Archive for the ‘ Customer Experience ’ Category

What brands can learn from a talking Irishman!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the day listening to different bands by the lake in Ouchy, Switzerland. One of the performers was a talented guitarist and singer from Ireland who put on a great show.

There was one problem though, the Irishman kept telling stories to his audience between the songs – some of them interesting, some of them funny, and some of them sad, but at no point did the audience react.

It reminded me of many brands in their attempt to communicate with their audience. It’s easy to draw a parallel between a brand’s mistakes in communicating, and our artists attempt to entertain his audience

So what can brands learn from a talking Irishman?

The audience is not yours. Assuming your audience is, well yours and that they are dying to hear what you have to say is a common mistake. Like the customers of most brands, people attending the concert were not there specifically to see the Irishman. They were there to have a nice time and enjoy a day of music. What does that mean? It means that the stories he was telling were of no relevance to the audience, they had never heard of the people he were referring to, or the musicians he was honouring. As a brand, it is rare people turn up for you, recognising that should fundamentally change how, and what you choose to communicate, or do for that matter.

Different context requires different communication. The Irishman probably has a very strong following in some parts of the world, like many brands do, people that come to a concert to see him specifically. Among your fans (loyal customers) you can tell your tails all day long – to them it’s music to their ears (no pun intended). But outside of that environment you have to adapt, read the situation correctly. A discussion forum, for example, is not your environment, and can’t be treated in the same way as your website or your packaging (although I would argue the latter aren’t your environments either).

Your language is not their language. The Irishman failed to notice that hardly anyone in the audience spoke English. I don’t know about you but I don’t speak ‘brand’, yet brands keep speaking their language to me, which I cover in some detail this post about the language used by brands in advertising. Here is an example I site in the blog from a PC World ad voice over, ‘Plus they had 200 pounds of this 47 inch LG 200 hertz 10 ETP TV and it was only 699 pounds’. What? I’m sure that no one but product managers speaks that language!

Listen to feedback. One would think that after a few stories, and a silent audience, our Irishman would understand the potential language barrier and change tactics, but no.  The penny didn’t even drop when he kept asking people in the audience questions, and no one answered. How many times have you seen brands keep talking to an audience even when you don’t react, or even listen…how many times have you seen brands asking audiences to do something, and nothing happens, how many times have you seen brands commission consumer research to subsequently do absolutely nothing with the consumer feedback?!

Leave the ego at home. I suspect the Irishman not changing his behaviour had a lot to do with the fact that he was talking mostly to please himself – or his ego. And I’m sure all of us have met one…or two… or… Marketing Directors producing communications (especially those in the shape of 30 seconds) that have one main purpose, make the Marketing Director feel good about himself.

I could go on but I think you get the point!

But on a positive note,  at least the Irishman had one thing going for him that many brands don’t – a hell of a product (voice) and a hell of a setting to sell it in (below view). Beats Tesco, no?

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2010
08/30
CATEGORY
Advertising/Media
Branding
Customer Experience
Marketing
Thoughts
2 comments

The chronicles of a customer: Volume 2

This week was admin week. Nothing good can come out of admin week. Not only is it not enjoyable, but it usually involves dealing with loads of files, paper and unfortunately….organisations.

Throughout the entire week I was reminded of a blog I wrote a while ago called ‘Who are the lowest class citizens in business? That’s an easy one, CUSTOMERS!!!’. As you can imagine the blog is about the challenges one faces being a customer.

The life of a customer is an endless source of frustration, disbelief and rare moments of feeling ecstatic – or seen from another perspective, an endless source of inspiration for someone who likes to observe, and write about business and marketing in action (or should I say inaction!).

I have therefore decided that, as I continue to be a customer, observe customers, speak to customers or read about customers, I will report on my observations via ‘The chronicles of a customer’  (hence why I re-named the original blog ‘The chronicles of a customer: Volume 1’).

So back to my admin week….

I need a new bank. Why? Because in addition to a personal account I also need a business account, both with its own credit card (or at least a debit card). But Citibank refuses to accept that one can be a private banker and the owner of a business, all at the same time. Hence their business processes are structured as if those two worlds were mutually exclusive. I will spare you the statistics of how much small and medium size business’ contribute to a country’s GDP, suffice to say it’s a massive chunk – hence one would think a bank would like to cater for their needs, but when it comes to Citibank apparently not so much.

(Me trying to get information on Citibank Business banking prior to calling them and getting the bad news…)

So I call Lloyds. Not because of their site, or anything in their documentation – as you know these things are never written for a customer and are therefore totally impossible to understand. I chose Lloyds because someone I trust recommended the bank to me (this by the way would make me seriously reconsider how I allocate my marketing spend if I was the Marketing Director of a major bank).

Five phone calls later, with five different departments in numerous cities, I realise this is a pandemic. Banks insist on separating the organisation that takes care of personal banking from the one dealing with business banking, and not only that, no one in personal banking has a clue about who one should call to get a business account set up.

The only solution for me, the customer, is to compromise. I have to stay with both banks, making one my personal and the second my business bank. Not ideal, but then I’m just a customer.

Next. Time to insure the Vespa. I call my insurer Aviva as I want to know what difference it will make to my present insurance if I exclude one of the extra drivers. A few hundred commands, and a significant wait later I’m told that ‘Unfortunately we can’t tell you this without actually taking out the extra driver from the policy’.  I’m also informed that if I, at that stage, decide to keep the driver on the insurance I will have to go through the whole registration procedure again. Why? Because that is how the system is designed.

The only solution for me, the customer, is to compromise. And in my case it meant keeping the extra driver on, I just don’t have 20 minutes to spend on the phone with some random insurance company working around ‘their system’. Not ideal, but then I’m just a customer.

I also needed to re-new my travel insurance with Insure and Go.  After having answered the security question of when I was born with ‘in 1969’, I was asked during the health questions  ‘Are you older than 75?’.  Am I older than 75? I don’t know, bearing in mind I just told them I was born in 1969 what do they think? Ah but then the person writing the security check questions is not the same person writing the insurance application questions – who cares if it makes an organisation look a little silly – or forces a customer to answer unnecessary questions!

And finally I spent a ‘glorious’ time at the post office until they finally accepted my Belgian Driving license when I tried to change money. Apparently the UK Post Office is not aware the the UK is in the EU, and therefore by EU law; if they accept a British driving license, they also have to accept all EU licenses  (yes even a Belgian one :) ).

The only solution for me, patiently waiting for the manager followed by some lengthy negotiation. Not ideal, but then I’m just a customer.

It’s Sunday and admin week is over! I say thank God for the Screen on Baker Street. A lovely little cinema, recently re-designed, and yes with the customer in mind!!!! This my friends is how I celebrated the end of the week in the life of a customer (courtesy The Screen on Baker Street’s alcohol license) – cheers to admin!

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2010
08/01
CATEGORY
Customer Experience
Marketing
Organisational Behaviour
The chronicles of a customer
Thoughts
1 comment

Is there a crack showing in the shiny Mac Apple?

No one would disagree that Apple is a company that get a lot of things right.

  • In 2011 over half of their revenue will come from products that did not exist four years ago. We can safely say that ticks the innovation box.
  • Any company about whom people tweet the following ‘Glad I helped Steve Jobs reach sales targets this month. Feeling quite proud’ has definitely ticked ‘the army of fanatics supporting them’ box!
  • An organisation that successfully launches a new product (iPad) and an upgrade to a core product (iPhone 4) within months of each other gets a tick next to the commercial box.
  • And as for differentiation, there are more ticks than I can mention here!

So why was I feeling uneasy as I left the Mac store on Regent Street this Saturday? My experience there raised some key questions to which I don’t have an answer, but  that does make me wonder if there is a crack starting to show in that shiny little Mac Apple?!

Let me tell you what I mean.

Saturday 2 AM my computer dies and at 9 AM I’m at the Mac store on Regent Street only to be told that the next appointment in the Genius bar for technical support is on Friday at 18.00.

One week to get technical support! ‘This is wrong on so many levels, and it also shows some structural problems. Below are my top line observations.

  • If you’re a life style brand, promoting a way for people to live their lives, then you can’t at the same time turn around and say that it’s OK to be without you for one week.
  • This is even more the case if your product provides some form of utility. I run this fluid world with my business partner and i can safely tell you none of our clients would be happy with me being out of action for a week.
  • Customer service that offers technical support one week later is just not good enough for a premium priced product – it’s not actually good enough for any priced product in this category!
  • Not one member of staff I spoke to disagreed with me, a one week wait is just unreasonable. If your own staff can’t support your customer service level, then as an organisation you do have a problem!
  • It’s clear when you’re in the store that Apple is an organisation that prioritises sales and marketing. The look and feel of the store as you know is great, there are more sales people walking around than I have ever seen anywhere else, and they are happy letting people be on facebook all day long because ‘we’re nurturing future customers’. The problem is that ONLY a handful of people working in the Genius bar, and a sales force that can’t handle even basic trouble shooting, does nothing to nurture your present customers with a pressing problem!
  • And finally, when your staff speaks less than gloriously about you as an organisation to customers, in this case I had to listen to comments like ‘we’re becoming an IBM’, then you really should sit up and listen! Not to mention that the staff also seems totally unaware of the risk taken when speaking so honestly to a stranger (I mean really have they never heard of journalists, bloggers, facebook fans twitterers?!)

I did end up getting help though. One of the young men I spoke to squeezed me in. I had to wait three hours for it all to be sorted out, but it did get sorted (these chairs are really not that comfortable by the way)!

The issue is that the reason my trip to the Apple store was a success had nothing to do with Apple as an organisation, and everything to do with one person breaking a rule. Not a sustainable solution to what I think could be a major problem – a focus on product development and launches on the possible expense of customer service and staff motivation.

I propose Steve Jobs takes a trip down to one of his Mac stores, accompanied by a broken computer and a pressing dead line. I think it would do him some good, but then I suspect they would make an even bigger exception for him than for me :)

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2010
06/21
CATEGORY
Branding
Customer Experience
Organisational Behaviour
Strategy
Thoughts
this fluid world
3 comments

If you don’t control your value chain, control your communications!

This is the final piece of a series of three. The first ‘A bad piece of meat will always be a bad piece of meat’ discusses how people select suppliers,  the second one, ‘In this collaborative world, if we own the royal mile, then we have to accept that our suppliers are our responsibility!!!’ discusses how organisations are responsible for the actions of their suppliers since they own the final customer touch point, or what we at this fluid world call the royal mile.

This piece deals with when all else fail, control communications.

I’m prepared to accept that there are times when you are forced to cooperate with organisations whose actions are not under your control. If you happen to find yourself in such a situation, then you must be responsible for, and take control of the one thing you do have power over – your communications.

Let me give you an example.

A few years ago I bought a TV from John Lewis.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of buying anything in John Lewis’ electronics department will know that it’s a pure pleasure. The waiting time to be served is short, the staff helpful and polite, the advice based on customer need and not on the desire to up-sell, and the choice available more than acceptable. So far all good (and yes under the control of John Lewis).

However it all goes horribly wrong just a few days later (while I’m still in the post purchase anxiety of ‘do I really need a new TV?’ period – and also within the time frame when I can bring the TV back).

A letter arrives in the post, it’s not a ‘we hope you enjoy your TV’ message from John Lewis, but a threatening letter from the TV license people.


A letter treating me like a criminal because I have just bought a TV and, according to them, don’t have a license for it. No consideration that I may have bought it as a present for someone, or that I may actually have a license (which I did!) – just a threatening letter full of assumptions.

In one second my warm and fuzzy feelings for John Lewis disappears! Warm and fuzzy feelings I had because of an excellent service that I’m sure cost John Lewis a lot of money to deliver on! “But this has nothing to do with John Lewis” I hear you say!

But it does!

I understand John Lewis legally have to inform the license people when someone buys a TV from them.  I also understand that they have no control of the letter that is ultimately sent to their customers (although if I were them I would fight this one all the way to court!).

What I DON’T understand is why they did not have the courtesy to inform me about this legal obligation, and about the letter that would arrive at my doorstep a few days later. What I don’t understand is that they don’t try to separate my experience with them, with my experience with the TV license people. What I don’t understand is that in a situation where they can’t control the actions of an organisation they are forced to cooperate with, over whom they have no power, they don’t control and manage what they do have power of, the communications.

All it would have taken is a “We would like to inform you that we legally have to inform the organisation responsible for TV licenses about your purchase, and that you will be receiving a letter from them within a week”.

Just one simple phrase, yet a phrase that would mean a 100% disassociation from an unpleasant experience that is about to happen, one that could damage their brand, one phrase that would leave the customer with the feeling that John Lewis is on ‘their’ side!

As an organisation you must have a clear understanding of what you can and can’t control. As an organisation you must have a clear understanding as to the possible damaging scenarios around what you can’t control. As an organisation you must make sure that you use communications in your favour to avoid any negative associations from the behaviour of any of those suppliers/collaborators.

But use communications as a last option, control and prevention will always be more powerful! And after all, if Apple can force Vodafone to make each customers open the iPhone package themselves when they buy a new iPhone because ‘it’s part of the customer experience’ (bearing in mind that I as a customer can’t get Vodafone to do anything) – then everything is possible!

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2010
05/09
CATEGORY
Customer Experience
Marketing
Retail
Strategy
Thoughts
Write comment

Why don’t we start with some customer logic?

Sometimes all it takes to be user friendly, to ensure you have the customer’s best interest in mind and that you put people first (or as we call it in this fluid world achieve citizentricity), is a bit of common sense and some logic…Yep nothing more than that, no marketing or usability consultancy… just some logic and common sense!

Let me throw you a challenge. You are responsible for the web site of a major bank, you have gone as far as understanding that customers often need to locate one of your branches, hence your site does have a branch locator. And of course you have also figured out that the most common use for someone using a branch locator is to find the closest branch to where they are.

Or, have you…?

Well not if you’re responsible for the Lloyds Bank’s website. When I put in my postcode in the search engine I had a choice between disabled access and Saturday opening hours.

Screen shot 2010-02-28 at 09.50.31

I assumed that any search results would automatically rank branches according to the ones closest to my location. But no, not so much! This is the search result I got back.

Screen shot 2010-02-28 at 09.28.58

There are apparently 91 branches closely matching my request, but no exact matches.

No EXACT matches they say…I’m beyond grateful…Lloyds have just informed me that I don’t live on top of a Lloyds branch. Who would have known, I mean I only enter my building on a daily basis so I could easily have missed a bank had it been there!

The first result shown is for a branch on 67 High Street, Watford, Hertfordshire. Yep Watford, which makes complete sense since I entered a Marylebone postcode and Watford is only a 36 minute drive from Marylebone, or a mere 5 hours and 7 minutes away by foot (I could go even further if I really wanted to, some of the branches suggested are further away than Birmingham…).

Screen shot 2010-02-28 at 09.57.53

I’m thinking maybe the branches are sorted by city…so I scroll down to London. But no I only find two branches with the heading London in them, so that can’t be the way forward.

After staring at the result page for a while I realise they have sorted the branches by branch names. Could you be any less customer centric? Why would we know what they call their branches, and more importantly why would we want to know, or care for that matter?

I finally give up.

Thank God for Google … I was lucky enough that the closest Lloyds branch to me is apparently on the corner of Marylebone Road and Baker Street, so when I entered my search query ‘Lloyds bank Marylebone high street’, Google picked up on the word Lloyds and Marylebone (now that is logic). Had this not been the case I would still be sitting here entering postcodes in Google map trying to match Lloyds branches to where I live.

Whatever way you look at it,  the only winner in this story seems to be Google…as it certainly isn’t me, a frustrated customer, nor is it Lloyds bank, a company who should go in search of some very very very basic customer logic (maybe they should Google it?)!

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2010
02/28
CATEGORY
Customer Experience
Thoughts
2 comments

Companies and people working together

I know, an original and disruptive thought, don’t you think?

I have however during the last couple of days in Sweden been reminded of what it’s like to use a service developed with the user in mind, and have users appreciate it.

Would you believe me if I told you it has snowed so much here I could hardly find my car yesterday morning, and yet people were incredibly surprised that there was some disruption to the underground?

car in snow

(Note this picture was taken a day before the snow storm)

Would you believe me if I told you that anyone using the underground in Stockholm is allowed to, if there is a disruption to traffic of more than 20 minutes, claim back the sum of up to 70 pounds to get themselves to their destination (this includes taxi). Well it’s the case, all you have to do is fill in this form and send it to SL (Sweden’s version of TFL).

resegaranti

And would you believe me if I told you that as I was leaving the platform to grab my taxi, most people remained on the platform. Why? The announcer had mentioned that the refund was available for people in a hurry…so anyone not in a hurry stayed calmly waiting for the trains to run again. Do you think it would be this calm outside a London underground if free taxis were made available every time there is a 20+ minute delay?

Aspudden underground

I think this is extraordinary on many levels.

1) SL is able to offer second to none service under extreme hard weather conditions. I don’t know about you but I have been in situations where companies face a lot less adversity and are still not able to get the basics right. Maybe the harder something is, the more effort we put into it, the better the results.

2) SL is so confident in their service that it’s sustainable for them to offer travel refunds as and when they disrupt passengers journey. How many of us work in a company so confident in the product and service we provide that we make compensation (not just refund) part of our SLA. I wonder if we made such compensation part of our value proposition, would we manage and run companies in a different (and therefore better) way?

3) People seem to see the relationship between them and SL more as a partnership. In other words, if I don’t need to take a taxi because I’m not in a hurry, then I wont do so just because I can. I almost felt guilty jumping into one on my way to the hospital. There’s very little chance I would feel any of that guilt if TFL would offer me a free taxi journey once in a while. This tells me that if you treat customers with respect, more times than not, you will get the same respect back.

Could be an interesting way forward for an organisation – set yourself some almost impossible customer service challenges, set out to deliver on them…and build the kind of relationship with your customers where it is appreciated, and not taken for granted!

Having said all this, I would not rush to move up here in the hope of having a relatively easy journey to work. My brother has just spent the last 2 hours shoveling snow so we can get out of the house and get into our cars!

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2010
02/21
CATEGORY
Customer Experience
Thoughts
1 comment

What is the role of the high street in the future?

I love high streets. I chose to live in Marylebone because of its particularly lovely high street. I go out of my way to purchase as much as I can from the independent stores there (well from the ones that are left) rather than from chains or on-line, this to show my support, and to ensure their survival.

Marylebone High Street

But lately I’m finding it increasingly hard to buy things from the high street. Which makes me seriously question its future…

Why?

Well; let’s look at it from a basic marketing perspective. Forgive me for using such a simple, and to many outdated model, as the 4 P’s, but hey I’m a 60’s child so for the sake of simplicity I will stick to the 4 P’s rather than debating what should replace them. (The 4 P’s by the way was invented in 1960 by Jerome McCarthy– so I don’t dispute they need a revamp ).

Anyway, back to the high street.

It’s clear that it can’t compete on price. A while ago I went to Selfridges to buy a memory card, and ended up buying one on-line for £50 less. I wanted to buy ink for my printer at Ryman’s, and bought the same ink on-line at a 50% discount.

How about product? I doubt anyone would dispute that when it comes to product range and type, no-one can beat the Internet (especially with the effect of the long-tail and therefore the ability of offering a product even if there are only a few hundred buyers in one place).

Distribution (place) maybe? There is no way a retailer can have a presence everywhere (although some try at a massive cost). So nope the high street does not seem to be able to compete on place either.

As for promotion, I wont even go there as the Internet has most available communication and targeting tools at its disposal, at a relatively small cost.

So what if we extend the 4 P’s and add a service element to it – process (which refers to the systems used to assist the organisation in delivering the service)? A few weeks ago I went to Divertimenti to buy a new filter for my Bialetti espresso maker. They had none in stock and I was told they could order one for me, and call when it arrived. In the spirit of support I chose to accept to wait and said yes. I went back today thinking they must have forgotten to call me. But oh no, the delivery would take 6 weeks. 6 weeks! So I guess it’s a no no to being competitive on process!

So what is the high street retailer doing about this rather serious problem? Well, some offer their own on-line e-commerce facility, or they allow Amazon to power their sales (to overcome the distribution challenge ), they try to put more products in store (range challenge), they slash their prices (price challenge), they pack their windows with sales messages (promotion and advertising challenge)…I could go on… but basically all efforts are ‘me-too’ strategies, and I don’t know about you, but to me trying to compete with the Internet head on seems rather stupid!

One would think that the only way forward is to differentiate. Basically to try to offer something which is not possible to offer on-line. Which brings me to the two remaining P’s of the service marketing mix, (in addition to process) people and physical evidence. These are the two things retailers have today that the Internet does not have. You would think they would use it! And yet finding an original retails space, offering a great experience, populated by people that add value (rather than affect it negatively) is extremely rare now a days.

So who get’s it right outside of the constantly mentioned Apple and Nike stores (with their endless marketing budgets)?!

Screen shot 2010-02-07 at 17.32.46

I suggest a visit to Daunt’s bookstore where the books are categorised by country and not author, and where people serving you actually read books! Make sure you pop by La Fromagerie, a cheese shop that would hold its own next to any French cheese shop, and where the staff can tell you the origin of any cheese. Still hungry? I recommend Mr Biggley’s sausages, made from scratch in his basement – he will tell you all about the art that is sausage making. And just in case you need a button – pop by the Button Queen, there are more buttons there then you know what to do with  – and believe it or not, staff that are enthused about – yes buttons!

Or maybe the future will look differently. My business partner in this fluid world Jonathan MacDonald has a very interesting view on where we may be heading!

“In the future, people will pay for human interaction – perhaps we will have toll roads that harbour these interactions – due to the nature of saying ‘hello’, we can call these ‘hi streets’ and we will congregate in Public Urban Boundary Systems (which will be shortened to the word ‘pubs’)”.

I shall now say good bye to you all, and who knows maybe we will meet, sometime in the future… on the ‘hi-street’ or in the ‘pub’!

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2010
02/07
CATEGORY
Competitive Advantage
Customer Experience
Marketing
Retail
2 comments

How would you like to work in a world where you receive a 360-degree performance review on a daily basis?

Sounds a bit stressful? Well I argue that you already do!

The question “who do you work for” is usually answered by a company name, and in the top five answers to “what motivates you at work” you tend to find money, and being respected by colleagues (the latter measured by how often you’re promoted).

These answers are no surprise in a business world where hierarchy is part of the control and reward mechanism. However, this has one big downside and that is that employees feel they work for management, or for the CEO.

I know what you’re thinking…but we do don’t we?

In practise yes… but I would argue that in principle we work for the customer. Why you may ask? Because they’re the ones paying your salary, they’re the ones that will fire you if they’re not happy, they won’t hire you without extensive research or without checking your references, and you’re more likely to be hired if others recommend you! In summary, what social media has done is created a world where employees receive a 360-degree performance review by their customers, in public, on mass, and on a minute-by-minute basis.

Which makes me think they should be the centre of any company’s universe, and at the top of the management pyramid.

360-degree-performance-appraisal

So if I was the CEO of an organisation I would not only create an army of fanatics in my customers (to quote Jonathan MacDonald – Happy Birthday by the way!) but I would  also create a workforce with one boss, the customer!

The implication of this on how a company is managed would be radical…We would live in a world where the most powerful person in an organisation is the Head of Customer Care, who of course sits on the board. It’s a world where decentralised structures are systematically favoured, because being responsible to customers in a centralised system is seen as impossible. In this world, customers are regularly part of the recruitment process.

I could go on but I agree that this may come across as a little too much like customer utopia, and not so realistic…but I still argue that a fundamental cultural shift in who companies think they are ultimately responsible to is needed…(and this would require organisations, and therefore everyone working in them, to reconsider who they think they work for)…

… oh by the way I mean a real cultural shift, in both thinking and action – not just paying lip service…

But until then, I’ll keep praying that one day a miracle will happen and I will finally understand my mobile bill, my service provider will call me back when my e-mail is down, and my bank will decide that Sweden is a country, that Swedish Kroners is a currency, and therefore allow me to transfer money there using my on-line banking service.

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2010
02/01
CATEGORY
Comment
Customer Experience
Organisational Behaviour
Social Media
1 comment

Big brother is watching, not so much!!! The Amazon saga continues…

In my last post Big brother is watching, not so much!!! I brought to your attention some less successful targeting attempts by Amazon (yes the one and only targeting guru).

Well, the saga continues as there is apparently no end to how far Amazon can stretch a digital camera purchase! Reading through all their e-mails I thought – if I have to suffer through this, I want to do it in good company.

So here it is, phase two of the ‘I once bought a digital camera at Amazon’ saga.

After having suggested I may be interested in a memory card, and later a camera case, (both of which I had already bought from Amazon) Amazon sent me the following mail.

stocking filler

Yes, a couple of camera cases, which 1) we have already established I own, and 2) they have already proposed to me in a previous e-mail. The mail also suggests I may be interested in a few batteries which 1) makes me question the relevance and 2) makes me want to call Amazon and educate them on what a perfect stocking filler looks like!

It’s also quite obvious they don’t know if I bought the camera for myself, or for someone else (why would they, they never asked), as they suggest, in the same phrase, that I may enjoy the accessories…or I may want to put them in someone’s Xmas stocking.

A few days later, here we go again.

photo frames

This time I’m almost as surprised as when I was asked to buy a camera case and a memory card I already bought. Why? Because I have never, not once, browsed for photo frames. Would you Mr Amazon by any chance have made that assumption because I recently – yes say it after me, bought a digital camera? If that is the case, not good! No one appreciates someone pretending they know them when they don’t!

And then yesterday.

camera accessories

Yes back to the accessories, camera cases and photo frames – I’m thinking this is starting to look like the old above the line reach and frequency approach – if we show it to her enough times she will end up caving in (and to be honest if I thought buying another camera case would make the emails stop I would – I’d even put it in my Xmas stocking!).

I’m also registered at Amazon France from the time I lived there. I think the databases are connected since I’m forced to choose if I want the country I live in to be specified in French (Angleterre) or English (England). This makes me think my data resides in one place, which you would think is cool since it should improve targeting.

And yet….

Amazon france

This e-mail is to help me out with some Xmas present ideas. What jumps out at you? Yes can you see it? The famous digital camera Canon IXUS I just bought (but in gold)! Maybe they think asking me in French will make me want to do it all over again?

They also seem to be a little confused as to who I am, and what to call me, as they keep jumping from ‘Dear customer’ when they refer to something I have bought, and L. Andersson for random why not buy e-mails. Neither of which i feel is particularly warm, targeted or human.

In summary, if you are a company looking to target then:
•    Make sure you track all behaviour, and cross analyse (cross order, purchase and country) – there is no excuse for not knowing what someone has already bought.
•    If you want to track behaviour, and make people feel you ‘know them’, then maybe L Andersson is not the way forward.
•    Don’t make assumptions about what lies behind a purchase when you communicate– and if you need to know then ask people when they place their order.
•    If you suggest to someone they have done something, or like something – then make sure you have your facts right!
•    If you want to cross sell – then make sure it makes sense…
•    …and make sure you don’t over do it…there are only so many ‘we hope you enjoyed the digital camera you just purchased’ e-mails people can take.
•    Consider cutting down on other promotional e-mail while you send targeted communication, no-one wants to get more e-mails from a company than a best friend.
•    And finally, if someone does not respond, give up…you are probably barking up the wrong tree!

As for Amazon, the shining example in targeting…it all seems like a bit of a mess. Although one thing is crystal clear to me, whatever you do, never buy a digital camera from Amazon, it will just confuse them, and nothing good will come out of that!

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2009
12/12
CATEGORY
Advertising/Media
Customer Experience
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Big brother is watching, not so much!!!

We go from conference to conference where we are told that data is the future of marketing, and that in the near future we will be able to, not only analyse individual behaviour, but also predict it.

We read articles describing a tomorrow that feels a little bit like a Sting song (for you out there who are not Sting fans let me clarify by quoting the lyrics, “every breath you take and every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I’ll be watching you”).

As a marketer, and a general lover of data, I get very exited every time I think of the prospect of a world where I don’t only achieve perfect targeting, but where I anticipate individual’s needs, with the aim of being the first marketer in queue to satisfy Bethan’s from Mumbles craving for ice cream (before she’s even felt it)!

But as a citizen I have at times felt slightly uneasy at the idea of big brother watching my every move! This discomfort however, was recently put to rest by the one and only on-line retail Guru, Amazon!

A few weeks ago I decided to buy a new digital camera. Experience has taught me that there is no point in shopping around for hours; good old Amazon always manages to be price competitive and reliable. I placed my order for a camera and a case, and a few days later; there it was my lovely little Canon IXUS 100 IS.

I was a little surprised that it came without any memory, but I patiently went through the process of ordering a memory card from Amazon (which arrived a few days later).

So you can imagine my surprise when on Tuesday I receive the following e-mail.

Amazon memory cards

But I have already bought a memory card from you Mr Amazon…surely your database should have told you that!

If the argument is that this happened because the memory card was not in the same order as the camera, then I have to say, not good enough. Especially coming from the company that everyone quotes as the number one in on-line retail and targeting.

But separate orders is clearly not the argument as the next day I received the following e-mail.

Amazon camera bag

I mean really Mr Amazon, I bought a case from you at the same time as the camera…there is no doubt that your database should have told you that?!!!!

The marketer in me is appalled, what a missed opportunity!!! Two useless e-mails, one potentially annoyed customer, and a massive missed opportunity at cross-selling something the customer has not already bought (not to mention that I should have been told when placing the order for a camera that it does not come with a memory card).

However, Liri the human being feels slightly relieved. We are clearly years away from someone stalking me on-line, knowing about, or anticipating my every move!

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2009
12/03
CATEGORY
Advertising/Media
Customer Experience
Thoughts
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