I was about to give up and hang up, when the message changed: “Please hold for personal service”. YES! Exactly what I need. But lo and behold, a new (still pretty dull) recorded voice now started ranting on about how I am all important and they are always trying to improve the customer experience, so if I’d please press 1 to participate in the customer satisfaction survey. I didn’t, so I pressed 2 only to have the voice ask me to press 1 or 2 depending on the kind of help, I was in need of. Answering this left me hanging for another 4 or 5 minutes with lovely music until I was finally serviced by a lovely and very helpful SAS employee.

This is hardly a unique experience, and SAS is probably no better or worse than most. I, however, fail to understand why companies that recognise customers as their most important asset has to make simple contact SO COMPLICATED.

The post Pick Up, Please! appeared first on Nzinck.

It’s hardly news that the internet has transformed customer buying behaviour. To meet the new and ever-changing customer requirements, companies must adapt and reorganise. This is a huge challenge for most – not least for the well-established.

The danger of doing nothing is very real and present. Every day traditional companies lose terrain to web based startups, who are able to focus fully on building loyalty and customer engagement with cohesive experiences.

Customer centricity and creating cohesive customer experiences is not just about letting the customer continue their journey regardless of platform and channel. It’s more about knowing your customer’s needs, wants and behaviour, so you can deliver the right message in the right moment and context. The snag is being able to act on the customer’s premise and predict upcoming needs – whether it for is inspiration, product information, a concrete offer, quick follow up, recognition, personal service or a video on how to check the oil.

Timing is everything and shouting BUY a little too soon may turn interested instantly off – and possibly straight into the arms of the competitor. Buying a car is rarely a here-and-now decision. Kindling the customer relation carefully, inspiration should be offered in the early stages of the decision making process. Later, when the customer is ready, we offer more solid information on the specific model, a test drive to experience the car and only when a lead is burning hot, we push the sales message. After purchase the relationship is consolidated, as satisfied customers with a positive brand experience are more likely to buy again, trade up and recommend in their own network.

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Doesn’t most of what do boil down to routine? Remember the 80’s Rubik’s Cube. Only around 1% was able to solve it without cheats, while anybody could learn the few routines required to solve it in minutes or less. Much like learning how to drive. In the beginning, we would reach our destination all sweaty from concentrating on keeping pedals apart, remembering to signal and calculating collision courses with approaching vehicles. A few trips later, we only lose our orientation momentarily, when texting while driving.

What makes me indispensable?

If everything comes down to patterns and routines, what makes me indispensable? So, I’m in my self-driving car, not on my way to work, but to a concert, while… playing Candy Crush. Is it even my car? Probably not. More likely a shared car of sorts (not Uber). What kind, or do I care, if it’s not my own? That’s it for the car industry, unless they manage to do a Rolex. We still buy expensive watches, although we no longer need to look at it to know what time it is. In fact, this classic piece of “man jewellery” is doing very well, and perhaps “regular” cars can ride the same wave of nostalgia, until human driving is banned on public roads for safety reasons.

Why bother?

Back to the concert. Or can we actually be bothered? Standing there, uncomfortably squeezed in between all sorts of weird people, lining up for restroom and the less than perfect sound of live performance. Can we be bothered with other people in general? A recent study shows that the Danish youth prefers playing on their tablet to playing with their friends. And grown ups aren’t much better. 29% of the Americans would rather give up sex for 3 months than be without their precious mobile phone for a week. And it’s not just the Americans. Every year, the Institute for Futurology asks the Germans, what they like to do in their spare time. Only 30% says ”sex” – a 10% drop since 2011. On the other hand, 75% want to go online – a smashing 56% increase over 5 years. In Britain, they are not only experiencing Brexit, but a regular ”Sexit”, which according to Telegraph will lead to no couples having sex in 2030, if the trend continues. The Brits would rather watch Game of Thrones and Friends reruns.

Will lack of sex end us before global warming?

In this gloomy perspective, lack of sex will end us before global warming has a chance to. Fortunately, it seems we get to hang on to the steering wheel a little longer, while the Council on Ethics work out to what extend self-driving cars should be programmed to take out senior citizens before toddlers.

The post Is Sex More Important than Global Warming? appeared first on Nzinck.

Why is B2B so boring, humorless and cold? My inbox is crammed with B2B inquiries that reveal an alarming lack of understanding of me and my business. It’s the same old business bullshit. Traditional letters, so detached and deadly drab that most of them, fortunately are discarded by good old miss Outlook before reaching my delicate eye.

Personas are increasingly used to develop relevant content for business customers. But why then is the actual person then given such low priority? It’s people, we are communicating with – not companies. And even as business customers, most of us are guided by unconscious impulses. We may be really good at rationalizing our choices and preferences afterwards, but the fact is, that even business people act on emotion.

B2B no doubt will become much more engaging, effective and enjoyable, once we start communicating to and as people rather than detached companies.

The post Does B2B have to be Boring? appeared first on Nzinck.

Like sheep

Like sheep, we stood there, while a huge bearded man yelled for us to stay on the yellow line and warned us not to take photographs. Quite unpleasant, come to think of it. A bit like being reprimanded for slouching in kindergarten. But at the time, we had a feeling of “Waaau! We’re actually here. At the Supreme shop, man…” I was one of them – a Bro :)

A few hours later, all pieces in the new collection were sold out, despite the one-item-per-customer policy. We got a hoodie and a hat, and my son almost peed himself when they generously through in some free stickers. When we finally came out of the store, he sombrely warned me not to throw away the branded bag. Or crease it.

What’s the trick?

What is Supreme’s trick? They have a lousy webshop. Service sucks, and the products are kind of mediocre and almost always sold out. I’ve never seen any marketing, and as far as I know, they’ve never done anything to engage their customers. Yet they somehow manage keep their customers for decades and recruit new generations, who find them – like newly hatched sea-turtles find the ocean.

They are simply THERE! That’s their trick. They are out there on the ramp, where the users are – along with all the pro-skaters, who of course already got a piece of the latest drop. The shops are manned by skaters, who are obviously better at skating than customer service. But they are authentic, full of integrity and a courage their target group identifies with. Daredevils, fearless of scratches and broken limps. Sticking to what you believe in is also courage. Not trying to expand your target group or selling out to sell more. And playing hard to get is also known to have a certain effect…

Most of us would be in awe to find our logo portrayed in a fancy magazine on a hoodie worn by Justin Bieber or Rihanna. Even if we’d paid for it. Rumour has it, that Thrasher (another skater brand) has actually asked Bieber and Rihanna to quit wearing their clothes. Of course, I smell a rat, but nevertheless… It’s far more effective and authentic than what we usually see.

And I must admire a brand, who can actually sell their used stickers on Ebay.

The post Can You Sell a Used Sticker? appeared first on Nzinck.

Just imagine if your customers spontaneously and on their own accord create a group where they discuss and evaluate your brand (for better or worse) and help each other to the best user experience of your particular product.

I recently became the proud owner of a Garmin GPS sport watch, and a new world of knowledge and inpiration opened up to me. Garmin is very engaged with events dealer level, lots of videos on Youtube and route inspiration on their home page. But, what surprised me was the incredible number of communities where customer share tips and experiences. And heck if there isn’t an entire Facebook group specifically for my model. In fact, there are individual Facebook groups for each of Garmins sport watches – the largest with over extremely active 13.000 members.

In these customer-driven communities, users happily take charge of:

• Trouble shooting and problem fixing
• Inspiration with regards to use, functions and apps

And, they don’t miss a chance to praise product and customer service. This is customer engagement at is core. It’s not for sale, but what can we do to earn it?

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Humanising Brands

Inspired by a full day in the great company of Martin Lindstrøm (Small Data Symposium in Copenhagen), I’ll zoom in on the value of humanising brands. We are very aware of not forgetting the human dimension in the excitement over the endless opportunities for automating services and communication – especially in connection with customer service and written communication. But what about all the other elements that make up the total brand experience?

There are many ways to give brands a human touch, but it often is the small symbols that generate emotions, true customer engagement and loyalty. Lindstrøm showed a couple of examples, which made even this audience of professional marketeers coo: “Oh, so cute”:

1. When your Mini is returned from the body-shop with a note on the dashboard saying “I’ve missed you!”
2. When Roomba, the robot hoover, says “Oops” upon its light collisions with you or the furniture
3. When the toy store has a big door for grown ups and a small one for kids

It sounds simple

It sounds simple, but often the simple stuff is the hardest to come up with.

I’ve given it a go for household appliances:

1. These products are loyal housemaids, so why make them so dull, clean and impersonal in their visual design? And what about sound design – why doesn’t my washing machine play “We are the champions” when it’s done, instead of 3 long piercing beeps?
2. Delivery often happens in a brown box by the door. Why not add a big brightly coloured bow and a card saying something like: “Congratulation on your new best maid!”?
3. Follow up and inspiration, I’ve never actually experienced – but how about tips on how to make your teenager best friends with new Mr. Washer?
4. Service. And when Mr. Washer falls ill, it would be nice if you could book a technician to come at 7-8 am, 6-7 pm or even on the weekend, instead of having to take out a plus 4 hour slot during work time.

There really is plenty opportunity for humanising brands and improving the cuteness factor, and not only for household appliances.

The post “Oh, so cute” Takes the Cake appeared first on Nzinck.

Like lemmings, we flock heedlessly in the same direction, focusing all efforts and resources on the next big thing: A new technology or marketing mantra to replace the old and obviously hopelessly obsolete, so we can boost sales, brand value, conversion rates or whatever else may be the answer to our prayers.

The new black may be mobile marketing, apps, QR codes, SEM, SEO, tracking tools, social media marketing, viral marketing, re-targeting tools, reputation management, blog marketing, marketing automation or digital magazines. The shear fact, however, that they are on this list, probably means they will be ever so last season tomorrow. In theory at least.

It might seem to be arguing against any development in marketing approach, which however, couldn’t be more wrong. I welcome any tool, thought or technology that can improve my understanding of and engagement with our customers. Not because it’s a fancy new tool, but because it enhances my customer experience and exceeds my expectations.

New marketing specialties, that spring from true, identified customer needs/behaviour and the overall marketing strategy are effective, if used properly. Their real value is released only, if we take a holistic approach and integrate each specialty in the exact spot on the customer journey, where they add value.

Thus, we advocate for putting the marketing strategy first and aligning specialties accordingly – not the other way around, which appears to be a consequence of the popular blind pursuit of the new black.

The post The New Black? appeared first on Nzinck.

Whether we are on Facebook or not, people talk about our brand and what they say define it. It’s beyond our control, but by joining in the conversion, we have an opportunity to learn about our customers, and show them our sincere interest in giving them the best possible experience.

Customers have moved beyond traditional marketing. They don’t want to be communicated to – they demand conversation. Not just on social media platforms, but also on your corporate website and other touch points where they meet your brand. They expect dialogue and quick response similar to good old fashioned up close and personal service.

Do you hear voices?

And the beautiful thing about conversation is that it requires listening as well as talking. So tune in to all the voices out there, and act on it. You might not like everything you hear, but embracing the unique opportunity of learning from the voices is vital to the success of any business.

Listening to your customers allows you to pinpoint areas for improvement and create customer experiences that exceed expectations and generate loyalty.

Identify your sources of information

Being alert and open to direct approaches from customers, suppliers, staff, the press and other stakeholders is certainly a start, but we recommend setting a game plan for your feedback gathering.

You need to identify the sources of information. Where do people talk about your company/brand and where would they like to be able to talk with you? It could be:

• Different types of social media like blogs, microblogs (eg Twitter), content communities (eg YouTube), social networking sites (eg Facebook)
• Feedback from your personal meetings with customers (eg customer service, sales persons)
• Contact via website (mail, chat, formula) etc., just continue the listing. Various technologies enable very detailed and actionable feedback mechanisms today.

Listening without action, however, is a waste of time. Companies need to engage in conversation, take proactive and corrective action and generally be prepared to alter and adjust plans continuously to optimize the customer experience.

Enjoy the conversation!

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A broader perspective

Turning the lens sharply on the customer, adjusting and optimising customer engagement in terms of KPIs on the dashboard may, however, be too narrow. In our determination to understand the customer, we tend to forget the employees and their role in creating genuine customer engagement. Widening the perspective just a tad allows us to include employee engagement in the equation.

Employee engagement is imperative to engaging customers. With insight, responsibility and authority, engaged employees are in a unique position to build relationships with customers that could never be accomplished by marketing automation.

Will companies with the best robots win all the customers? I’m convinced they wont. Smart technology can help us get the right message across at the right time, but lasting loyalty requires a personal relationship between the customer and an engaged employee.

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