Filed under: Business Models
Today’s post comes from Bridgz data technician Sharon Neuenfeldt.
When I go shopping, I have some pretty strict rules that govern my choice of store, given the product selection I’m looking for.
For example, where do I go for groceries – Cub or Rainbow? The Cub store nearest me has easy access to parking, the aisles are wide and the checkout process is usually pretty fast and painless. My local Rainbow? The parking lot is a nightmare, the aisles are crowded and illogical, and the checkout process takes forever. So, no brainer, I go to Cub.
I use the same rules to decide if I go to Office Max or Office Depot, Target or Walmart, and so forth.
However, when I run out for lunch, I repeatedly go to a local restaurant where it regularly takes a 10 minute cruise to find a parking spot, the lines are long and checkout can take anywhere from two minutes to 10 minutes. Why?
Today’s post comes from Bridgz’s director of production services Denise Maher-Gall.
Car dealerships and car salesmen get a bad rap for being crooked, uncaring and even slimy. However, this last spring my husband and I had a wonderful customer experience with the purchase of our 2011 Jeep Liberty.
Today’s post comes from Bridgz engagement strategist Andrea Krohnberg.
So you’ve just spent several weeks conducting an intense study of your customers to better understand who they are, what keeps them up at night, how your brand supports their needs, how they make their purchase decisions and so forth. Congratulations.
Today’s post comes from Bridgz creative director Michelle Van Santen.
I took my pet to the groomer last week. It was my first time visiting this particular location.
Several days later I received a card in the mail from the groomer’s office. I opened it, expecting to find some sort of upsell or promotion, but there was none of that. This was a true, traditional ‘Thank You’ card, expressing earnest gratitude for my business. How refreshing!
These days, many companies are so focused on turning new customers into money-generating tools that they skip the middle step of solidifying a relationship. Too often, I’ve soured on a brand experience because the employees had been trained to start cramming membership upgrades and offers down my throat right off the bat.
Sending ‘Thank You’ cards after doing business is a small, inexpensive step that can go a long way toward leaving a good impression and encouraging future transactions.
As with any relationship, moving a customer from first-time buyer to loyal brand advocate requires time and effort. The fact that this company held off on trying to upsell me in our initial interaction increases the chances that I’ll become a devoted customer of theirs over the long run.
Today’s post comes from Bridgz associate copywriter Nick Nelson.
With profits sinking and a brand on the brink of irrelevance, Domino’s Pizza took a bold and unprecedented gamble. They admitted that their product was
crummy.
Through a robust ad campaign and a full-on social media blitz, the pizza chain took accountability and leveled with customers. In nationally televised commercials, they showed real photos of mashed up, unappetizing deliveries. They shared reviews from disgruntled consumers declaring that the pizza tasted like cardboard. CEO Patrick Doyle admitted very publicly that the time had come for his company to ditch its old recipe and start from scratch, with new ingredients and a new approach.
At one point in time, this might have looked like brand suicide. But in today’s customer-controlled marketplace, where trust is an increasingly important factor, folks have responded well to the candid campaign. Indeed, a recent report from Bloomberg BusinessWeek indicates that Domino’s has enjoyed strong sales since launching the corporate overhaul in 2008 despite the economic downturn.
Some will say that the food offerings from Domino’s are still lackluster. Others will say that their success has more to do with pricing (they’ve offered some killer bargains as part of the campaign). Regardless, you have to respect this courageous and forthright gambit, and the results suggest that the chain’s refreshing honesty may be resonating with customers.
Customer loyalty programs are great in theory. They can incite repeat purchases and build brand affinity by rewarding continued patronage. If executed poorly, however, these programs achieve the exact opposite of their intended outcome, actually eroding a customer’s attachment to the brand.
I travel often, so I’ve got a lot of experience with loyalty programs for airlines and hotels. One thing that I’ve noticed far too often is that when, as a customer, you actually try to redeem your reward points, you’re treated like a second-class citizen.
Note: Today’s entry is a guest post from Bridgz employee Nick Nelson.
A recent post from Elizabeth Glagowski on The 1to1 Blog noted that Sprint is banking its future on enhanced customer engagement. As a longtime Sprint customer, the entry resonated with me.
Glagowski wrote:
From 2008 to 2010, the company was in crisis mode. It focused on customer satisfaction as the key to getting back on track. [VP of Customer Experience Jerry] Adriano says the company dug in to stabilize the customer care organization by meeting expectations, addressing discrete pain points, improving first call resolution and satisfaction within channels, and encouraging employees to consider the importance of the customer experience.
The company wants to go even further for 2011-2013. “For us it’s about a shift,” Adriano told the audience. “It was about satisfaction and now we want to drive loyalty and advocacy. We want interactions to be one of the reasons you stay with us and recommend us. We want to exceed expectations.”
In the world of wireless telecommunications, competition is stiff. More than most, this is an industry where customers are in control, with Sprint vying for business alongside such hulking entities as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Virgin. If you anger your subscribers, they won’t hesitate drop you and head elsewhere (at least once their current plan is up).
A recent article in Adweek stated rather emphatically that digital agencies need to diversify or they will die. Most are too narrow in their service offerings, lacking the capability to meet the changing needs of client companies looking for integrated multi-channel marketing programs that bridge online with traditional 
avenues.
The article suggested that most digital agencies are going about integration the wrong way and are actually losing traction. They can’t simply bolt on additional capabilities, but rather must build a unified marketing model, driven by customer insight, a common strategic platform and a database system. This enables centralized management and measurement of triggered communications across online and traditional sales/distribution channels. Most digital agencies are focused on disparate tactical capabilities and have not made necessary investments in infrastructure.
Client requirements are changing, as is clearly evidenced in the just-released 2011 CMO Council State of Marketing Report, in which the emerging new agenda is focused on data, insight, measurement and cross-channel integration.
Note: Today’s entry is a guest post from Kim Perila, Director of Strategy at Bridgz Marketing Group.
As customers, we wait for things every day. We stand in that longer-than-usual line to make a purchase. We search the store for an available expert to assist with a question. We hold on the phone for customer service to take our call. But when that waiting time is up, the action that we encounter can make all the difference in the long run.
