Posts filed under 'Customer Experience'
Whole Foods is doing it. The 5 nail salons down the street are doing it. The local outdoor shop is doing it (twice). Even the fanciest restaurant in town has succumbed to the pull of the daily deal. Are you starting to wonder if your business should jump on the daily deal bandwagon? And if you do decide to jump on, how can you effectively acquire and retain these new customers?
For the sake of research, I subscribed to nearly 30 daily deal, specialty, group buying and members only sites and then treated myself to groceries, dinners, manicures, outdoor gear and sailing lessons.
First let’s consider why different companies choose to participate in daily deals.
Whole Foods ran a nation-wide deal with LivingSocial in hopes of quickly acquiring new customers and that they did – within a few hours they maxed out at their 1,000,000 deal limit. Whether they will make money off the deal is questionable; there is no clear upsell plan in place and they don’t know how many coupon redeemers were new vs. old customers. However, the free viral marketing they got from the deal was fantastic. Facebook and Twitter were on fire with people sharing the deal in hopes of getting the deal for free.
Neighborhood restaurants, shops and salons are using daily deals to build awareness and drive traffic into their shops. Because of these great offers, I have tried out three different nail salons, many new restaurants and even a new hair salon (I won’t do that again.) Unless the service is excellent or differentiated, chances are I won’t return without being incentivized again.
Back in March, a local outdoor retail store used LivingSocial to offer a daily deal. I redeemed my coupon in July and during the purchase process they collected the following data: my email address, how much I spent and if I had ever been into the store before. In September they offered the same deal on Groupon and I quickly snatched it up. Why does this shop keep offering up these deals? One reason could be that this store has some huge competition in the Seattle area – customer favorite REI (who recently partnered with Google Offers to give consumers a $25 for $15 deal.) Because of the second deal, I am going to return to this local outdoor shop for a second time. Again I have $25 of their dollars to spend but have no other incentive to stick around and change loyalties.
One of the first deals I saw on a site called Zozi was sailing lessons for two. I had never heard of the company but it sounded legit so I invited my friend to come along. We showed up and as we were sailing I peppered the owner/instructor with questions. Why did you choose to do a daily deal? He was a new business and wanted to build brand awareness and bring in new customers. Why did you choose to go with Zozi? It was a company that offered local experiences and would complement his brand well. How do you plan on getting me to come back? He would give us another discount if we decided to come back for the next level of sailing classes. We said maybe in the spring.
Even the fanciest of restaurants, the ones who said they would never do a daily deal for fear of brand dilution, have succumbed to the pull of the daily deal. One restaurant partnered with a premium deal site to offer an exclusive experience, at a discount. Unfortunately, a discount is a discount, no matter how it is framed. Once people get used to getting discounts it is hard to get them back without another discount. Luckily this restaurant offers a topnotch customer experience and shouldn’t have a problem. However, I recommend that other high-end brands be careful about offering up their services at a discount to the masses if they want to maintain their brand equity and pricing power.
Before you call up Groupon, you need to decide which daily deal company best suits your needs and how you are going to get the most value out of your offer. Groupon, LivingSocial, Google Offers and AmazonLocal are the heavy hitters in this market. They have the largest subscriber base so if you are looking for as many purchases as possible and have a flexible launch date, these might be your best bets. If your offering is more niche you can consider other options. Tippr, Urban Dealight and DealFind have more of a local feel. Zozi offers adventures and experiences. Zulily focuses on daily deals for moms, babies and kids. Bloomspot (and Bloomspot premium) have a more polished feel, though many of the deals are similar to the other sites. There are also invite-only sites like Rue La La (Rue Seattle) which offer higher end deals.
Once you have your partner picked out you need to consider one more, often overlooked, detail before you launch your first deal. How you are going to make money off these newly acquired customers in the future? The worst thing I can think of is that a customer buys a $40 coupon for $20, comes into your shop, spends the $40 and then never returns. You have to create a customer experience that will drive upsell and create customer lifetime value. How can you do this? Collecting data is the first step. Just like that local outdoor shop, if the customer is willing, ask for their contact information and create a shopping history log by noting how much they spend, what they bought and if they have ever made a purchase in your shop. Then you can use this data to create a personalized reason for this person to come back. For example, if I bought a climbing helmet in your outdoor shop, you could send me an offer for 15% off a climbing harness and a free harness fitting. Or you could invite me to a showing of a climbing movie, whether at your shop or another venue in town. Your primary goal should be to build a relationship with your customers and with that will come customer loyalty.
If you are still considering partnering with a deal site don’t forget the three key steps: 1) Assess your business need, 2) thoughtfully evaluate your partner options and 3) have a plan to build relationships to turn newly acquired customers into lifetime customers.
— Posted by Pam Spier, Consultant, Lenati
November 11th, 2011
A few weeks ago, Aircell, the company responsible for most airlines’ in-flight WiFi service, announced a fairly comprehensive transformation of its consumer experience and custom branding partnership model with airlines, as the pay-for-access model has not gained as much traction as anticipated.
Hopefully, all the better for both travelers and industry economics. After all, a better consumer experience and higher-margin airline revenue models, unlike most baggage fee policies, do not have to be mutually exclusive, correct?
To quote Aircell’s CMO, Ash ElDifrawi, “Historically, we thought of ourselves as a connectivity company…and now we’re…going to provide a much broader set of in-air experiences and become everybody’s favorite part of flying.” Here’s the video of Gogo’s press conference on Mary Kirby’s RunwayGirl blog.
From a business strategy perspective, we are interested to see this play out. As travelers, we applaud it, as we feared our in-flight WiFi experience might consist of having to pay $10 for WiFi while enduring SkyMall commercials on the overhead monitors blaring “Shopping while you fly – it’s the fun way to buy” jingles, something we actually experienced on a trans-continental United flight – at 1am.
We referenced that (and corresponding lack of sleep) in Part II of our thoughts on how this evolution could transpire, following our initial “What can Digital Entertainment, WiFi, and Mobile Mean for Airlines?” analysis in late 2009 (see both parts here) – just as airlines launched their baggage fee barrage. What we hoped to see would be an ancillary merchandising model beneficial to consumers and airlines alike.
With a potential market of 50-60 Million passengers monthly among the top 10 or so US airlines, it could be significant. How well Gogo (the newly-monikered Aircell) and airlines execute their new model outside of their core competencies is a risk. How consumers adopt the experience remains to be seen. In the ultra-competitive video/movie streaming space, we also wonder if Gogo’s movie streaming product will be sourced from Google’s new YouTube Movies service rather than Hollywood’s cloud-based Ultraviolet Media service, given that Mr. ElDifrawi used to run a portion of YouTube’s business for Google.
Regardless, it’s a welcome test development, and suffice to say, we look forward to potentially streaming Spotify or “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II” in the near future rather than being pitched electric gizmos on SkyMall as the reward for our $10.
Posted by Jonathan Alford, Senior Consultant, Retail Practice
August 15th, 2011
Small-town 19th-century newspapers commonly included neighborhood columns, with details on local gossip: relatives visiting town, birthday celebrations. Fast-forward to the early 21st century, and Facebook Wall discussions play a very similar role. Take a quick browse through your Facebook News Feed, and you get a status check on how your friends and family are doing.
In today’s neighborhood column, you’re not confined to your local community, as you were with historical newspapers. On Facebook, your current social circle is stitched together from various periods in your life – family members, old school friends, former coworkers. Generally you lived or worked nearby most of these people at one point, but now your community exists in the cloud.
Unlike historical neighborhood columns, which one read passively (perhaps punctuated by commentary delivered to family members), today your entire cloud-based community can interact in real time. Convenient, without a doubt. It’s a great way to exchange information.
But Facebook Wall threads — text-based, in standard message board format – don’t easily allow for the nuances of communication. An interested smile, a nod of the head: these non-verbal elements are crucial to strengthening social connections.
Perhaps this explains that while Facebook’s Like button has only been in existence for a year and a half, it has already become a fundamental part of Facebook interaction. When a friend complains about subject x in their status update, your clicking “Like” doesn’t need to indicate you’re enthusiastic about x. It’s ultimately a virtual nod of the head — a way to tell a Facebook friend “I hear you.”
What role does the “Like” button play in your Facebook interactions?
–post contributed by Lenati consultant Jonathan Shaw
August 2nd, 2010
Whether you are the dialer or recipient of the dreaded cold call, both parties would agree: few things in life are as unwanted and painful to endure as “the cold call.” In a study of B2B marketers that use cold calls to build their business, researcher Barbara Johnston of Texas A&M comments that “the cold call [is] one of the most egregious of interactional impositions.” Citing the woeful inefficiencies inherent in cold calling metrics, Jeremy Miller, in his excellent article “Sales People Don’t Cold Call”, unequivocally states, “Cold calling is an act of frivolity.”
Yet in spite of the pain and inefficiencies, how many companies/colleagues do you know that are still relying on cold calls to generate sales? While businesses try to slug their way out of a tough economy, it may be easy to justify the rationale for this brute force tactic. However, we might suggest that sales managers re-think their approach to cold calling and adopt some 21st century techniques that transform the dreaded cold call into the art of the smart call.
What is a smart call: In the age of social media, online databases and Web x.0, there is never a reason to make a cold call again. Monte Levinson, President of Aerie Canal Consulting, sums up both the problem—and the opportunity—with the common cold call: “In my experience, most cold callers don’t take the time to learn anything about my business, they’re only focused on what they can get out of the exchange.”
To conduct smart calls you and your sales teams will need to invest a little bit of time to first get smart about your prospects both personally and professionally. Some suggestions:
Leverage Social Media: Given the transparency with which business professionals post their credentials to social media sites like LinkedIn (and increasingly Facebook), smart callers can glean relevant personal information about many prospects they wish to engage.
Tip: Selling IT solutions? Use LinkedIn to investigate where your prospect has previously worked. Perhaps you or company sold products to him/her at their last company where hopefully your products were easily deployed and added value to your prospects former employer. E.g.: “I noticed from your Linkedin profile that you were previously employed at ACME. Did you know that AlphaTech implemented the CRM analytics engine for ACME? Based on our successful implementation we were invited to do two additional engagements.”
Online Databases: Nearly every industry has two or three respected reference and research databases sales leaders can tap to help sales teams gain even deeper insight to their prospects. EBSCO, Hoovers, Factiva, and Lexis Nexis all provide good general business reference information for sales teams to glean insights about prospects.
Tip: Selling media? Your lifeline for prospecting gold is Redbook Advertisers where you can quickly match brands to their agency of record. This way when you call your prospects you come armed with insights about the business relationships they are already using to market their brands. Selling to manufacturers? IBIS World identifies industries using their North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes and provides data on market size, key players, and economic outlook. Let your prospects know that you’ve taken the time to gain insight on the competitive landscape and current trends. Use these key findings to help position your offer in a highly relevant manner to your prospect.
Web x.0: Whatever era of the internet you find yourself in, smart callers use the web to their advantage. Always check your prospects website before calling and get smart about the latest products and services being promoted by your prospect. Position your product to help them achieve success and let them know you’ve taken time to get smart about their business. Use search engines to be sure you are up to date on the latest news and information about the prospect company.
Tip: Be sure to read the company blog: usually crafted by a senior executive within the organization, corporate blogs are probably the surest way to get insight on the “hot button” topic for your prospect.
Cold calling is dead. Take the time to get engaged with your prospect BEFORE you pick up the phone. Start smart calling today.
PS: If you are already smart calling and getting good results, please share your success stories in the comments section of our blog. Thanks!
— Blog post submitted by Mark Ippolito, sales effectiveness and digital media marketing consultant. Email: mippolito@lenati.com
February 2nd, 2010
With all of the hype around mobile applications and the success of the iPhone Appstore, we’ve had a number of our clients ask us how they should approach mobility. What’s encouraging to me is that they know they need to engage current and potential customers when on-the-go, but the challenge is, they aren’t sure how. Should they build a mobile optimized website, a mobile application or both? I have my ideas that I’ll outline below, but I’d also like to hear from you. Please comment on this with your own theories and experiences.
In my opinion, the first step before you do anything is to set your mobility strategy and determine exactly what experiences you want your mobile customers to have and how that would differ from a typical web experience. For a number of reasons, they shouldn’t be exactly the same. I know the actions I take and the information I seek is very different when I’m mobile than when I’m sitting at a PC. Here’s the recipe I’d follow to set my mobility strategy:
- What would be the common scenarios for why a customer would come to my mobile web-site or use my mobile application? (e.g. if I’m a retail business I may want a store locator)
- What value can I add to my customers experience leveraging the mobile ecosystem (e.g. can I offer them something unique based on knowing their location?)
- Once I have their mobile attention how would I integrate their experience back into my PC and offline customer experience? For example if my goal is to introduce them to new products they may not want to purchase immediately via phone. How would I ”hand-off” that information for further use by sales and marketing?
Once you have your strategy set, it should be fairly easy to determine what you want to do. I believe that you always need a mobile optimized web-site. The standard web experience is getting fatter and fatter as video, flash, etc. are added so you’ll need to come up with a relevant skinnied down version that loads quickly (given current network constraints). Here are a few pros and cons.
Pro
- A mobile optimized site will likely reach a broader audience then a mobile application alone
- It doesn’t require a customer to download a new version everytime you update the site.
- It can be cheaper to develop as you don’t need to port it across various OEM operatin systems (e.g. Apple, Android, MSFT, PalmPre)
- By keeping the experience “in-house” you can gather a variety of metrics and determine ROI on your efforts.
However, there are some draw backs to keep in mind.
Cons
- It’s difficult and costly to maintain an experience that is optimized across the plethora of devices and operating systems in the market.
- Don’t try to please everyone – the experience on a small, candybar phone is going to be poor regardless of the optimization so I’d shoot to optimize for smartphones.
Check out how Toyota and Lexus are using mobile advertisments to drive potential customers to a mobile optimized experience. Kudos to this one. It’s valuable, it’s unique and it’s tied into their other sales and marketing efforts
http://www.lexus.com/lexus/jsp/pub/mobile/models/HSh/hello_someday.jsp
They narrowed down your experience to really 2 things you made do when mobile. 1) Gather more information about a product and 2) find a dealer near you. Click deeper into the experience and I think you’ll agree that this is really well executed
So why would I build an application then?
Primarily, I think an application should be a supplemental effort to your mobility strategy that allows you do something valuable for your customers that you can’t easily do on your site. It should not just be a repeat of your web experience. CNN’s mobility site and their iPhone application are virtually identical so I question why I’d use one over the other. They must have thought the same as I just discoved the iPhone app is no where to be found (only CNN Money).
Here are a few thoughts on the pros and cons of building an application
Pros
- Relatively inexpensive to build and maintain given only one OS is involved
- The application can leverage features of the mobile device including the camera, GPS and voice. Try that with your website
- The applications run on the device and still work even if network connectivity is an issue (asuming the app is self contained)
Cons
- You have a smaller addressable audience for any application. Even if you target the iPhone platform which has millions of users, you likely likely get lost in the shuffle of 65,000+ other applications
- Applications need to be updated which can degrade your customers experience
- Should you decide to expand you audience, it can be very costly to port an application to other platforms.
- You can’t get any solid metrics on application usage (at least to my knowledge)
A company that has done an incredibly good job with their iPhone Application is Amazon’s Store App.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000291661
Not only does it let you shop from your phone, but it leverages the iPhone to enhance your experience. You can take a picture of any product and send it to them. Within a minute they will send you back similar sample products for sale in their store and let you purchase them on the spot. Very cool!
So I’m curious what you think? Do you need a mobile optimized site, a mobile application, both or neither. Please comment with your thoughts.
September 24th, 2009
