The main subject of the chapter is to explain how perception of people works and how looks a way from our senses to interpretation of its signal from marketing perspective. It also describes how marketers use our perceptional behaviors to position different brand.
I find the chapter very interesting because it clearly explains important things in a simple way. What is more, inside this part of the book you can find many practical examples as well as pictures from marketing world which helps you to better understand theoretical knowledge.
Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 22(8): 649–668 (August 2005) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20078
Review of article from a Proquest data base:
The market of alcohol beverages is very profitable and sophisticated as exists on them huge competition. One of the most desirable consumers are young students who just begin their adult life, The article tries to explain why youth from colleges and universities start drinking, what are their main reasons to do so and how often they used to drink during their studies. All the answers are based on random group of people from biggest American universities.
In my opinion the article itself is not as interesting as of its subject. The language is very specialized and should be understood for people dealing with statistic research rather than marketing behaviors. The main topic is not to explain reasons why college students start drinking but if the results answer some hypothesis given at the beginning. Positive side of the article is huge bibliography on which it is based on so everyone who is interested in this kind of research can easily extend his or her knowledge by reading other publications mentioned in text.
Filed under: Classes
The Boomerang Effect
How Market Dynamics Are Driving Customers Back to the Manufacturer
Nowadays, buying products customers have a direct pipeline to the name on the label, and they expect the manufacturer to be ready to provide information whenever they want it. These customers have known and respected your brand; now they are raising the stakes of your relationship with them. Manufacturer should ask himself: Are we prepared to take advantage of this new dynamic?
Consumers now assume they have access to any brand they want, regardless of where they purchased the product. Consumer cares less about where they buy than where and how they get support and service.
As manufacturers become more involved in servicing – and occasionally selling to – end customers, how is the role of their channel partners changing? The changes have been a major wake-up call to retailers and resellers to improve the quality of their own customer service, both in stores and via the internet. They have to figure out the value they are adding beyond holding the product for pickup.
Companies should look at the rich insights they are collecting from online and call center interactions as an opportunity to get to know their customers and serve them more effectively. The better companies serve them, the more they will reward companies with loyalty and revenue. As organizations develop new processes for managing and measuring the relationships they have with online customers, they’re able to leverage those efforts to drive more effective marketing campaigns.
Advices to companies in communication with customers:
· Don’t overdo the promotional offers – and never communicate with customers about topics they have not expressly shown an interest in.
· Think about how you would like to be treated as the customer – that’s the right attitude to take.
· Treat different customers differently. Relationships are developed with individuals having specific needs – not market segments – and it is therefore necessary to identify each customer uniquely.
Filed under: Classes
Turning Customer Experiences into Competitive Edge.
In a global and information-rich economy, many of the familiar avenues to gaining and keeping a competitive edge, such as product innovation and or speed-to-market, are not as effective as they once were.
Greg Gianforte, RightNow Technologies CEO: “Competing on product innovation or price is too hard these days. Even if one of these gives you a short-term boost, it doesn’t translate into long-term advantage anymore.”
It essentially ensures that each department and touch – from sales to billing to returns- act collectively in the customer’s best interests to generate long-term loyalty. It requires starting from the customer’s view first (not the company’s), then aligning people, processes and technology to ensure that interactions are valuable from the customer’ vantage point.
Peppers and Rogers Group, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers: “Suppose a customer calls to complain to your firm, and his complaint doesn’t get resolved. When this customer hangs up the phone… your company loses value at that very moment.”
Nikon, David Dentry: “Every day we get three to four e-mails from customers that can’t believe how quickly we have responded to customer service e-mails. They get a good, positive experience and walk away with a positive view of the brand and company. Nikon’s business results indicate that our products are easier to use and that our support has done a good job in getting our customers to help they need, whether through self-service or through less expensive channels such as e-mail. And all of the improvements have come about by focusing on the customer experience first.”
Product, people and process must be built around the value and needs of the customer base in order to ensure that the customer experience is measurable and trackable for the company, while relevant and consistent for the customer.
5 Best Practices to Managing Customer Experiences:
1) Walk a mile in the customer’s shoes.
Peppers and Rogers Group, Becky Carroll: “There are ‘moments of truth’ along the customer lifecycle that make or break a customer relationship. The goal is to have the right information ready at the right time and channel for that customer. This requires a cross functional approach that gives the personnel on the front line the knowledge they need, when they need it.”
2) Recognize customer differences.
3) Mobilize the enterprise.
4) Use self service as part of a Multi-Channel strategy.
5) Remember that Customer Experience Management is not a one time event. Take the customer’s point of view consistently and regularly.
It is important to understand who your valuable customers are, what they need now and will need in the future.
Whatever you sell, the only way to differentiate your company and win in the long term is through the quality of service around the product.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) refers to the methodologies and tools that help businesses manage customer relationships in an organized way.
For small businesses, customer relationship management includes:
- CRM processes that help identify and target their best customers, generate quality sales leads, and plan and implement marketing campaigns with clear goals and objectives;
- CRM processes that help form individualized relationships with customers (to improve customer satisfaction) and provide the highest level of customer service to the most profitable customers;
- CRM processes that provide employees with the information they need to know their customers’ wants and needs, and build relationships between the company and its customers.
Customer relationship management tools include software and browser-based applications that collect and organize information about customers. For instance, as part of their CRM strategy, a business might use a database of customer information to help construct a customer satisfaction survey, or decide which new product their customers might be interested in.
