The Impulse Contact.
Marketing and retail companies alike are generally smart folks, and everything they do is for a reason. one example of this is the idea of the "impulse buy". When you go to any store these days be it in the checkout line or by the register sometimes even surrounding area. There are a variety of other small things that they are hoping to entice you with and hope you buy. These can be higher profit items or just generally small ticket items they hope you will just throw in with your purchase to increase profit.
They are "impulse" buys because you don't go to the store looking for them, they are typically not on your list. but you see them, and on an impulse you buy them. Companies make these items very easily accessible, and convenient. Thus making the barrier to purchase small and the likelihood of purchase higher.
Some quick links for further reading on this..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impulse_purchase
http://www.kindredmedia.com.au/info/tempting_shopping/199/1
I would like to correlate this idea to something i would consider an important point in
- Social Media
- Customer service
- General community
Many times i have been in a situation where i wished i could ask a quick question or make a comment to a company. Sometimes even an idea to improve something. However, I would not be willing to take the time to call them, write a letter, sit on hold, try to find what to do or who to call. So i never did. But as a company who would truly be interested to hear my feedback, my complaint, my compliment or the like, would you miss this opportunity?
If so. Enter in social media.
If I run a company and i have a presence on Facebook, or twitter, and i prominently promote it. I Ensure people know its there and SHOW people I am listening. I have just enabled "the Impulse contact"
If you follow the premise that typically customer contact is good, and the more contact i have with a customer the more likely they are to be a happy customer, more likely to be a repeat customer, more likely be be a referral or fan. If so I need to ensure i give people every opportunity and every avenue to be "touched" or interacted with.
So you are involved with social media and being out there listening, waiting for people to talk about you.. That's great. But you can also use it as a quick connect for easy quick access to the impulse contact.
As an example I could be on a southwest flight or in this case (while i am typing this) waiting for Southwest flight 125 en route to Ohio. and notice how awesome the gate area is and how much i love the chairs with outlets and USB hubs and think. WOW this rocks. I can quickly go to twitter and say @southwestair I LOVE THIS. Thank you, or maybe tell them that this is the first time i have tried the business select and i am liking it so far.
This could be feedback that i am sure @southwestair would love to get. they now have real direct empirical evidence that some of the investments they have made recently are working and are improving their customer experience. Chances are that if they were not on twitter and made it SOO easy for me to provide that feedback that i would not have given it. Southwest is putting themselves out there and are in the channels that i use. They are participating in a genre that i am comfortable with and not forcing me to use the one they want. I am not being directed to a specific feedback channel rather i am being given the options and i can participate in the southwest conversation in a manner I CHOSE.
I for one think that is a FANTASTIC way of doing business. If your company TRULY values this type of feedback, and you WANT to interact with your customers. Then just having a phone number and email address is NOT ENOUGH. You must expand your presence and use of social media. You can use social media to benefit you and your customers in innumerable ways. But you have to be willing to get out there and figure it out.
What do you think?
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome here. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Or you can email me directly chris dot geier at Gmail.com
I think companies should use social media like you describe. Unfortunatly what I fear is faux social.
ReplyDeleteRecently I've seen a rash of situations where a marketing person is on twitter or has a blog and they don't care about being social, what they see is a group of people getting to gether and think, "that must be a market!"
I have a few marketing people I follow on twitter and I'm growing tired of them, it's really evident how shallow they are when they move from one company to another. All they really care about is thier product. Reminds me of a bad weather friend. (I live in South Florida and everyone is nice during a hurricane but the rest of the year they are not so nice.)
I think we are at a cross roads where you can get that small town mom and pop feel, but it'll be interesting what we as a society do with it. Do we want the big bookstore, hardware store and food chain? Or do we want the mom and pop situation where people take the time to help you even when they don't even make a nickle at it right then. I think we are going through a change where the comodity isn't the product, but rather situational advice and other information.
So using the situation you've described above I'd like to be able to tweet, "c14 at pbi and my battery is about to die" I'd like to get a response from southwest or someone else that says, "power outlet by c16 next to big palm" Now that would be something. That would be real marketing to me. I'd want to fly southwest next time for sure. They're watching out for me and that's the value add that I'd like to get from someone flying me around the country.
I think if marketing people can get out of their own way. Get past the idea of "I'm hyper about my product and you have to be too!" I think we'll be in a rural like world where people can help eachother out and we can all make great strides.
Thats a great comment, thank you very much. Great ideas, and that is exactly what i was hoping for. I think you are correct there needs to be a big culture shift and people need to realize why they are doing what they are doing. What is their intent. Is the work they are doing for their own agenda or does it really help their community out. I think your southwest idea is what more people need to creatively use this for. GREAT!!!
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