Church of the Customer: Marketing archives
July 07, 2009
Money vs. gold
The hubbub surrounding Moonfruit giving away 10 Macs over 10 days on Twitter is a good lesson for marketers on money vs. gold.
Give away money and people will question your motives or simply yawn with boredom.
Give away gold -- like a pallet of Macbook Pros, or tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial service -- and they'll line up for blocks.
June 15, 2009
An emerging metric: the GoodGuide score
A non-profit website founded and staffed by academics and researchers is scoring consumer products based on health, environmental and social impacts. Based on its purpose and how easy it is to use, GoodGuide could usher in a new metric: social value.
You could say social value is how well a company practices good corporate stewardship, something the typical may not concern himself with in the aisles of Walmart, but early adopters, buzz-spreaders and health-involved purchasers often do. For GoodGuide, good corporate stewardship includes product ingredients free of carcinogens, aren't brought to market via cruel animal testing and whose packaging is environmentally friendly.
For instance, here's how my deodorant, Dry Idea, stacks up on GoodGuide. It scores a 7.4 out of 10. Not bad, but Dry Idea is dinged for containing "controversial ingredients" aluminum zirconium and fragrance.
"Aluminum has long been known to have neurotoxic effects in humans and other animals," GoodGuide says. "Most aluminum used in deodorants and antiperspirants exists in either aluminum salts or aluminum-glycine complexes. Researchers continue to disagree about the risk of aluminum use in deodorants and antiperspirants, particularly the correlation of aluminum and other compounds and cancer in the upper quadrant of the breast near the underarm." Then it cites the research.
Fragrance, GoodGuide says, "is considered a trade secret, which means the company doesn't have to say what's in it - but generally fragrances have strong allergy and immune system toxicity concerns, and they often conceal the presence of toxic phthalates." Both explanations are enough for me to look at, and purchase, the highest-rated product in the category, Tom's of Maine Natural Deodorant. It, too, has "fragrance," but no aluminum, which has always worried me through the years.
"What we’re trying to do is flip the whole marketing world on its head,” says Dara O’Rourke, the University of California professor who launched the site last year. “Instead of companies telling you what to believe, customers are making the statements to the marketers about what they care about.”
The implications of what GoodGuide could mean for not just marketers, but big company culture, could be significant, especially in how people talk about products with one another, especially in families, where consumer product good decisions are often handed down generationally. If the free, non-ad-supported, easy-to-use (and easy to understand) GoodGuide starts showing up in research of big manufacturers of why their market share is suddenly slipping, it probably won't take long for companies to adapt.
June 10, 2009
The roots of word of mouth
Where does word of mouth come from?
A good experience, says Forrester.
A trustworthy relationship with peers, says Big Research.
A purple cow, says Seth Godin.
They're all right, but the bigger question is: What binds all of those source elements together?
The answer is almost always hidden within a company's culture.
Companies with great word of mouth tend to operate by a simple, yet inspiring purpose and well-defined values. They have created a cultural constitution, and every employee is sworn to abide by it, so help them God and the HR department. They understand that a purpose-driven company helps clarify decision-making while inspiring longer-term unity. They know that abiding by community-driven values compels employees to think of customers first, company second. They see the benefits of inspired, evangelistic customers and how company culture is the feeder river for streams of word of mouth.
When companies shun purpose and adherence to values, that's usually the source of trouble. Just look at credit card providers, health insurance plans, Internet service providers and TV service providers, whose four industries recently appeared in a Forrester report as generating more bad word of mouth than good. The primary interests of companies in those industries often are, in order of importance: company executives, institutional shareholders, Wall Street bankers and analysts, then customers. They stealthily raise fees, add hidden clauses to purposefully complex operating agreements and cut customer service before rolling back excessive executive compensation. It's not surprising then, that the government is now proposing standards to rein in excessive executive pay at publicly held companies.
Indeed, building word of mouth is bigger than simply paying employees well, much less leaving its function solely to the marketing or engineering departments. For creating good customer experiences, a company hires smart and empathetic people who believe in the company's culture and provide evidence of believing in its values. It does not hire talented jerks, regardless of education or work history. It expunges those who acted their way through the hiring process.
For building trustworthy customer relationships, a company makes decisions according to its values. They do not rely on bad profits, the kind which trick customers (often used by the industries in the Forrester report). A company with great word of mouth is consistently fair and honest with customers, employees, suppliers, vendors and competitors. They do the right thing and right their wrongs quickly, often going above and beyond what's necessary.
For creating purple cows, a company fosters creative thinking within tightly defined sandboxes to maintain elegant simplicity, a process that can be difficult but is ultimately rewarding to customers (and employees, especially), who crave simplicity in an age where complexity is daunting, worrisome and exhausting. Simplicity itself, especially with traditionally complicated products or systems, can be a bountiful source of word of mouth. Elegant simplicity is a form of art, and fans will gather to pay it homage.
May 05, 2009
Share of wallet in a recession
From the always insightful Tom Fishburne:
Tom writes:
More here.
April 30, 2009
Keywords that matter
Last week, I had a small problem with a movie I rented via iTunes. Apple cleared it up quickly and all was well in Jackie Land. I hadn't responded to the company's last email when this email arrived:
This is Stacy, with a courtesy follow-up. I haven't heard from you and wanted to make sure that your request was handled to your satisfaction. You've truly been a remarkable asset to the iTunes Store Family and as such I don't want to leave you without any type of resolution, so if you do not respond, I will be closing this request. I hope that you continue to enjoy the iTunes Store and would like to thank you for being such a wonderful member of our family.
Please remember if you require any further assistance I'm only an email away. Have an awesome day!
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Stacy
Tier 1 iTunes Store Support
Sure, it may be something of a form letter, but it's a really good one. It's not a stilted, lifeless form letter from a big corporation, and that's because of Stacy's intelligent use emotional keywords:
- truly
- remarkable
- family
- wonderful
- awesome
Those keywords create emotional context. They are Pavlovian bells that remind us of our emotional attachment to Apple. Formal language need not be a standard formality, as Stacy's letter aptly demonstrates.
Now if her email had contained a thumbnail pict of a smiling Stacy, or a link to her Twitter profile, that would've been over the top, further cementing an already strong emotional connection I have with Apple.
April 27, 2009
A fun ad, for real
If TV pitchman Ron Popeil has taught creators of TV commercials anything, it's be entertaining.
So the makers of SlapChop, the kitchen tool advertised endlessly on late-night TV (here's why it must advertise), might have been given the gift of a longer lifespan thanks to a citizen marketer-created video/song remix.
If I saw this "ad" during my late-night viewings of the Tennis Channel, I'd turn the sound up, not down.
April 24, 2009
How to apologize
Over the years, we've featured several ways to apologize for service problems.
This is my all-time favorite apology.
Beth introduces us to Ramon De Leon, who owns several Domino's Pizzas stores in Chicago. Ramon apologized to a customer named Amy recently when one of his stores fouled up her order.
What I love about Ramon's video apology:
- He's not reading from a script.
- He includes the general manager of the store in question, who performs his video penance well.
- He apologizes with flair, not like a corporate drone.
It's the flair, of course, that pushes this video apology over the top, making it something Amy, her friends, co-workers -- and those of us immersed in customer experience minutiae -- are sure to talk about, if not love.
April 15, 2009
Amazon and the hero's journey
Strategic moments don't happen often but when they do, they're an opportunity for transformation.
Amazon's big strategic moment was with the AmazonFAIL controversy. With thousands of Twitter messages, blog posts and media stories creating a white-hot spotlight of attention, the next step was how Amazon would lead itself out from a mess of what was being called censorship, the worst form of paternalism, etc.. Practically leaping from the pages of a Joseph Campbell book, it was a hero's moment ready for the making.
And Amazon flubbed it.
Amazon was a flinty Dirty Harry when it should have been an introspective Luke Skywalker. Amazon's curt "ham-fisted cataloging error" explanation for how it miscategorized thousands of gay- and lesbian-themed books may explain why opinions about the company's intentions are raw. Silence feeds suspicion. The pervasive disappointment and anger at a company that people generally respect, even love, is surprising, but that'll happen if what's considered paternalism isn't neutralized with pathos. Really, could it have been so emasculating for an Amazon spokesperson to have said, "Wow, we really screwed up. This may be too much detail for some of you, but here's exactly what happened..."
Amazon's bad buzz is the penalty of unfulfilled expectations. Amazon became the category leader in online retailing because it has created so many new expecations for online experiences, and it almost always meets or exceeds them; its Net Promoter Score ranking is 36 points above the median in its category. Category leaders are cultural leaders in business, sports, non-profits and government. Strategies, behaviors and some lives are modeled on category leaders. It's a perk and a responsibility. It's heady and scary. The cost of reticence is goodwill.
Fifteen years ago, a problem like this might have lingered in a company for months, but the tools we shape are now shaping us. We're increasingly becoming an instant-feedback society, and that's changing expectations for nearly everything that everyone does.
For Amazon and anyone who finds themselves suddenly under fire with a problem, the audience knows continuous perfection is a lie. No need to lie to yourself. That's part of the hero's journey.
(Image: National Coalition Against Censorship)
April 07, 2009
Fun is contagious
Many movie theaters say they're in the exhibition business, which is one reason why many movie theaters are not entertaining.
But the Alamo Draft House movie theater in Austin, Texas continues to inspire with its innovations of fun, which it calls signature events.
Two examples within one week:
1. Renegade karaoke.
The Alamo rented a bus to drive around Austin filled with customers who, with the assistance of a mobile sound system, sang karaoke amidst surprised onlookers at Starbucks, a police station, a fitness class, and a busy intersection. The theater brought along a video camera to record the fun and compile a 4-minute highlight reel which will, naturally, be shown as entertainment before movie showings. One of the most fun parts of the video: a Starbucks employee who tells the singers with all seriousness, "The police are on the way."
2. A secret world premiere of the new Star Trek film.
It was billed as a big-screen showing of the 1982 Star Trek classic, "The Wrath of Khan," with an opportunity to see 10 minutes of the new "Star Trek" film. But 10 minutes into the showing of Khan, that film mysteriously "broke." Out walks Leonard "Mr. Spock" Nimoy. He suggests the theater show the entirety of the new Star Trek film. It was all a ruse to host an unexpected world premiere among hard-core fanatics of the franchise. How fun is that?
Fun is contagious.
Fun spreads.
Fun inspires loyalty.
Fun opens wallets.
April 06, 2009
On being a chief evangelist
Betsy Weber has been chief evangelist of software company TechSmith for six years. Her role is to listen to customers, determine their needs, sift that data and put it into context for TechSmith's software developers.
At the same time, she's also building a passionate fan base for TechSmith by meeting customers and being the warm, caring person she is naturally.
We asked her to put her six years of work into numbers:
- Met 7,000 customers in person
- Attended nearly 200 conferences (30 per year)
- Picked up 3,000 followers on Twitter
- Maintains regular, personalized contact with about 1,000 people
Has it paid off? TechSmith has done well in that time: double-digit revenue growth every year, totaling 259%. It's one thing for your company to say, in blog posts and email newsletters, that it loves customers. It's another thing to go out and do the hard work of brand grassroots-building and demonstrate it face-to-face.
(If you're interested, Betsy will explain how to be a company chief evangelist officer in a SWOM webinar this Wednesday.)
