Tag Archives: Entitled Consumer

Put yourself in your customers flip-flops

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Every now and then, I’m fortunate enough to have a client engagement close to home. During one recent example, I was on my way to meet a client at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. My Lyft driver was a retired college professor who had taught business strategy at Drexel University for many years. He shared a wonderful anecdote about the first time he came to the Breakers in the 1970s with his wife. They were co-teaching a course, and the agenda was fairly light. In fact, they didn’t need to show up in the mornings until 10 a.m.

Unfortunately, for them, The Breakers was building an upscale condominium complex on the property, now known as Breakers Row. Every morning, the jackhammers and cement mixers would start up at 8 a.m. jolting them out of their illusions of paradise.

One night over drinks, one of the course members commented to my driver on the hotel’s beauty. The driver agreed and said that everything had been wonderful, but that he regretted how early the construction noise started every morning. When they got back to their room that night, they found a bowl of chocolate covered strawberries and a note apologizing for the inconvenience caused by the construction, and letting them know that for the remainder of their stay, construction would not start until 9 a.m.

A waitress or bar tender had overheard their conversation, noted their room number, informed their manager, and someone took the time to call the construction company, figure out a solution, and put themselves in their customer’s flip-flops.

As we’ve mentioned before, we get pushback from marketers when we use examples of USAA, Amazon, and Disney. Some marketers believe that it’s easier for them because of the resources at their disposal. But we always point out that customer-first behavior starts with a mindset. Without that, any investment in technology or process is going to be wasted. The Breakers didn’t use fancy listening platforms or big data solutions – just respectful empathy and a desire to deliver a world class experience to every customer.

Sephora’s customer focus is simply brilliant (and, at times, brilliantly simple)

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I get pushback when I point to Disney, USAA, or T-Mobile as examples of companies that excel at consumer-first marketing or customer-centricity. People argue that these companies have some sort of unfair advantage or extenuating circumstance that somehow makes focusing on the customer easier for them. But, even if you’re not trying to be the next Disney or USAA, every company can improve – and that starts with a mindshift, and doesn’t have to involve spending lots of money upfront.

To make the point, I usually turn to Tom Boyles, former SVP of global customer managed relationships at Disney Parks & Resorts. Tom spent most of his career in banking, and would point out that his opportunity to connect with customers at Disney was no greater than at any other stage in his career. He once told me that people would look at him and say, “it’s easy for you to connect emotionally with customers. You’ve got everything from Mickey Mouse to Johnny Depp at your disposal.” But, Tom would turn that around and ask them, “what’s more emotional than the roof over the head of your family, your ability to send your children to college, or your ability to afford your retirement?” Mortgages, 529 accounts, and 401Ks could be boring products to promote, but if you put yourself in your customer’s shoes and understand their emotional connection, it makes it a heck of a lot easier.

I’m not naive. I know that Disney spent more than $1 billion upgrading the customer experience at its parks. But, one of the reasons I point to Disney as a great example of a consumer-first business is because of the small things that it does. Look back at Tom’s title. He wasn’t running the CRM team. It was CMR – Customer managed relationships. Why? Because they believe that the customer owns the relationship and not the company. In Marketing to The Entitled Consumer, we reference the story of a security guard at a Disney park asking little girls that were dressed as princesses for their autographs.

I love finding small examples that demonstrate a firm’s commitment to being customer-first. Last week, on LinkedIn, I posted a picture of two stacks of shopping baskets in a Sephora store. The baskets are in two colors – one indicates that the shopper would like to be assisted and the other that they would like to be left alone. The response to my LinkedIn post has been tremendous. Thousands of people have viewed the post and hundreds have liked or commented. As I said in that post, customer-centricity and customer experience start with a mind shift – by putting yourself in your customer’s shoes.

Sephora is another one of those companies that I point to as an example of a consumer-first business. They’ve shown over the years a commitment to understanding and providing value to their customers. But, what I loved about this example was its simplicity. You don’t have to invest a billion dollars as Disney did to overhaul your entire process and system. Instead, you can change your outlook – truly consider what is valuable to your customers and make small, incremental changes that can have major impacts on your customer’s experience.

Who and where are entitled consumers?

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Marketing to the Entitled Consumer goes on sale today. We’ll spend the next few days highlighting some of the major findings, conclusions, and recommendations in the book. Starting with a question posed by the book title. What exactly is an entitled consumer?

For a long time, our working description was consumers that consider themselves deserving of privelege and special treatment. And, we’ve always believed that entitled consumers are far from a threat to marketers. We don’t see the term as pejorative. We believe entitled consumers represent an opportunity. But, only if marketers adjust how they attempt to build relationships with them.

We wanted to gain a more complete understanding of today’s consumer, and to get beyond entitlement as an abstract idea. So, we surveyed 7,000 consumers in six countries (2,000 in the USA, and 1,000 each in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) to better define and measure the concept. And we worked with outside experts (thank you KGR+C) to derive an Entitlement Factor from the data.

We were surprised by some of the findings. Most notably, entitlement is pretty much independent of traditional demographic categories. We expected to see a more hightened sense of entitlement among millennials, for example. But, we found limited differences according to generation, gender, socio-economic status, or education background.Entitlement segments 2x2

We found that entitlement is a synthesis of two related qualities, which we call hard and soft entitlement. Hard entitlement manifests in people making demands. Their basic attitude is “if you don’t give me what I demand, I’ll punish you.” Soft entitlement is related, but different. It’s reflected in people who are willing to share data to get better service, and expect companies to understand their needs. Their attitude is “I’ll help you give me what I want, because that’s what I’ve come to expect. When consumers demonstrate both hard and soft entitlement, we call them Fully Entitled.

Although the exact number of consumers in each category differs by country, our data indicates that more than two thirds of consumers are entitled – and we expect the trend to continue. And, since you can’t use traditional segmentation methods to identify them, we recommend that you treat everyone as entitled. Demanders will punish you if you don’t, Anticipators will leave in disappointment, and the Fully Entitled may do both. But, if treat them as though they are deserving of privelege and special treatment, you’ll be able to build profitable relationships with them. That’s what our book is all about!

 

On Sale Today!

Book cover with background

We will continue to share the major themes from the book over the next several days, but we hope you’ll want to learn more. We encourage you to purchase the book, and would love it if you’d leave us a review. Among other sources, you can find it here:

What causes hostility towards brands?

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When my former colleage Augie Ray posted recently that he has “given up on Amazon until they become a better employer and corporate citizen” it set me thinking. I realized something about how I patronize different brands. When I favor a brand, it’s often due to aligned values — I’m willing to spend more at Patagonia, for example, than at many of their competitors. Yes, they produce a quality product, but I also respect, and am willing to compensate them, for their principles.

I once commented that some companies seem to engage in “concerted acts of hostility” rather than “random acts of kindness.” And, unlike Augie’s principled stand against Amazon, I realized that when I have blacklisted brands, it’s almost always due to negative customer experience – or concerted act of hostility. There are companies that I refuse to patronize. For example:

  • I once rented a car from Hertz to drive to Miami airport. When I missed my flight, I ended up driving back home. I went back to Hertz, was given the same car, which hadn’t even been cleaned yet, and they charged me for two one-way rentals (which was significantly higher than returning it to the same rental center, even though I ultimately did).
  • Avis isn’t any better. They recently charged me for an extra day when returning a car that was 20 minutes late. They failed to take into consideration the fact that I received it late — waiting in line for more than an hour to pick it up — two days previously.
  • Uber has pissed me off in so many ways, but the final straw was when I ordered from UberEats when my son was in hospital. The driver drove in the opposite direction for 20 minutes to deliver a different order, and took more than an hour to actually get our food to us. When I spoke to customer service, initially they hung up on me. When I dialled back, they denied that he dropped off another order, finally admitted that he did, and then told me that our food was delivered within their permitted window. The food was cold and congealed. The customer service was just cold.
  • I live two doors away from a hotel in Palm Beach – The Tideline. It has a beautiful outdoor patio which we should love to frequent. We used to go their occasionally for breakfast or lunch, but the service is so bad that it was hard to keep going back. The final straw was when my son and I were sitting at the Sushi bar eating dinner, and were informed that we wouldn’t be able to order for 45 minutes because they had just received a large order. This had happened to my wife and I previously (although not in the middle of our meal). Beause it had happened before, and we had previously been told the cause, I asked them if it was because the owner had put in the order. And, they confirmed it. So, the billionaire owner of the hotel would rather interrupt a patron’s dinner so that he can be served. I’m not spending any more of my money at his establishment.
  • I once drove more than an hour for an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic. After waiting another hour to be seen, I was told that the doctor I was waiting to see was not an ENT specialist – which is why I had set up the appointment to see him. The RN was pleasant about it, but we canceled the appointment. I pointed out to the receptionist what had happened, and she didn’t seem to care. Nobody ever followed up with me either to apologize or to schedule with an actual ENT specialist.

To complicate matters, I do know that my expectations are higher for the Cleveland Clinic than for other hospitals. This is mainly due to having heard from their executives while I was at Forrester, about how much emphasis they place on customer experience. When they failed to meet basic courtesy, yet claim to value CX, I gave up on them.

I had a similarly nuanced experience with JetBlue. I used to hold them to a higher standard due to the experiences that I had enjoyed. When they let me down, badly, on a subsequent occassion, I stopped flying them for a while. Then, when I began to fly with them again, I changed how I thought about them. I now think of them as just another uncaring airline. They’re no worse than the others, but I no longer think of them as better. And, then there’s brands like Comcast, that I’d love to avoid, but I live in a condo which has a monopolistic relationship with the company. I live with them, but loath them.

I don’t have the answers on this one, but I’m intrigued to explore further. Do shared values lead to higher loyalty, while negative experiences lead to hostility? Certainly for me, that’s the case, but what’s your experience?

 

Good customer support can instill loyalty

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apple support

Although I own a lot of Apple products, I don’t consider myself a fan-boy. If anything, I’m constantly on the edge of giving up. Every time my Apple products don’t work the way they’re supposed to (isn’t ease-of-use a big part of the promise?) I start thinking about giving the Pixel phone a go or trying to work with a Surface or chromebook.

Usually, inertia takes over. I realize the effort it would take to manage and migrate my photos and music, and there’s the need to re-learn which way to scroll and which corner to click to minimize a window. None of it is insurmountable, but the magnetism of the new just isn’t strong enough to overcome the habits of the present (with a hat tip to Jobs to be Done research for this description).

But then I had a great customer support experience that guarantees my loyalty for the foreseeable future and raises the bar for the support team of every other company that I ever interact with. Without boring you with the technical challenge, I contacted Apple’s customer support team and, after some time, my case was escalated to a manager. As well as regular troubleshooting, at a couple of stages I had to send logs for him to forward to engineers.

When we first spoke, he told me that he would remain on my case until it was resolved. It took several days, but he was true to his word. What shocked me was his communication and tenacity. He told me exactly which days he was working and when he would follow up. He arranged specific times to call me and then called me at those times. He explained as much technical detail as I wished to know – and didn’t overwhelm or bore me with the rest. In short, he owned my case. He wouldn’t let go until it was resolved and I was satisfied.

My expecations of every company’s support are now so much higher, and my appreciation for Apple has pushed thoughts of Google, Microsoft, or Samsung to the very back of my mind.

Customer feedback: do you really want to know about my experience?

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Companies try all sorts of ways to get customer feedback. You see those emoji button stands as you exit airline security. Every fleet truck I get stuck behind seems to be emblazened with a “How’s my driving?” sticker.  And, last week I took my first ride on Florida’s new express train, the Brightline. On the multiple screens laid out in each train car, the messages alternated between ads, service information, and one message that encouraged passengers to “share your experience!” providing a hashtag for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. OK, Brightline, since you asked, here was my experience:

  • I was supposed to get a $10 coupon for registering. I never received it. When I explained that to the lady at the ticket counter, she took down my name, email, and phone number, but a week later, I haven’t heard anything from anyone. And, she was pretty rude and patronizing.
  • I tried purchasing tickets on my home computer, on my mobile browser, on the app, and at the kiosk in the station. None worked. The rude, patronizing lady succeeded in booking us on the train. By the time we got upstairs to board the train, we were, late for it. Our tickets didn’t work at the turnstyle. A very nice security officer got us through the gates and radioed ahead to hold the train for us.
  • Although our train car only had about 15 people in it, my son and I were given seats that were four rows apart. There was nobody else at the table which I was allocated, nobody in the seat beside him, and nobody in the 6 seats between us. There was also no way to change our seats in the app, so we just both sat at my table, and nobody questioned us.
  • On our return journey two days later, we booked the “Select” service, which Brightline bills as its “first class service”. This time the app did work to buy tickets (but still no coupon). Thanks to a collosally incompetent Lyft driver we missed the train we had booked. Brightline staff kindly and efficiently booked us on the next train — which was an hour later. We went to the Select lounge, where our advertised “enhanced experience” was supposed to include “an ever-changing lineup of enticing bites throughout the day and evening.” Neither my son nor I had eaten dinner (thanks Lyft driver!) and when we got to the lounge, all of the food was gone. Despite advertising “champagne, premium wines and beers, handcrafted cocktails, juices and soft drinks,” a lounge employee was removing everything except the beer, juice, and soft drinks. When I asked about food, I was told that food was only served until 9 o’clock. We got to the lounge at about 9:04. But, nowhere in Brightline’s ads or promotional literature does it say that food was only served until 9pm. And then, the lounge employee was about as rude and patronizing as her colleage from two days ago. I bought food for my son at Brighline’s over priced cafe — although the only reason we had booked “Select” was because we hadn’t eaten. Finally, a very kind employee at the cafe responded very appropriately to our story and put together a plate of cheese and cold-cuts for us.
  • I bumped into a manager and explained our plight. She was rude and patronizing. Maybe she trained the other two employees.
  • The WiFi wasn’t fast enough for my son to play Fortnite. That was a negative for him and a positive for me.

In Brightline’s defense, it is relatively new. But it’s not that new. The West Palm Beach-Fort Lauderdale segment opened in January, and they extended to Miami in May. I’d have thought they’d have worked out the kinks by now. My wife had taken it the week prior to my son’s and my trip and she loved it. Maybe that led to a hightened expectation on my end. And, some elements worked great. Melba, the cafe member in Miami that put together the charcuterie plate for us was a sweetheart. The security staff in both the Miami and West Palm stations were efficient, showed empathy, and frankly displayed better customer service than most of the service staff. And, the on board experience is clean, efficient, and pleasant.

But, I came away underwhelmed and disappointed. I’ll give Brightline another go — it’s not like driving to Miami is fun! But, Brightline, I offered my feedback to your employees and to one of your managers, and for the most part they were rude and patronizing. Since you asked for feedback on social media too, I’m happy to share it there. But there’s a lesson for companies to reconsider how they treat feedback — when you get it directly, in particular. If you genuinely want feedback, you might want to invest in some employee training and introduce some processes to capture the feedback and evolve your experience. If it was just an excuse to display your hashtag, I messed that one up for you. Sorry.

adidas shows how to demonstrate shared values

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parley shoes

I’m not exactly a fan of (American) Football. But, when you live in Florida, you can’t avoid the hype – especially as it relates to college football. This weekend the University of Miami will kick-off their season against LSU, which ordinarily wouldn’t interest me in the slightest. However, one story that caught my eye is that the Miami team uniforms will be made of repurposed and recycled materials. 

The uniforms were created by adidas in partnership with Parley For The Oceans – a partnership that began a few years ago with a limited edition sneaker, and has grown to include other partnerships with Stella McCartney, iconic European (round ball) football teams such as Manchester United, Juventus, and Real Madrid, World Cup national teams, and now, the Miami Hurricanes.

I first became aware of the adidas-Parley relationship last Christmas. My son wanted a pair of their sneakers, and I honestly thought the recycled plastic thing was a gimmick. But, at the same time, I was happy that he thought it was important. And, we had told him he could pick his own pair.

Since I saw the Hurricanes news, I clicked through to a few other articles and was really impressed with adidas’ strategy and commitment. This is no gimmick. Some of their shoes built with recycled materials are highly rated by serious runners and magazines. In 2017, adidas sold 1 million pairs of these shoes, is aiming for 5 million this year, and hopes to only use recycled plastic in its shoes by 2024. 

This is actually a really impressive demonstration of aligning with customer values. There’s so much bluster about straws and plastic bags in the news these days, and here’s a major brand quietly making a difference. In June and July, more than 900,000 runners participated in adidas and Parley’s “Run for the Oceans” – completing more than 12 million kilometers, including at events in 15 major world cities. adidas also put its money where it’s social consciousness is and matched the first million kilometers run with $1 per km in funding for Parley Ocean School initiatives.

In Miami, after the game, the adidas x Parley A1 jerseys will be auctioned off, with proceeds to benefit the world renowned University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS).

In Marketing to the Entitled Consumer, we advocate that brands should “align company values with your consumers’ values.” adidas gives a perfect example of how to execute on this principle.

Enjoy the long weekend – and, if you’re into it, enjoy the game!

What’s your whining channel of choice?

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Screen Shot 2018-08-28 at 9.33.58 AMI was listening to a podcast this morning when the interviewee mentioned that his twitter account had just been verified. If you didn’t know, Twitter verifies “accounts of public interest” so that the public can know that each is an authentic account. The interviewer, who already has a verified account, quipped that the best thing about that was that the interviewee’s complaints would now be dealt with more quickly by companies.

I laughed, and then I realized the inherent message. Some communications channels are better than others for whining. And, I know I’m guilty too. I’ve shouted into the Twitter ether (tweether?) at Comcast, US Airways (now part of American), Avis, ProFlowers, Starwood Hotels, JetBlue, and countless others.

For sure, there’s something cathartic about firing off a tweet in the moment to bitch about some shoddy service or deplorable experience. But, there’s more to it than that. Generally, you’re far more likely to get a response via Twitter than calling a service center (many of which have caused the present consternation in the first place). The social teams at most brands are really quick to respond to questions and complaints on Twitter. Of course, it helps that they know that your followers, and their followers will see your tweet and their response.

Few social teams are empowered to resolve your concern, although I have had some success with teams helping route me to the right people to resolve an issue. But, the cynic in me would say that a major part of their role is to remove the conversation from the public view, and prevent the negative story from gaining traction.

Let me take the example of ProFlowers. In May, my wife received flowers from a friend which were dry and shrivelled when they arrived. My wife called the customer service team who sent a new bouquet. This happened three times. By now, they were sending free vases and had refunded my wife’s friend. I took to twitter after the third screw-up, and the ProFlowers team responded within 15 minutes. They were apologetic, and gave me an email address that I was expected to contact to come to a resolution. Since, I didn’t expect anything to change, I didn’t email them. But, they succeeded in making it look like they were concerned and responsive. However, I will never buy anything from ProFlowers. I will never recommend ProFlowers. I will be an active brand assassin every time I tell this story.

What ProFlowers, and most other companies, fail to realize is although they quashed the public conversation, they didn’t resolve my issue. They never followed up. They lost my trust. They showed that they are not consumer-first. And, they’ve earned a brand assassin as a result. It’s not enough to deal with and try to limit or hide the whining. Understand the customer’s real concern, and do everything you can to make it right. That’s consumer-first. And, it’s critical when seeking to engage and build relationships with entitled consumers.

Data Transparency Delivers Long Term Benefits

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I was interviewed by DMNews for a piece on the challenges of delivering personalization to consumers who are skeptical about sharing their data.  It’s a good piece that underscores the importance of telling consumers the truth about what you intend to do with their data and the benefits they will receive.

 

How aligned are your values with your customers?

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As part of our research for Marketing to the Entitled Consumer, we surveyed 7,000 consumers in six countries. From the survey data, we define four segments of consumer – three of which are entitled in some form – and define those that show both dimensions of entitlement as “Fully Entitled”. Of these Fully Entitled consumers, 34% told us that they “only shop from places that support the same causes that I do,” and we write in the book that one way to demonstrate reciprocal value with consumers is to align your company with your consumers’ values.

But, what happens when you change direction? I just came across a Washington Post article that highlights how customers of Bonobos, Moosejaw, and ModCloth stopped shopping from these retailers after they were acquired by Walmart. As one former Bonobos devotee comments in the article: “I don’t begrudge a company for selling itself, but there’s something particularly egregious about the Walmart deal. I don’t like the way they treat their employees or how they’ve put smaller retailers out of business. It’s not a company I want to support.” In other words, their values no longer align with mine.

Time will tell whether this is a smart move by Walmart to broaden its customer base by appealing to non-traditional Walmart buyers. But, I don’t think it will be enough ultimately to simply own those businesses and expect the customers to stay. Walmart will need to change some of its corporate values to retain them.

It’s too easy in this day and age for consumers to understand corporate structures, track corporate behavior, and assess whether their values align. And, consumers are more willing than ever to vote with their wallets. If you don’t know what your customers care about, it’s time to start finding out! You don’t have to slavishly succumb to every demand, but you shouldn’t be surprised when customers notice and act accordingly.