Category Archives: Customer satisfaction

Everyone has a story

Posted on February 6, 2023 by davetuchler
Everyone has a story

We at The Armchair MBA are very aware that the person you may see simply as a revenue-generating customer is actually a human being with a unique history, identity, and set of hopes and challenges. Just like you.

This past Saturday we were humbled by the courage and determination of a customer. We only learned her backstory after completing a consultation and sale (about 1 hour).

As described on her website: “Andrea Lytle Peet was diagnosed with ALS in 2014 at the age of 33. In eight months, she went from completing a 70.3-mile half Ironman triathlon to walking with a cane.

Remarkably, she has continued to participate in races on her recumbent trike. In May 2022, She became the first person with ALS to do a marathon in all 50 states!“

ALS diagoses typically are accompanied by a 2-5 year life expectancy. Andrea has passed year 8, is not passively accepting her situation but is attacking it full throttle, and has raised over $1 million for ALS research.

A documentary about her story ‘Go On, Be Brave‘, will debut at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival next week (and will be shown at the Durham Theater in NC in June).

Check out the trailer: https://vimeo.com/727898354

Always remember that the person on the other end of the transaction has a story – – just like you.

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What 3 years in the wheelchair business can teach you about your customers

Posted on August 1, 2022 by davetuchler
What 3 years in the wheelchair business can teach you about your customers

Today we mark our 3rd anniversary since we took a career left turn from corporate marketing and opened a business serving the disabled – our name is Step Ahead Mobility.  We’ve served over 1300 customers since we opened in 2019.

In that time we’ve learned a ton about the industry, but also about customers – and a lot of it applies to any industry.

We’re not really about just wheelchairs. 

Our mission is to help people improve their independence – whether it’s a power wheelchair to get around the house, a lift recliner to for those who can’t otherwise get out of a chair, to a hospital bed for hospice care, to a cool shouldn’t-be-this-fast mobility scooter for people who just aren’t able to walk very far on their own. 

Refused to give a thumbs-up

Our customers are disproportionately older, but we’ve also had pediatric customers undergoing brain cancer treatment, weekend warriors who have blown out their Achilles doing Crossfit, former HS quarterbacks who had a disabling stroke in their 40s, and otherwise very healthy young customers recovering from cosmetic or reconstructive surgery.  We serve a lot of veterans (including WW2), a fair number of amputees, and people suffering from degenerative conditions such as MS, MD, Parkinson’s, etc.

Sounds depressing, right?  Couldn’t be further from the truth.  While we got into this business for strategic market reasons (demographic trends, recession- and Amazon-resistant), the biggest plus by far has been having the ability to directly impact the lives of others.

And while we help others, it’s more than made up for by what we’ve learned from them.

Here are a few observations:

  • Listen to the customer!  We have a strict rule to never recommend anything before hearing from the customer what their needs are.  Sometimes they come in convinced they need A, but they really need B.  Our job is to get them what they need, not necessarily what we want to sell. 
  • Our success depends on trust.  Our customers are often faced with an unexpected challenge, when they’ve been perfectly healthy all their lives.  Sometimes the customer is the adult child of an older parent, sometimes it is the parent of a grown adult child.  They need solutions quickly in an area they are unfamiliar and uncomfortable with.  Like a good car mechanic, they need to have complete faith that you are working on their behalf, with integrity.
  • We try to see our customers at their best – – not just how they appear today.  While they may not be as able to communicate as they used to, the majority of our customers are smart and thoughtful, and want to be treated that way. The stooped 85-year old man was a hero in military service; the frail woman was a striking ballerina.  The woman who can’t speak clearly was a popular philosophy professor.  The little quiet guy with the walker was a CEO.  This is part of their self-image; and this is how we try to see them.  Treating our customers with dignity is absolutely essential – -always. 
102 year old dancer – – then and now
https://seeitlive.co/102-year-old-sees-herself-dancing/
D-Day heroes – then and now
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-39922912
  • Play the long game.  We sometimes have hour-long consultations with walk-in customers about the best solution to a challenge they’re facing, only to have them walk out without buying anything.  But we feel that by providing good information and building trust, they may return later – -and this has proven to be true many times.
  • You don’t know the customer’s story – so don’t judge.  Yes, they may be in a wheelchair or have a walker or be severely overweight or be cranky or impatient – – but chances are they’re dealing with something you’re glad you don’t have to deal with.  So be patient.
  • Never underestimate the strength of everyday people.  We are amazed and humbled by the incredible quiet love and courage of loved ones and caregivers – – whether it’s a husband’s patience in taking care of a severely disabled wife, to a daughter uncomplainingly caring for both her kids and her parents, to a mom dedicating her life to an adult child who cannot communicate.  These people are true everyday heroes, and they are all around us.
  • Customers don’t want to be serious all the time.  Without question, every single person who contacts us would rather be doing something else, and many are dealing with something serious.  You get to be very good at consoling in this business. But they’ve got enough stress already – a little humor can provide a welcome break. In our case, our slightly creepy mannequin carries our ‘think positive’ slogan, as well as an ever-changing quote to hopefully bring a grin – which it usually does. We want our customer experiences to be as positive as possible. Just be thoughtful as to what’s appropriate to each situation.
Think Positive!

—> One of our favorite customers, Mr. Moses, came in looking for a fancy walker. He was “98 years old; going to be 99 in 2 months”. WW2 vet. Armed with a pile of printouts about specific models and pricing. He asked about all the details and then said, “what’s the warranty”? He thought about that for a few seconds, then said “never mind”. <—

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I BEGGED to be cancelled, and failed. Where did I go wrong?

Posted on August 23, 2020 by davetuchler

Lots of people are getting cancelled these days. For most of them, it wasn’t something they wanted.

Cancel guy

I, on the other hand, wanted desperately to be cancelled, and my best efforts yielded exactly no results.  It left me somewhere in between ticked off and sad; call it pissappointed.  My story is below, in blue.

We are referring, of course, to subscription auto-renewals (aka ‘evergreen clause’ or ‘negative option clause’, or in the words of one congressman, ‘zombie contracts’).

Auto-renewal practices are a critical way of sustaining revenue, but if done too aggressively, there are potential huge costs in losing customer goodwill and provoking litigation.

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2017/02/27/didnt-see-that-renewal-notice-some-states-are-trying-to-help

auto-renew cycle

One survey found that 59% of consumers had been auto-renewed in one way or another without their informed consent, at an average cost of $186.  https://www.nclnet.org/ftc_autorenew

This is often related to free trials with a commitment buried in the fine print, but it’s not always the case, as I experienced.

section-free-trial-mobile

Auto-renew allows companies to lock in revenue, often without the consumer even noticing. And they rely heavily on this practice; you will have to pry a company’s cold, dead hands off your money (usually with a lawyer’s help) before you get anything back.

Turns out I’m not the only one who’s been disappointed.

As a result, a lot of states are working on legislation to control abuse of the auto-renew, led by California’s Auto-Renewal Law (ARL), which took effect July 1, 2018 and prohibits automatic renewal of subscription or service fees without first presenting consumers with certain terms, and obtaining their affirmative consent.

The questions here:

  • What is the moral obligation to inform customers before they are going to be charged?
  • Is the retention of some proportion of ticked-off customers worth the blowback when they tell their friends/colleagues about it?
  • What actions can you take as a marketer or as a consumer, to avoid the need for litigation?

My story:

  • April 2018 – signed up for one year of online survey company’s premium package to support consulting work.  Not aware of any auto-renew commitment.
  • April 2019 – found out my credit card was automatically charged for another year.  Still used the service so no big deal; still, irritating to get neither a heads-up nor a confirmation that a charge was made.
  • March 2020 – didn’t need service anymore.  Through my account portal, cancelled and switched off auto-renew a month before renewal (on advice of the company).
  • May 2020 – surprised to find that I’d been auto-billed again, despite cancelling.   No email notice.
    • Emailed company: ‘must have been a mistake; don’t need it anymore, please reverse charges, thank you’.
    • Company responds that a) their records show that auto-renew was reinstated on my account (which it definitely wasn’t!)  b) you are ineligible for an exception because it renewed over a month ago  c) we cannot give full or partial refund.  d) you should know this; it was in our T&C when you signed up (you noob).
    • Increasingly animated emails from me met with consistently anodyne ‘geez, we’re real sorry, you messed up, we can’t do anything about it’ responses.
    • Stopped payment on credit card; company now has cover and responds with: “Although our system showed that you re-instated your subscription, from your words, I know this was a mistake and clearly a human error.  Even if I could make an exception for you, because a dispute has been filed with the card issuer or bank, we can’t take any action on the account.”
    • Thankfully, the charge was ultimately reversed. 

But it was LOTS of effort, and let’s just say it won’t help their Net Promoter Score if I am asked for my opinion.

online-reviews

————————————————————————————

This is a big, popular, generally well-regarded company and they’re clearly taking all steps possible to maximize revenue retention.  How many other companies are using the same tactics?

Disable auto-renew

Well, in the last few years, over 100 companies have been sued for deceptive auto-renewals, including those shown below (spawning a cottage industry of how to disable auto-renew):

Screen Shot 2020-08-23 at 8.25.16 PM

Sirius XM

Noom

Angie’s List

Dropbox

Spotify

Hulu auto-renew

 

 

 

 

Hulu

SeaWorld

Birchbox

LifeLock

AAA

Blizzard Entertainment (World of Warcraft)

Gunthy-Renker (Proactiv skin products)

Apple-Music-Auto-Renewal1

Apple

eHarmony.com

Tinder

Blue Apron

Cancel-McAfee-Subscription

 

 

 

 

 

McAfee

Ancestry.com

New York Times

Consumer Reports

WalMart’s Beauty Box

It is no secret that a renewal is way more profitable than acquiring a new customer, and the fight for customers is fierce, so the focus on retention is understandable.

Retention-844x422

But at some point the negative impact of heavy-handed tactics, in terms of brand goodwill and image (not to mention litigation costs), could overwhelm the benefit.

My advice:

IF YOU’RE A MARKETER OF SUBSCRIPTION PRODUCTS OR SERVICES:

  • Become familiar with, and follow, California’s ARL; it looks to be the standard going forward
  • Offer in-between solutions that give the customer relief, but keeps them in the fold and positive.  (Example: when I tried to cancel my Audible subscription when my commute was drastically shortened, they offered a deal of $10/year to retain the books I already had, rather than losing everything.  That was a good solution for me.)

ec4fd5905c6732f9-800x386

IF YOU’RE A CONSUMER:

  • Read the fine print on everything you sign up for, and keep careful records
  • If you want to downgrade your level, challenge the company to provide a better option.  Frequently they’ll do anything possible to keep you.
  • Certain apps like TRIM https://www.asktrim.com/ automatically detect recurring charges on your credit cards; they can help identify needless renewals and help with cancellations

Loyal customers

IF YOU’VE READ THIS FAR:

  • Thanks for your patience and loyalty. You have automatically been renewed to follow The Armchair MBA for another 5 years.  You have no opt-out before that time.

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Why Online Reviews Haven’t Totally Replaced Word of Mouth (yet)

Posted on January 31, 2019 by davetuchler

First recorded word of mouth reco:

Caveman Danook: “Good rock”

Caveman Gok: “Need rock like Danook rock”

danook-larson

Direct, personal, effective.  The best type of recommendation.

Fast forward a few millennia – – millions of shopping decisions are routinely made based on star ratings or online reviews – from total strangers.

In other words, online reviews are often less credible sources than Caveman Gok had.

amazon5-star

While technology has provided lots of review resources (e.g. Yelp, Glassdoor, Amazon Stars), it has not yet figured out how to protect the integrity of these reviews – – thus making them not totally dependable.

And consumers are increasingly realizing this.

At the end of the day, a personal reco from someone you know may still be your best bet.

Consider these news stories from just the last few weeks:

Joanna Stern – WSJ
Is it Really Five Stars – How to Spot Fake Amazon 5-Star Reviews

“I visited a Facebook group called “Amazon Reviews” and was promised a full refund on a $44 Amazon purchase of a pet fountain if I did the following on the mega-retailer’s site:
1. Write a positive review. 2. Post my photos of the product. 3. Rate it five stars.
Not only is this ethically problematic, it is also against Amazon and Facebook user policies.”

There are 4 types of reviews mentioned in the article:
1. Legit reviews – you bought it, you review it, good or bad.
2. Vine reviews – incentivized reviews for prolific reviewers. Objectivity not guaranteed.
3. Incentivized reviews (like the pet fountain above). Objectivity clearly suspect.
4. Fake reviews – often from Asian click farms. Totally bogus – often products reviewed are not even remotely what is listed.
Not exactly encouraging.

——————-

Rolfe Winkler and Andrea Fuller – WSJ
How Companies Secretly Boost Their Glassdoor Ratings

To allegedly combat the bias for negative reviews on sites like Glassdoor, some companies are apparently gently encouraging (and in some cases providing incentives) for employees to leave positive reviews.

“Last summer, employees of Guaranteed Rate Inc. posted a stream of negative reviews about the mortgage broker on Glassdoor, a company-ratings website.
– “An American sweatshop,” read a one-star review in June. “Worst company I ever worked for,” read another in July. The company’s rating on Glassdoor, which is determined by employee feedback, fell to 2.6 stars out of 5.
– Concerned that negative reviews could hurt recruiting, Guaranteed Rate CEO Victor Ciardelli instructed his team to enlist employees likely to post positive reviews, said a person familiar with his instructions. In September and October these employees flooded Glassdoor with hundreds of five-star ratings. The company rating now sits at 4.1.”

———-

One study estimates that while 88% of consumers put their trust in online reviews, at least 20% of them are in reality fake (the reviews, not the consumers).

———-

As time goes on, consumers will judge online reviews with an increasing dose of skepticism, until AI figures out a way to effectively and convincingly screen out reviews that are just not legit.  It’s complicated (see example from the Boston Globe).

reviews-big

So what can a marketer do to encourage the most credible endorsements of their products —  enthusiastic, personal word of mouth recommendations?

chewy

Here are 3 examples, 2 of which involve reaching out and delighting the customer such that they take some sort of action that could influence others:

  • Chewy.com. Over the Holidays we received a mystery package that it turns out was sent by Chewy.com, and included an ink-on-canvas portrait of our dog, and a very enthusiastic hand-written card that said “Surprise!  We hope you and your furbaby enjoy the portrait.  Remember we’re open 24/7.  Call us anytime, we’d love to hear from you!”  So cool.
    –  Yes, this cost $, but they got it back in multiples from the number of people we told about it or who saw our social media posts.  (Not to mention the fact that we’re just a little more likely to continue buying from them ourselves.)yeti
  • YETI.  To become an object of their affection, we merely had to go to the trouble of registering online for a gift we received – – a thermo mug, not one of their over-the-top coolers.
    Shortly thereafter we received a thank you card with several YETI stickers, some of which of course will end up in a visible place, thereby providing a passive reinforcement of the brand to others.
  • Nextdoor.  A bit different from the ‘delight’ category is the true word-of-mouth category, represented by the neighborhood network Nextdoor, which is an avenue for sponsored ads in addition to personal recommendations.  The credibility factor is high.nextdoor
    There are lots of other ways to engender a personal relationship and loyalty well beyond what stars on a review can do.
  • Customer Support that has a personal touch and continuity – so the customer feels a connection with the help desk person (chat, email or phone)
  • Personalized customer outreach (email or snail mail) not asking for anything, just staying in touch and inviting the recipient to provide any feedback they may have.
  • (Making great products and backing them up doesn’t hurt, either).

Random acts of kindness may be seen as an incremental cost, but the personal connection can not only encourage current customers to be loyal, it can encourage them to tell others about their great experience.  And that’s the name of the game.

Just keep in mind: WWDD?

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CRM for the Holidays… don’t try this at home!

Posted on December 10, 2018 by davetuchler

In the spastic miasma of acrimony that is apparently the new normal, one looks back fondly to Holidays past, the one time during the year where it would be possible to unplug, have a holiday movie on the TV in the background, and read cards with personal greetings from friends, with updates on what happened over the last year.

bigstock-Reading-A-Card-6013986sm

Holiday Card

More ambitious senders might include a copy of a family portrait, often taken at a tool and underwear retailer called Sears.  If particularly well-organized, they would manage to get the cards to arrive by Christmas, maybe even a week early.

Sears Holiday

It was exciting to find these hand-addressed, slightly plump cards in the mail, and display them together as a visual totem of amity.  Yes, those were the good old ancient pre-Netflix days.

Addressed CardCards displayed

As holiday activity and accompanying stress levels continued to increase, some people turned to electronic greetings or stopped altogether, but cards remained for many an annual tradition they just couldn’t bear to discontinue.
Over time, the holiday card seemingly lost its soul, with a personal message replaced by an enclosed dossier of achievements of truly exceptional people (“Timmy was accepted into the ultra-selective XYZ Day Camp…”).
Cards became less reaching out to you, more about ‘let’s talk about me’.

Obnoxious letter

Finalist in Most Obnoxious Holiday Letter Competition

Ultimately, obligation overwhelmed the pleasure of friendships as the driving force behind the sending of holiday cards.

Pretentious Card 1

Today, if you can actually find any holiday cards hidden within an endless swamp of catalogs, what you’ll see has become quite different.  These cards, often custom-made for the occasion, are on high quality stock, with stunning retouched photography of a perfect family and a printed identifying caption, maybe addressed with printed labels or even faux calligraphy.  They are beautiful.  And they are coming in hot, ahead of schedule.

Business Holiday Card

Accountants.  Not grammarians.

(Businesses, on the other hand, have kept the same printed card M.O. for decades – often using the exact same printed cards).

There is a name for this perfection:  it’s called Customer Relationship Management.  CRM is an automated way for businesses to keep in touch with their customers, in the interest of maintaining relationships.  CRM uses something called Mass Customization – – the automatic inclusion of your name in a mass mailing – – you get these all the time and are no doubt moved near tears by the thoughtfulness of Credit Card Company X to think of you and include your very own name!

People are now basically adapting CRM for their personal cards.  (“It’s Holiday Card time – – grab the ‘friend’ spreadsheet, upload a photo and let’s check that box and go to Cancun!”)

The problem is that CRM is great for businesses, not so much for actual friends.
While the gesture is admirable, spectacular production values are just no match for a heartfelt greeting – – a personal touch lets the recipient instantly know that they’re not just on your holiday contact list.

Handwriting

If the message is business focused, perhaps to let a coworker or client know you’re thinking of them (in an appropriate way of course), some nice holiday greetings can be found here.

And if you still appreciate the spirit of sending personal cards to friends, we salute you.  And for those fellow scramblers whose cards are not yet out the door, try these humble curmudgeonly tips to help bring back some of the joyful connections of the Holidays (adding these steps will of course put even more pressure on you, but isn’t stress what the holidays are about?):

  • For the friends you actually care about, consider putting some actual ink on the cards – – even if just to write your name.  Typeset names on cards look a lot like “From the offices of…”
  • Deflate the humble-brag notes. Facebook built a multi-billion-dollar business by creating a platform for family highlight reels.  We’ve known for years that your Timmy is special and we naturally extend our deep admiration to you.  But that turf is now taken and your news is old!

Most importantly, above everything else, please please please – no glitter!

JFK signature

1958 – guess who?

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Can Technology Be More Human Than an Actual Human Interaction?

Posted on November 30, 2018 by davetuchler

I recently had to actually drive to my bank to deposit a check.  Aside from 2 receptionists there wasn’t a single customer service person to be found (you may be familiar with the archaic term, ‘teller’ – – or the archaic term ‘check’).   At any rate, no tellers in this bank.

Video tellers

There was, however, a Las Vegas-style array of video tellers, and my instant reaction was ‘great, this is the bank version of phone customer service hell’.

My actual experience was terrific.

in this case, technology enabled a customer service interaction that was polite, competent, quick and personable.  What everyone wants, but without an actual face-to-face encounter.  Sounds almost blasphemous.

Video teller 2

Of course, this approach started as a way to cut costs, by pooling resources centrally and deploying dynamically based on demand, rather than having to staff a large number of branches.

Bank teller 3

How can what is essentially cost-saving technology surpass the traditional gold standard of a smiling face in front of you?

  • Instant gratification. Because there are a lot of them in one location, a customer service rep was immediately available. No wait = good.
  • Great video quality – – clear enough so that facial expressions were easily visible, in either direction. So a good percentage of the personal interaction was preserved.
  • It happened to be my birthday (yes, and visiting a bank made it even more special) – – and to my surprise my CSR wished me a Happy Birthday.  My account info apparently flagged this on her end, and gave her the opportunity to delight the customer – – which she did, in a very cheerful way.  Sometimes it’s the little things that count, and this one gave my CSR the opportunity to make a personal connection – – which she did.

Compare this with the traditional experience of potentially waiting for a clerk, who then might mechanically take care of your business because he or she does this a thousand times a day.

Bored Teller

Maybe, just maybe, as technology and data use continue to mature, there may actually be hope that we won’t totally have to discard our humanity just to get a little service.

Now let’s see if we can do something about humanizing customer service experience just about everywhere else.

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How A Lowly Can Opener is Messing with KitchenAid’s Brand

Posted on July 31, 2018 by davetuchler

UPDATE TO PREVIOUS POST

We all know that a brand is like the proverbial chain that is only as strong as its weakest link – – all aspects of the brand need to reflect its core value.  Ignoring even a small link can be dangerous to your brand’s integrity.

KA Can opener

Case in point: one of a well-regarded company’s least expensive products is constantly undermining the reputation of its expensive core product line – and management has apparently decided that this is ok.

KA Mixer

KitchenAid makes high quality, and in some cases iconic appliances that command premium prices (a status brand but not as expensive as SubZero or Viking).  We’re all familiar with the classic KitchenAid stand mixers in designer colors.  I recently purchased a KitchenAid double wall oven when my old one died.  A lot had to do with trust in the KitchenAid brand.

KA Product Line

So why would they go cheap on the most prosaic of items – the manual can opener?

can opener

When one of our kids stole our standard-issue metal can opener, we went on Amazon and splurged on a KitchenAid can opener in a designer color – it looks like the Hummer of can openers – a little affordable indulgence but one that should perform great and last a long time.  The Amazon ratings showed 4 stars and over 1000 reviews.  Safe territory.

Except it didn’t work.

06f06c94-bdfb-4455-832a-3b75973f99af
Within a few months, it stumbled, stopped opening cans, capable only of spastic puncture wounds, and we ended up buying a less fancy but perfectly serviceable replacement.

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 9.03.23 PM

Here is where you need to be familiar with the ‘Barbell Review’.

While the brand got a 4 star rating overall, the distribution showed about 30% of the reviews were one star.  Had we bothered to read these, we would have learned that this is a product with highly inconsistent quality, and when it goes, it’s completely useless.

Some review excerpts (and there are hundreds of them):
“Really disappointed that this was a KitchenAid product that didn’t outlast an off-brand opener.”
“…it was defective and I really expected more from the KitchenAid name”
“I’m very disappointed. Typically I love KitchenAid brand and that is why I bought this particular can opener. I would not recommend it.“
“Do not trust the KitchenAid brand on this one.“
“Unfortunately I didn’t read the reviews first because well…KITCHENAID! You wouldn’t expect to have to read reviews it’s suppose to be a good brand, this thing sucks!!!“

If you’ve invested time and money to build your brand, why would you want your brand dragged through the mud?

KitchenAid has outsourced this product (to a company called Lifetime Brands) and judging by the dates on the reviews (going back to at least 2012), they’ve not bothered to change this defective design in years – – despite a lot of disappointed buyers.

So who cares?

Well, if your first experience with KitchenAid was the lowly can opener, and it failed, you will be much less inclined to buy the more expensive appliances from which KitchenAid makes its money.  There are 500 negative reviews on just one version of this product on Amazon.

The lesson here: rarely, if ever, does it make sense to market a lower quality product under a high quality brand name.  (Cadillac Cimarron, anyone?)

This goes beyond product to every encounter a consumer has with your brand.  Whether your brand stands for premium, economical, effective, snarky, eco-friendly, high-tech or whatever, it all has to be consistent. Branding 101.

In a classic demonstration of good money chasing bad, we’re sending our crippled can opener back to Lifetime Brands, which has promised to replace it.  This is all in the interest of science.  Stay tuned.

can opener mailing

$10.62 to replace a $15 product

Moral of the story – keep your brand strong and consistent, and be alert to any potential ‘can openers’ in your organization.

blue can opener

And beware the dreaded barbell review.

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Is This Any Way to Treat a High Value Customer? Ask My Mother.

Posted on May 19, 2018 by davetuchler

Do You Know Your Most Valuable Customers?  Do they know that you love them?

ecommercecrm

It’s 10 times harder to get a new customer than to keep an existing one.  Loyal customers are more profitable and have the highest Lifetime Customer Value. They love your company already.  They have already been acquired, qualified and taken through the funnel – – you have them where you want them!

So why, with today’s sophisticated customer management systems, are loyal repeat customers too often just an afterthought?  Or missed entirely?

In today’s post we will try to demonstrate that marketers must make extra effort to identify and appreciate these great customers.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data-based systems have given marketers the illusion that they not only know everything about their customers, but that their email outreach perfectly motivates everyone.  This is not always the case.  They don’t always get it right.  Customer targeting algorithms written too narrowly can miss the bigger picture.

Case in point: my very own Mom.

  • Mom’s primary indulgence is periodically taking her 5 kids and their families (20-25 people total) to an all-inclusive resort. Club Med has been the most frequent (but not exclusive) beneficiary. (Yes, I chose my mother extremely well). Her aggregate investment is well into 6 figures over the past 20+ years she’s been doing this.

ClubMed1

In the case of Club Med, the algorithm failed.  They were focused on the last 3 years only.  And they completely missed the fact that she’s a long-time customer who brings a group. Mom turns out to be a mere Turquoise!  A rookie in their eyes!

ClubMed2

ClubMed3

———

ClubMed6

  • Mom selects the location, makes the reservations and all expenses go through her. She has 99% of the decision-making power on where we go. She should be a Big Kahuna to Club Med. They should make sure she’s happy, show their appreciation, and make every effort to acknowledge her loyalty.

ClubMed5

————-

ClubMed4

  • Yet Club Med scores loyalty on a per-person visit basis over the last 3 years. So despite influencing a lot of spending, Mom is classified as entry-level Turquoise, with the same status as a 10-year old who goes along with her parents. There is no acknowledgement at the corporate level, and none at the local Club level – – no one has told them who this is. No bottle of wine or fruit in the room. No upgrade. No ‘thank you for your continued loyalty’. Nothing.

ClubMed7

  • Small victory!  But it took a lot of effort.  Shouldn’t have to.
  • What defines your best customers? Longevity? Frequency? Cumulative $ spent?  Early adopters of new products?  This is really important to figure out.

Club Med of course doesn’t want to ignore their best customers. It’s just that their system isn’t set up to recognize them all the time.  To their credit, they handled my email rant with grace – – and came through in the end.

ClubMed8

ClubMed9

——–

So figure out who your best customers are and take care of them!

Right after you take care of your mother.

 

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Too Many Surveys? We’d Love your Opinion

Posted on March 21, 2018 by davetuchler

I just finished a lengthy (20 min.) survey regarding a recent vacation, only to have my input erased due to technical issues. Getting a lot of this lately.

Restroom Survy

Not elbow-friendly buttons

Marketers have become entranced by the ability to survey consumers at very low cost. This is a seeming game-changing alternative to custom studies that can easily get into 4 or 5 figures or more. Technology has made it possible to survey via email, phone and even in restrooms!

What’s not to like?

Well, as a consumer, I’ll tell you what’s not to like. We are getting surveyed to death.  Ironically, more surveys might be leading to lower quality insights.

Survey montage

If, like The Armchair MBA, you use your inbox as a de facto filing tool, search for ‘survey’ or ‘what do you think’ or ‘your opinion’ and see what you get.

The answer is: lots. In addition to follow-up questions on every Amazon purchase, flight segment, taxi, Uber or car rental you take, everyone is getting into the act.

The dangers of over-surveying are:

  • Response rate/burnout.  The more surveys people receive, the fewer they’re likely to fill out. This reduces the number of qualified respondents.
  • Bias. Just as you don’t want to use the plumber who’s always available, you don’t want to hear just from respondents who always have time to fill out online surveys.
  • Response quality. More surveys = less time per survey. Responses that are rushed are more likely to be cursory and of low quality, particularly late in a survey.
  • Annoyance. A company that always has its hand out for info is going to wear out its welcome, or minimally get diminishing response.

All of these things can result in worse, rather than better, information.

So here are a few things you can do to maximize the usefulness of your surveys.

  1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.   In short, don’t survey if you don’t need to. Make the surveys you do conduct meaningful. Maximize use of info you already have. If you’re tracking attitudes over time, make sure you’re asking in a way where the trends are valid. Again, avoid unnecessary surveying just for the sake of surveying. This makes the surveys you send stand out more.
  2. Keep it short. No one has time for lengthy, repetitive surveys. Promise brevity in your subject line or where it will show as a thinly disguised plea in the preview pane.
  3. Offer something in return. This can be free goods, discounts, a chance to win a prize, whatever. Again, get this across in the subject line or preview area or it doesn’t matter.   Brevity + bribery is a good combination.Survey-brevity

Survey-Incentive4.  Promise to share results of the survey. This is the researcher’s click-bait, especially if it’s something of high interest.  Related, give the respondent some level of belief that the results will actually result in something good being done.

5.  Flatter the potential respondent. ‘We’d like your expert opinion’, etc. As long as Pride is still one of the Seven Deadly Sins, this will have some effect.

Survey-Flattery

And finally, tip #6 – – don’t put a push-button survey machine in a restroom.

Survey 1

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The Pain of Not Having Hand

Posted on July 31, 2017 by davetuchler

Don’t you hate it when you want your money back and have no leverage?  Explanation of this (and ‘Hand’) follows.

This is about companies who put barriers in place to enable them to hold onto your money until they wear you out.  A war of attrition.  Things like unreachable customer service, phone personnel with no names who cannot be recontacted, endless phone wait times, etc.   We’ve all been there.  Some of you are probably on hold with someone right now!

My goal is always to have a ‘So What’ in my posts but other than stopping transacting altogether, I am not sure how to preemptively protect against this!  So I’m open to suggestions.

So that’s your challenge, dear readers.  For the good of humanity, help us find a solution.

The basic model has been around:  exploit human nature.

gift cardskitchen junk drawer

It used to go something like this: you get a gift card and the issuer gets the revenue and records future redemption as a liability. You put it in the kitchen ‘everything’ drawer next to your frequent shopper cards from 1995, never redeem it, company books revenue with no expense. Nice! Called ‘breakage’ in accounting, commonly known as ‘slippage’ in consumer goods.  Coupons are issued, people don’t bother redeeming, etc.

This new version is more insidious and aggravating. As George Costanza might say, we have no hand!  And they know it!

Here’s how it works (examples below):

  • You transact something online
  • You provide payment via credit card
  • Something goes sideways, not due to anything you did
  • Supplier has your money, and very little motivation to give it back
  • You now spend considerable unplanned time and energy fighting with the supplier to reclaim your own money

Case study 1: Booked AirBNB for about $1600 for a week; they (and owner) got payment in advance. Upon arrival, property has significant water leaks, which are being repaired, rendering it uninhabitable. AirBNB is contacted, situation explained, they offer $400 refund afterward and refuse to discuss the matter further.  Boo, AirBNB!

Case study 2: Rented car with GPS. GPS didn’t work. Took over an hour and several emails just to get back the $30.  Boo, Fox Car Rental! 

Case study 3: Moved across the country. $17k total bill, which required payment in full ahead of time (apparently this is standard operating procedure, which is itself worthy of a separate conversation). Move happened 3 days late, which created additional expense for friends who flew in to help with the move, and which technically qualified as a ‘late delivery’ by the mover.  Several items broken. After huge effort and many hours and emails, result was a check for $20 we got in the mail. Zero hand in this one.  Double Boo, North American Van Lines!

Case study 4: WSJ inexplicably stops being delivered one Friday. Go to handy online notification area but service is down. Chat is not manned yet (it’s before 8). Phone line also not available. Paper doesn’t come on Saturday either, make several online entreaties to both email and chat. Now start getting 2 (identical) papers on Monday. Issue finally settled on Tuesday.  Boo, WSJ!

I could go on.  I’m sure we all could.

In fairness, these infuriating episodes are balanced by the transparency and customer satisfaction focus of many excellent online retailers, who understand something about customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In all of the cited cases the supplier messed up, but the burden was on the consumer to spend the significant effort to (maybe) get a satisfactory reimbursement.  There is no Online People’s Court to help resolve these issues.   I personally resent having to spend precious time just to claim what is mine in the first place!

Sure, over the long haul corporate reputations can be harmed, penalizing bad behavior.  But I don’t want to wait for the long haul.

How can we fix this?

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