For years movie houses have attempted to lure customers by offering the top new releases or bargain prices
without giving much thought to the off-the-screen customer experience, which was pretty much the same at most theaters. A trip to the cinema consisted of waiting in line to buy tickets, stopping by the concessions counter to buy the same overpriced candy and popcorn with melted orange stuff poured on it, then hurrying into the dark theater to try and discover a few available seats.
Then came stadium seating that offered improved creature comfort, with reclining backs and better sight lines, as a means for improving the movie experience. The introduction of IMAX added further enhancements in terms of sound and picture quality on large curved screens, but there were only a limited number of theaters and they were not convenient for much of the population. Until now.
A recent episode with Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines provides another glaring example illustrating that in today’s business landscape the customer rules, whether right or wrong. I’m not saying Smith is wrong, but I don’t think he was totally right either. There was a fair amount of media exploitation going on.
What he did was launch a Twitter tirade after being asked to leave a flight from Oakland to Burbank last Saturday, because his over-sized body was supposedly too large to fit in the seat and he was infringing on the space of the person next to him, as well as creating a safety threat — at least that’s how it was rationalized by the pilot and crew.
Filed under: Customer Rules | Tags: auto industry, customer experience, worst practices
Talk about leading with your chin. A car dealership in Minneapolis is actually suing one of its customers because they made a mistake — this has to be one of the best worst practices I’ve seen in awhile.
The case in point is a woman named Tammie Townsend who leased a 2007 Chrysler Pacifica from Walser Chrysler in Hopkins, MN, then agreed to purchase the vehicle when the dealer offered a very attractive buyout price, well below blue book value. She opted to finance through the dealer and signed the contract, driving off with a pretty good deal. Or was it a steal?
Filed under: Business Models | Tags: customer experience, email, marketing, word of mouth
Here’s a thought: when companies ask if the customer wants to unsubscribe from unwanted email solicitation, they should honor that request, or they shouldn’t ask. Very often they do not but are merely complying with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. In many cases by unsubscribing we are merely validating our email addresses for distribution to more spam lists.
It would seem this should be a matter of proper social etiquette — especially for a company that is in the social etiquette business.
In a push marketplace, companies drove repeat purchasing with price promotions, rebates and reward programs, all of which came at the expense of longer-term brand equity.
Three things happened: 1) brand value was defined on rational terms relative to price or reward, rather than a deeper, more emotional connection between the brand and the customer; 2) discount and reward programs had to be sustained or customers would leave in search of more desirable perks from competitive companies, thus eroding profit margin and playing into the commodity trap; and 3) by design, this approach tended to attract the wrong kinds of customers, those that are price sensitive, less loyal and more likely to comparative shop.
