Right hand not talking to the left hand…
Pestered by darling daughter into getting her phone upgraded: you know, it’s a fashion thing although you’d be hard pressed to get the little tinker to admit that … ‘No, Dad – it’s got nothing to do with the look of the phone I’ve spotted, it’s just the one I’ve got doesn’t work properly and I think you can get me onto a tariff with unlimited texts for the same money’ said Pinnochio. Anyway I digress …
Step 1: had to find out whether her phone contract was eligible for upgrading the phone: “the computer, it says NO”. But sprog had received a text message saying she was. Ah, the old left hand and right hand syndrome.
So I give the customer services lot a call and they say: ‘cos you’re such a great customer, we’d be happy to upgrade the phone and change the tariff’ … OK, so obviously talking to the left hand which is turning out to be nice and friendly. Then confirm that I will also get the 4Gb memory card that they’re advertising on their site as part of the phone package: they say ‘Yes’ … happy days.
Phone arrives next day = deep joy. But no 4Gb card … an oversight, but foregiveable given previous interaction. So back onto the phone … let’s face it, little worse than Dad failing to deliver a simple thing like a phone package advertised on a site where there’s a daughter involved: especially the gobby one I’ve got.
So call up customer services …. Aaaaaaaaarrggggggghhhh or words to that effect. The right hand is back in play. Summary of conversation:
“No sir, you’re not eligible for the memory card – that’s an internet offer only” says right hand.
“But I was allowed to get it on site, I had to get it through the customer services dept” says me.
“Nothing I can do sir, it’s an internet only deal” says right hand.
Put down phone as blood and bile start to rise. Jump around the office howling at the moon. Calm down. Back onto their site … looking for customer services complaints. Send off e-mail informing asking them quite politely: “Are you mad? My darling daughter has spent about £1K in call costs over last 2 years ( I started crying with this sudden realisation) and you lot are quibbling over something that retails for £10 so presumably costing you no more than £2-£3 … and I am signing up for another 18 months”.
Not sure whether I am sending this to the left of the right hand, but off it goes. In the meantime, go and buy a memory card from T-mobile site … thinking, well I need the card and I am not waiting to see what happens – they can always rebate the cost if the left hand has got anything to do with it.
Hooray, it’s left hand sending an e-mail …”terribly sorry, you’re wonderful (OK, a bit of poetic license there), memory card in the post”. Now I have 2 memory cards with the one I bought being credited so I seem to have got a free card … so all’s well that ends well.
The lessons:
Some brands seem to think that customers only use one channel, never two … or can’t be bothered with those of us who do. Don’t make it difficult for us ‘cos you’ll lose … get some buzz metrics in place and you’ll see lots of people like me ranting, reviewing and scoring … and guess what: others are more likely to listen to me than you, Mr Brand Manager.
A single customer view would probably have helped bring left and right hand together and avoided the above. But if that’s too expensive, then for the love of God, please recognise your big spenders and get a specialist retention team in place so we can get a nice big warm feeling … after all if you’re a customer it’s all about me, me, me.
Chris
Life’s a gas…
Most of you with recognise this tale. Get first winter utility bill and say “How much? The thieving little … (sound of bleeps)”. So immediately onto the price comparison sites.
Actually find out that I would save most with British Gas … slightly unusual as I am BG dual fuel customer!!! Apparently I am on the wrong tariff – an being an energy expert like the rest of the customer base, I should know that !
So, onto customer services … “Yes, you would save money if you were on that tariff” says call centre lady. “Just go onto our website and you should be able to transfer”.
It’s amazing how for a split second you feel like you should be apologising for wasting their time because all of this should have been bleeding obvious. And then a voice starts screaming in my head …
What?!! Hold on a minute. I have had to find out from a 3rd party that you’re effectively ripping me off and I haven’t heard the merest hint of an apology, no trace of recognition.
C’mon people, if this information is in the public domain … then how long do you think it’s gonna take for your customers to find out! And guess what …
“ Taxi”. I’m off to someone else … even if it cost me a little more.
Lessons:
If you’re not going to be proactive, then at least scenario plan so that a somewhat stroppy customer can be mollified better … perhaps even change tariff for them (God that’s almost helpful, so probably not) to make up for some of the time spent by customer finding out they’ve not been advised well.
Obviously better to pre-empt the potential problem. So what about the following … let’s assume you haven’t got the money or IT resource to create lapser propensity models; you’ll know there are key times for customers to be looking at outgoings … and New Year is one of them (especially with the price comparison sites advertising like there’s no tomorrow during January).
So what about BG approaching me in November offering to do a tariff review … so “go on-line and let’s see if we can ensure you’re on the right tariff” – even if it’s done on a test size to prove/disprove business case. So they’re proactive, customer-centric, and pre-empt the inevitable but with more control rather reacting to an ill-tempered customer.
In other words, look at other sectors like the mobile phone sector and proactively tailor products to suit customers.
Create conversations, not just messages
Have a look at your communications model, especially as you’re probably in the planning stages for 2009. Chances are that you’ll have a series of campaigns planned and a product launch or two.
Great, but where’s the glue that links all these campaigns, that engages both your prospects and customers on an on-going basis … and if you say that’s what our brand TV ads do, then hang your head in shame.
Take a couple of moments to look at nike+, mystarbucksidea, babycenter; all are important brand building activities … or what we call brand engagement activities.
And it’s not just big brands … look at Blendtech. And none of them are really selling the product … they are kick-starting conversation rather than pushing messages.
Now ask yourself … what’s the equivalent for the brand you work on? Deafening silence? Shuffling of papers?
Or do you think it’s a fluffy nice-to-have in your marketing mix?
Engaging customers whether it be in the form of information, entertainment or asking for their ideas is not peripheral any more. Ask J&J how important Babycenter is to them as part of their digital strategy … or ask Starbucks where the idea for wireless internet access in their cafes came from.
For the uninitiated, there are three key elements to define:
1. What territory you want your brand to occupy/own?
2. Does this correlate with what your customers/prospects are interested in?
3. Do you have permission to play in this territory?
The execution needs to be sticky… in other words, you need to create something which has some repeat use/longevity – one-off engagement isn’t enough or certainly not enough to create and influence meaningful conversations amongst your customers and prospects … and that is where your brand needs to operate in the future, so start now.
Chris Dickens, Head of Strategy
Retail Planning - it’s like death and taxes….
There are certain things you know are going to happen such as Easter, Christmas, your mum’s birthday … and there’s no excuse for not being prepared.
So why does a sudden downturn in business (be it insurance, cars, nappies) seem to catch so many marketers out? You know it’s going to happen but there always seems to be a mass panic, much hair-pulling and the inevitable ‘God, what are we going to do?’ meetings.
Instead of a lot of navel gazing and looking at what’s happening in your own industry sector, just look a little further afield at the retail sector – they have known the answer for quite a while.
There are 8 key pillars … I’ll talk about a couple of them here (buy me a drink and you have the other six!) – they are ‘scenario planning’ and ‘new news’.
Scenario planning
Scenario planning first – very straightforward. It is the ‘what if’ part of planning. So what if our quotes are below target, what if footfall is down, what if brochure requests are not up to scratch. Answer: prepare now … create propositions, short term offers, templates that can be activated at the drop of a hat. So you have the finished article ready for action.
You’ll need to choose your channels of deployment: press, e-mails, key word search snippets and banners … but do your communications now. But that means spending more money now with agencies … yup: but it’s a worthwhile investment. If you believe that downturns will happen, then you have to ask yourself what you would rather do … sit there watching bad figures, panic and not be able to do anything about it or at least have the option of reacting there and then; and not in a knee-jerk reaction, but from a position of pre-planned thought.
‘New’ news
Then there is “new news”. In a world of increased number of messages, multiple channels, increased competition, less consumer time … increasing your turnover of new messages and offers becomes critical to gain cut-through and traction with the consumer. Retailers will normally have a lay-down of events (not just a media lay-down!) to form their promotional calendar. The beauty of this construct is that you build momentum throughout the year, so that the consumers know that there is always something new, something going on with your brand … and as a consequence they think they should at least check you out.
So next year doesn’t fall into the death and taxes trap … try the marketer’s version of retail therapy and avoid the pain.
Chris Dickens, Head of Strategy
for Precision Marketing
Why do match rates matter in B2B marketing?
Suppliers have been aggregating consumer lists such as lifestyle surveys and the Electoral Roll for years, but there is no equivalent in B2B. A utility or phone company wanting to increase its penetration among businesses will need a big database that doesn’t exist.
A single, generic solution is not the answer. Client companies should co-operate to pool data with non-competing partners. This is the way forward but you need to choose your partners carefully - it can be a client-led, rather than broker-led, initiative, with the help of their agencies.