Its only about customers

Be Customer Conscious (Part 2 of n) Why would your customers stay with you?

Telecom companies are now offering one paise per second billing. ARPU (Average Revenue per User) is falling while competition is increasing. With the ‘number portability’ regime, I wonder what shape would ‘pricing’ take?

Why are brands still trying to differentiate on pricing? It can never be a differentiator. It’s an oft repeated research that customers do not mind paying more for what they perceive to be a better experience than competitors. Therefore price is not the first criteria. It may help in acquiring customers but can never be a variable in retaining customers. A competitor will come, offer a better price and take him away. However, if you have provided him with enough positive experiences then he will not go to your competitor.

Try understanding your customer and what he wants. What are the triggers which make your brand a pleasurable experience for him? Those triggers are the differentiator. Those triggers are the reason that your customer will stay with you irrespective of discounts offered by any number of competitors.  Your customer will stay with you and get you many more.

How do you recognise these triggers? By logging in all the transactions that your customer has had with your brand. And then by understanding those transactions in the context of the consumer.  This has to happen over a period of time across all points of customer contact.

Or you could identify your top 20% customers and ask them for feedback. This won’t happen in a day and it shouldn’t even be a one-off activity. It has to be a sustained effort. Customers should also realise your sincerity in this exercise.  It should be made easy to them to give their feedback. The feedback should be collated well to create actionable marketing and service plans.

You may need to get your database management systems right... but before that you will definitely need to get your strategy right. After all, you need customers while they may not need you!

2010- Being Customer Conscious

2009 brought with it, the downturn. Ad spends dropped and cost control featured before budgets in the corporate dictionary. However, what could have helped brands get competitive advantage in the downturn was neglected- being conscious of your customers.
Being conscious of your customer is all about knowing him as an individual and engaging him accordingly. It’s about understanding customer’s needs and creating positive experiences while meeting those needs. It’s all about having a two-way conversation with the customer; the ability to woo your customers the way they would like to be wooed; the ability to make your customers know that you are listening to them; the ability to understand your customer’s interaction with your brand at various stages in his lifecycle; while keeping an eye on your marketing budgets and profitability.
The first step is to get access to the customer data. This can be done through getting the customers fill in a loyalty application form or getting them to participate in a contest post purchase. Though not all customers would participate, but a small percentage would also be a good start. Access through social media like Facebook and LinkedIn can also add to the base.
Then comes the challenge of an effective and interesting engagement strategy which holds stickitivity value. It should be in context of your brand values while adding value to your customer’s situation around the use of the brand.
With the focus back on the customer, here’s hoping that 2010 brings more certainty in your marketing efforts. Cheers!