Customer Experience: The Psychological Shortcut

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Everyday we face hundreds of choices. It gets complicated. And this is why we create habitual behaviour — whether it is to take the same route to work, whether we put on our underwear before our sock everyday, or simply the same breakfast. It makes our life easier and we can go onto autopilot.

Consumer Decision Making Shortcuts

When there is no autopilot system, these choice get a bit to hectic. We look for the mental shortcuts that will make our decision making process easier. Its why we use the peer review system so often. For example,

  • If a hundred people say its good, we will try it.
  • If a blogger has a 100 000 RSS readers we follow them.
  • If some one we respect loves that product or service, we will give it a try. [Read more...]

Why Your Big Budget Advertising Is Doomed To Failure (Sorry)!

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The traditional media eco-system is going through a major metamorphosis. At first glance it would seem that this is largely driven by the changes of an evolving internet platform and mobile media — something where I think many marketers are taking huge strain just to manage the effects it is having on their brand and media strategies.

Changing Consumer Behaviour

Personally, I think this strain is more about the change in how our consumer are making decisions today. And I think this is the flaw where most media strategies fail.

There is no doubt that there is a symbiotic relationship between the evolving multimedia platforms and consumer behaviour. How consumers make decisions and what influences these decisions has  radically evolved from the first TV commercial and marketer’s ability to refine the advertising process.

Today, TV commercials do not have the credibility that they used to. As consumers, we no longer dogmatically believe what a brand says about itself to be true. Now we believe what other consumers say and we the ability to find information in different ways and validate what we want through a peer review system.

How Billions of Dollars Are Being Flushed Down The Toilet

All I have to do is go online validate if I am making the right choice about a product I want. Lets say its a new printer that I am about to buy. It looks like a good product and I know it has a good brand name.

What happens when I use my Blackberry, click through amazon to see what other people say and find 10 bad reviews? I replace the product with one that has good reviews.

For the brand that could mean millions of dollars of advertising investment and years of brand building down the tube. Ouch. And if your consumer believes that you are not being upfront and honest you will pay a severe price.

The Fragmented Media Eco-System

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Ok, I have Your Money, Now Customer *F* Off …

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I suppose I could complain about the really bad customer experience and customer service (and indifference) of Blackberry South Africa and MTN’sinability to look after me as a client, and actually phone back a week ago when promised.

But this type of customer service is so typical of a large organisation. I don’t think it’s limited to South Africa, but I think it’s a worldwide issue. Certainly my experience shows this. I could list a list so long that will become boring.

The greatest problem is that most organisations have structured their business processes and systems to others impossible to provide customer service. They are designed to screw up the customer experience.

So what’s the problem? We have your money, now bugger off!

Let me put this into context here and expand on my Blackberry / MTN:

  • My Blackberry Bold got stolen and I went through the insurance process and got a new Blackberry Bold.
  • I collected the new phone from MTN’s “customer services” centre (they really are customer irritation centres)
  • The service consultant service consultant told me not to worry if there were any problems I could bring back within seven days.
  • There was a problem. Ironically, the B on the Blackberry keypad works intermittently. And when I took my phone back to get a new one MTN refused to take it.
  • The problem: I did not have the original box and the Blackberry phone came in. I had the barcode, and all the correct numbers, but not the physical cardboard box.
  • The MTN consultant spoke to Blackberry and they would not Blackberry budge.
  • The Blackberry Problem: Their warehousing department cannot accept anything back unless is comes back in the original box
  • The MTN consultant said they would chase this and promised to phone me later that day to see what he could do.
  • My current situation: Nothing a week later — or rather a very load but F*&K You from Blackberry and MTN. We have your business so stop complaining and bugger off.

The common customer service issue

There is no doubt that there is a large degree of indifference shown by MTN here. There is no doubt that their staff are not delivering.

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Customer Experience, Positioning, Culture and The Archetypes

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You can have the best product in the world but unless you have a customer to sell it to, you don’t have a business.

And you don’t have a business unless you have decent competent staff to deliver the product. And they have to do it in such a way that your customer keeps coming back for more.

This is why your business is about relationships and the customer experience. It is about your prospects buying into your company and trusting you. It’s about feelings not cold, hard rational facts.

And what are feelings about?

Personality

It’s about how you express yourself, how your staff behave and how you create an emotional experience for your prospects.

People identify with resonate with what is familiar and with what similar.

One of the best ways to understand this is through what are known as archetypes.

12 Archetypal Personalities and The Customer Experience

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The Warrior Customer Experience

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Your business is about relationships and creating a customer experience. It is about your prospects buying into your company and trusting you. It’s about feelings not cold, hard rational facts.

And what are feelings about? Personality.

The Warrior Personality and Customer Experience

This archetypal Warrior personality helps you identify your brand, culture and customer experience. It shows you how you can structure your brand has a positive and a negative side to it.

Your positive personality is your desired brand expression. It is who you are and how you want your customers to experience you.

Your negative personality is expressed when you are not able to manage your brand properly.

The good thing about the negative personality and customer experience so that it allows you to actively manage your brand, culture and customer experience.

When you identify a negative traits appearing in your customer experience and brand culture you know there is something wrong.

Who Is The Warrior Personality and Customer Experience

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The Loyalist Customer Experience

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Your business is about relationships and creating a customer experience. It is about your prospects buying into your company and trusting you. It’s about feelings not cold, hard rational facts.

And what are feelings about? Personality

The Loyalist Personality and Customer Experience

This archetypal Loyalist personality helps you identify your brand, culture and customer experience. It shows you how you can structure your brand has a positive and a negative side to it.

Your positive personality is your desired brand expression. It is who you are and how you want your customers to experience you.

Your negative personality is expressed when you are not able to manage your brand properly.

The good thing about the negative personality and customer experience so that it allows you to actively manage your brand, culture and customer experience.

When you identify a negative traits appearing in your customer experience and brand culture you know there is something wrong.

Who Is The Loyalist Personality and Customer Experience

[Read more...]

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