A Ballad of Bad Service

There is no shortage of stories that chronicle a truly bad customer experience, but not many reach almost mythical status. The application of social media makes this possibility stronger than ever. Case in point: “United Breaks Guitars.”

To make a long story short, a band was traveling on United Airlines when one of the members noticed baggage handlers throwing their musical instruments as they unloaded the aircraft. After trying to get immediate help followed by nine months of trying to get some satisfaction from airline customer service representatives, the band pledged to write a protest song and put the video on YouTube. They did just that and within five days, “United Breaks Guitars” became a smash viral video. Over one million people downloaded the video in its first five days.

It’s another cautionary tale. Disgruntled consumers now have powerful recourse. In this case, the airline had nine months to address a seemingly reasonable request, and couldn’t come up with an answer. In the end, the band was offered compensation, but chose to have it donated instead. Had United demonstrated even an inkling of the band’s public relations know how, they could have avoided the incident altogether.

Perhaps it’s time to apply the, ‘United Guitar,” test to all interactions with consumers who are seeking help with a customer service or quality issue. Ask yourself a very simple question: Could my action or inaction end up making my organization a poster boy for all that’s bad in the world of large companies who allow policies and procedures dictate the customer experience. If the answer is yes, it should set of an immediate alarm.

Better yet, use the example of the band and how they used social media to become consumer advocates. Getting involved in the conversation rather than fighting it seems to be an easier way to strike the correct chord.

If you can’t compete on price, compete on customer service instead

In January of this year, Reuters reports on the decline of consumer brand loyalty. The study conducted by Catlina Marketing Corp.’s Pointer Media Networks’ was only a portion of how consumers where changing their shopping behavior.

Today, consumers are more conscious on price and promotions. Krogers and Wal-mart are just two of the trending grocers that are seizing the opportunity to expand their private labels. Private labels attract the wallet-strapped consumer away from choosing the leading brand. The competition is rising and consumers are taking second thoughts on traditional buying habits. The only place left for brands to sustain and regain customers is through service.

Brands need to aware of how the retail storefront represents their image. Quality and service is first felt through sales associates and then the product display. Customer’s may question and analyze their purchasing decisions. Friendly and warm customer service associates have the ability to sooth customer concerns. Messy and ill-stocked shelves or racks bruise the brand’s image. Overall poor service can ruin the SATISFACTION customers receive from choosing your brand.

Customer’s want reassurance their purchases are backed by brand quality and honesty. Living up to your promotional promises, quality guarantees, and first-rate follow up service is essential.

Customers won’t return to a brand that is not receptive to their needs. Receptive attitude starts with listening. Listening to the customer voice, employee satisfaction, and market trends. Impeccable service begins with a questionnaire, a storefront quality audit, and continues until service is measured with positive results.

In today’s market, what is your brand waiting for? Measuring your success with customer experience takes initiative and commitment. A commitment to the brand’s integrity and quality.

How do you define your brand?

If you described the effectiveness of your brand in three words, would “great” be one of them? Now, if your consumers did the same thing, would they include “great”? Every brand should be striving to be defined as great.

What does it mean to be a great brand?
Great brands consistently deliver and foster deep relationships with their consumers. They conduct business with quality across the board. Great brands know why customer’s are loyal and how to leverage customer satisfaction to attract new customers. Great brands are managed by members who take pride and believe in the product. Great brands are consistently looking for areas to improve and stay in step with consumer trends.

Is your brand great?
In order for you brand to be great, you don’t have to have the largest market share, biggest advertising campaign, or most elite product. You just need consumers to have a strong brand experience. It’s creating a deep connection with the consumer through service, promotions, and product development. Measuring the success of the brand with consumers and always looking for ways to improve.

Great brands are successful with having great presentation, creative promotions, and top notch customer experience. It’s working full circle to consistently bring amazing products and services to your customer.

Note: The “Brand Experience” category has been added to this years Effie Awards. Read more here.

Coffee Wars Continue

You are going to have to be a hermit this week in order to miss the large scale marketing campaigns by Starbucks and McDonald’s. The fast-food king will be taking on the coffee king to win consumer’s tastebuds.

Earlier this year, Starbucks introduced a cheaper instant version of their gourmet coffee to appeal to cost conscious consumers. The chain has also initiated several in store campaigns with Pikes Peak and emphasizing the “coffee house” feel of the interior. Starbucks has valiantly worked to maintain the top level position as coffee king while consumer shopping habits and attitudes have jumped all over. This week’s campaign is geared to remind consumers that Starbucks brand is the premier choice.

McDonald’s has slowly rolled out the McCafe starting this earlier this year. This week starts the major marketing campaign that has even AdAge impressed. McDonald’s is using demographic and shopper behavior science behind their campaigns. Some of the ads where developed with Hispanic and African-American preferences as the focus. Overall, the campaign will be using radio, TV, print, and internet to saturate the market just before summer kicks off and icy drinks are popular. McDonald’s understands it will have to prove the quality of their coffee to win over leery customers.

What’s the customer say?
The marketing campaigns may get consumer’s attention, but the deciding factor will be the customer’s experience. Both McDonald’s and Starbucks will need ensure customer satisfaction is extended beyond the flavor of their coffee.

McDonald’s will need to focus customer experience on the entire ordering process. As the fast food king, there is plenty of room for errors to occur when a minivan full of soccer kids order and the mom decides to try a McCafe coffee. One mishap, can ruin the entire customer experience and negate the efforts of their marketing campaign.

Starbucks will need to look beyond being the established coffee specialty house. In-store promotions to highlight other menu items such as pastries or teas could help extend the brand beyond the coffee. Starbucks strong point will be consumers searching for the “coffee house” experience not just caffeine. This is one niche Starbucks should make the effort to ensure experiences exceed expectations.

There’s no better time to rev up employees to provide the best service, ensure quality control, and maintain a positive attitude then during a mass marketing campaign. What the customer’s experience will be the deciding factor.

Measuring brand success through promotions

Consumers are more likely to buy what they can touch, feel, and try. This is why over the past several decades event marketing has grown. It is common practice to outsource your promotion to an event marketing company. How do you pick the right one?

Here are some of key items to look for in an event marketing company:

1. What controls are in place to ensure that the product remains 100% safe and free from any potential risks?

2. Does the event marketing company have experience executing the specific type of event you desire to run?

3. Does management take a hands-on approach to events and will they be in the field each day the program is running?

4. Is the company familiar with social media and blogs? Do they have a strategy to monitor positive or negative comments on a high-traffic blog or social networking site?

The critical issue in all of this is to know how to monitor and verify a program. This is where the issue moves to another level. Monitoring and verifying performance is prudent. In the long run, knowing where your success and area of improvements are will dramatically increase the program’s return on investment.

Investing in event marketing can have a positive return on investment as long as it is successful. This is why having measurement tools in place to ensure that both performances occur at the desired level and the entire program remains safe is important.

You can read ICC/Decision Services’ white paper on Event Marketing here.

Brand Wars: Name brands versus private label.

In today’s economy, the retail industry is seeing consumers engage in two shopping trends. Consumer coupon use is increasing and there is a push to buy store label and generic brands.

It’s a battle of who can provide the best customer experience with the lowest price. Name brands can use coupon and in-store promotions to reach consumers. Simultaneously, store and generic brands can offer competitive lower prices to attract consumers away from name brands.

In a downturn economy, shoppers are less likely to splurge on trying the newest line of products. Name brands will continue to stick with their established brands, who can compete against generics. Name brands have a potential to tap into consumer brand loyalty through coupon saving programs and advertising. Brands need to have a customer experience program in place to measure their campaign effectiveness. Keeping consumers highly satisfied will the be key to pull consumer’s attention away from the competitor.

Across the board, store brands and private labels have an advantage with their lower prices. A consumer may be willing to try the off-brand if the savings are significant. Store and generic brands may get consumers to try to products, but they won’t keep the consumer unless the experience was significantly better than the name brand product. This is the time for store brands to increase consumer research to know how to improve their products.

The visible shopping behaviors benefit competing labels: Name brand vs. store brand. The final test will be with the customer experience.

Netflix: Growing The Brand

It’s no surprise to see Netflix having a positive experience during the holiday season. Since the beginning, Netflix brand continues to be one of the frontrunners of on demand entertainment service through expanding the brand in several directions. One can easily assess that Netflix is in tune with their customer experience. Read more…

FreshDirect: Expanding the Brand

Online grocer FreshDirect is expanding their brand in a new direction. They are offering their services to companies at lunch time.

As reported in the NY Times, FreshDirect started a community outreach program “Smart Eating at the Office” intended to spread healthy eating through the cubicles. Over the past decade, fast food chains and restaurants have reaped the rewards of employee lunch hours, but FreshDirect is about to change that.
Read more…

More Consumers Opting to Buy Groceries from Deep Discounters

More Americans are buying food at Wal-Mart and other deep-discount store such as Aldi. How are mid-sized chains such as SupreValu and Delhaize Group reacting? They are promoting more private label brands, reducing costs on staple items such as milk and eggs, and offering gas cards. These are all great ways to promote customer loyalty. Is it enough though?

For More Information Click Here.

Wal-Mart’s Suppliers Go Green

Retail giant Wal-mart is telling suppliers that they want to be able to tell its customers the stories behind their green products.  Rand Waddoups, Wal-Mart’s sustainability director, said the company wants to emphasize four points in its sustainability marketing. Wal-Mart wants to promote waste reduction & recycling, energy, natural resources, and social or community impact.

For More Information Click Here.