Posted by staceypilcher on Monday, June 7th, 2010 |
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Today, I was reading a review in The Wall Street Journal of the new book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, the 36-year old founder and chief executive of Zappos. As the title indicates,he attributes some of the success of Zappos on the company’s approach to customer service, or “delivering happiness.” I’d like to read more.
One of the best things to come out of social media is teaching companies the impact customer service has on a brand. Social media has made our transactions transparent. Those companies that embrace social media and customer complaints, as well as compliments, are finding that honesty truly does build brand equity. Even consumers know that not everything is perfect all of the time.
So take a walk in your customers’ shoes, who knows, after ten years, you might be able to sell your company for $1.2 billion, just like Mr. Hsieh.
Posted by staceypilcher on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 |
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In the early 1990s, while studying the brain activity of monkeys, neuroscientists discovered specific neurons would fire in a part of the brain’s frontal lobe with specific activities. What they also found was the same neurons fired in the monkey who was just watching the action. Mirror neurons let the observer experience at least part of the action taking place.
More recently in Daniel Goleman’s book Social Intelligence he says our brain is designed to make connections. If someone is angry with us, we have a similar reaction. If someone smiles at us, we become happier. “The fact that we can trigger any emotion at all in someone else–or they in us–testifies to the powerful mechanism by which one person’s feelings spread to another.”
Human actions and emotions register in others and in a profound way provide the power to change those that observe. How companies look, act and communicate with customers, then, has a great effect on their brand equity. An empathetic voice, a smiling face, and confident actions will go a long way in building trust.
This research reminds me how important it is in marketing to paint a picture and tell a story to customers – to make an emotional connection. And how easy a positive connection could be lost with a negative interaction.
Posted by staceypilcher on Monday, April 26th, 2010 |
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Culture has a great influence on how people communicate and process information. The Japanese culture is clearly steeped in tea. So how much of a challenge has it been to sell coffee in this country? In the 1970s Nestlé first asked this question. They hired Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, a market researcher and psychologist to help them determine the answer. What Dr. Rapaille found was that the Japanese had no connection or “imprint” to coffee. Without personal or cultural reference to the product, any attempts by Nestlé to sell to adults would likely fail.
So, Nestlé began by introducing coffee flavors in candy for children, to create an “imprint” so later in life these individuals would have a positive emotional response to the idea of coffee. In 1970, coffee sales in Japan were nearly non-existent; today Japan is the world’s third largest importer of coffee.
Speaking of culture, candy and Nestlé, the BBC reported the popularity of the KitKat bar among Japanese college students at exam time. Was it the green tea or cherry blossom flavor that boosted sales? Not entirely. It seems that the name KitKat is close to a Japanese expression “kitto katsu” meaning “I hope you will win” and used by students to wish each other luck before finals.
KitKat bars not only taste good, but are a good luck charm. What a perfect blend of culture, communication, and candy! Delicious.
