"a plea for happy customers" for sint lucas ghent
TRANSCRIPT
A plea for happy customers And why you should forget everything your teacher said
Polle de Maagt for Sint Lucas Ghent
Hello. I am Polle de Maagt.
I create impact through
conversations at a pretty cool
company called InSites Consulting.
We work mostly because we’re
committed to take research
forward, but brands like
Ben&Jerry’s, Telenet, Danone and
Philips agreed to pay us for it.
“ “ Advertising is the fee for being unremarkable.
Robert Stephens (GeekSquad)
Simple question: When was the last time you were a happy customer?
Simple question: When was the last time you talked positively about a brand?
Honestly, sentences like the world has changed, power has shifted to the consumer, increase your share of conversation, consumers trust each other most, shifting power from marketers to consumers, marketers are no longer in control, social media strategy and learn to lose control make me puke in
my mouth a bit.
While it is really really simple.
People talk. A lot. Internet made it pretty easy to talk. But still: 80% of the talking is done offline. You might not be surprised that talking influences others. Especially when the conversations are searchable and retweetable. Consumers talk better, more and more genuine than brands. So you better be ready.
Kindness, happiness and cool things are talkable. KLM surprised random passengers in their effort to discover how happiness spreads. Advertising campaigns make great conversation starters.
“ “ Consumers out-conversate brands.
Create stuff worth sharing.
Tom de Bruyne (Boondoggle)
It isn’t about remarkable talks, it is about acts. Put your money where your mouth is. Start doing things that proof your commitment to help consumers.
“ Focus on what really matters: making users happy with your product as quickly as you can, and helping them as much as you can after that. If you do those better than anyone else out there you’ll win.
Marc Hedlund (Wesabe) “
A remarkable company culture works. Every company has it’s stories and ambassadors, like Nike’s Ekins. Capitalize on these stories and turn your employees in an army of ambassadors.
Your product might have fans who’d love to help. Facilitate them in sharing. Oh, by the way: the guy on the left is Joost de Leij. He is pretty awesome.
Buying new consumers is expensive. Keeping your customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones. And happy customers spread the words. Customers who are fed up … well … not.
Helping people helps. Exceeding customer expectations builds loyalty (81% repeats, 63% recommends) and falling below customer expectations erodes loyalty (5%/71%). * Forrester, Build Loyalty By Exceeding Expectations When Resolving Customer Problems, 2010
When you understand your customers, you’ll do better. 66% of marketers is disconnected from their target audience. Ouch.
* InSites Consulting, Meet The Joneses Research, 2010
If someone asks you a question, answer politely. Zappos invites every employee to WOW their customers. By the way: 11% of organizations doesn’t reply to customer emails. * InSites Consulting, Meet The Joneses Research, 2010
Recap. People talk. A lot. And offline too. Kindness, happiness and cool things are talkable. It isn’t about remarkable talks, it is about acts. A remarkable company culture works. Buying new consumers is expensive. Helping people helps. When you understand your customers, you’ll do better. If someone asks you a question, answer politely.
It’s really about being human. It is about asking yourself ‘What should consumers be saying to each other after they’ve seen my ad or contacted me and my brand?’ It is about integrating conversations in all thinking and acting.
Not convinced yet?
We asked 500 European marketers what they do with word-of-mouth. And we asked them about how they compared to their competitors in terms of return on investment, turnover growth, profitability, market share and customer satisfaction.
Guess what.
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
Product improvement
The best performing marketers do three things that make them stand out. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers
1) They start to implement Word-of-Mouth right away, applying it to their current products. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
Product improvement
2) They realize Word-of-Mouth isn’t only online. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
Product improvement
3) They approach Word-of-Mouth strategically. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
Product improvement
You can forget most of the silly things I said. But, please:
Remember these five things.
The world is a conversation network and customers out-conversate brands. It is about integrating conversations in all thinking and acting. It is about managing the conversation.
1)
It is about changing the way you treat your consumers. About acting human. About being talkable. It is about doing what you say you do, it is about listening and acting. About observing, facilitating and joining the conversation.
2)
It isn’t rocket science. Kindness, happiness and cool things are talkable. Great products create happy customers. Helping people helps. When you understand your customers, you’ll do better. If someone asks you a question, answer politely.
3)
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
Product improvement
The best performing marketers do three things that make them stand out. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers
48
I hope I was worth sharing.
Send me an email at
[email protected] so I can help you
remind of the 48 hours.
Find the presentation at
http://polle.me/sintlucas10