten it all out.

There are dozens of examples of companies and individuals choosing the wrong course and triggering The Streisand Effect.  While our emotional response to something false or misleading might be to take that course, the smarter response is to choose another.  What’s yours?

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