How many times have we thought of consulting someone when making an 'involved' purchase? "Involved" does not necessarily mean expensive; "Involved" is where the customer is taking an active, conscious and deliberately thought-out decision when making a purchase; Certainly, most often when the item in question is expensive - but also, equally, when the item is of great interest and criticality to him/her.
From computers and hi-tech equipment to the latest restaurant in town to a new branded food item or skin cosmetic that has come into the market to a decision on a financial investment instrument or the service at the salon round the corner - yes, word-of-mouth plays a crucial role.
There is a vast difference in credibility between a brand claiming something in its advertisements versus its customers spontaneously endorsing the same benefits.
How many marketers allocate a share of their marketing budgets to 'word-of-mouth' development? Worth thinking about. Its one thing to satisfy your customers - its another to get them to actually voice their satisfaction to others! Social Media Marketing, here we come.....
Today's marketing is not just about the product - but about the service offering you build around it. And this goes not just for physical 'products' but even for services that are being marketed. What is the coating you can build around the core product or service offering?
A bank sells a Used Car Loan - can they also pack in the transfer of ownership paperwork and formalities at the RTO? So the customer walks in for a loan - and walks out with his car, all paperwork done, without having to move a finger. Except for the signatures that is!
An airline gets a booking for a senior citizen travelling long haul. Can they proactively offer wheelchair service at transit and allot a seat with more leg room?
A food products manufacturer offers a range of mouth-watering recipes where their ingredients can be used. Two birds with one stone!
Who is willing to travel the extra mile to elicit the customer 'Wow"? No prizes for guessing where customer loyalty will lie.
Think of yourself as a customer. How easy it is to do business with an organisation that you have dealt with before. I have bought my tickets through a travel agent. It is so much easier to get my travel insurance done through the same agent.. I am a long standing customer of a private bank. Any guesses whom I would like to deal with when I need a loan? I go to a department store for my weekly grocery shopping. How simple it would be if I could also buy my vegetables and my medicines there! What's more, most often the customer doesn't even KNOW what else is offered by the organisations in question.
Why then is cross-sell not pursued by many marketers as a primary marketing initiative? Typical responses we hear - "My customer base is too small right now for cross-sell efforts to yield any results" OR "Our focus currently is on customer acquisition".
Start small, start now. Tie in your customer with multiple offerings before he/she has the chance to look elsewhere. And start building a loyal customer base for the long haul.
All too often loyalty initiatives are measured and evaluated in terms of the financial outflow - inflow equation. If I have spent Rs X on rewards and points, have I got back X+ 20% in terms of a lift in sales?
However, loyalty is not always about the transaction and the return. It is also about creating a disposition. A very crucial ingredient of a loyalty initiative cannot be measured in tangible terms - the softer aspect of relationship building with the customer and his family. I wish my customer on his birthday and anniversary, I invite him and his family for a Diwali gathering, I organise a cricket match for my key customers, I take them on a holiday with their wives and children, I send him flowers to congratulate him on an important milestone in his life.....
All these initiatives require outflows - from big to small. Can they be tracked and evaluated in terms of an immediate return on investment? No. Do they help create a positive disposition that will influence behaviour tangibly over time? You bet they do!
Sometimes you need to give before you receive. Invest in the relationship and it will pay in the long term. The trick is to be consistent and patient. Relationship measures work better than anything else in terms of building a strong bond with the brand. And what's more, they cant be replicated by others in a hurry. Truly the best way to build fences around your key customers for the long haul.
A recent incident at a Sports store - teenager looking for knapsacks. Finds two equally priced. One is clearly better than the other in terms of functionality. Yet, he chooses the second. Why? The first is a branded Arsenal FC bag which, he says, " I wont be caught dead with". The second, less useful perhaps - but a branded Manchester United one - the Club of which he happens to be an undying fan!
Sport arouses passionate likes and dislikes. What about brands? Do they inspire feelings as strong?
Brand marketers spend time and effort to measure Brand Loyalty. What percentage of my customers are loyal? How many will recommend my brand to others? How many will CHAMPION my brand as THEIR OWN?
How about also measuring brand DISLOYALTY? Or brand AVERSION or brand REPULSION?
What proportion of your target segment is secretly (or openly!) saying ' I wouldn't be caught DEAD with that brand!' And is this proportion increasing or decreasing over time?
The premium your brand commands in the marketplace is a function of both the loyal base - and the actively disloyal base. Worth thinking about........
Something for Mamata Banerjee to be proud about soon after taking over!!
Indian Railways demonstrated true customer-centricity yesterday when officials travelled miles through the night to greet Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani passengers next morning at Vadodara station with boxes of chocolates to apologise for not supplying them with snacks the previous evening. What's even better is that the failure to supply snacks was not due to inefficiency ( as we normally assume with the railways), but because of a genuine logistics problem. Still, they took the pains to apologise - and demonstrate that they were sorry.
Also, not to miss - the box of chocolates went with a little note to each passenger - 'We apologise for the inconvenience yesterday'. Timely, topical, truthful - and, above all, touching. Direct marketing at its best!
Plenty of lessons for us:
Do it in time - not after the customer has forgotten
Do it in style - go the whole hog when you are apologising for an error - no half measures
Make sure the logistics work - cartons of chocolate boxes were pre-packed according to number of passengers in each coach and easily loaded onto the train during the few minutes stop at the station
Make sure the rest of your customers get to know - it reassures them too!
Its time others took lessons and started demonstrating their care for their customers in more tangible fashion....
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