Post on 13-Mar-2016
description
Changing Customer Expectations
• The “Impossible Triangle” is history
• Low cost • High Quality • Fast • An “experience”
Customers Have Changed
We Want: • Personalized experience • To feel valued • Relationship
Understanding Someone Different from You Means Understanding
Their Life
Their priorities Their values
The experiences that define them
Try This Exercise!
• When asked to name how Kennedy died…
• Matures & Boomers – Gunshot in Dallas
• Gen X – Plane crash near Martha’s Vineyard
• Gen Y – “Kennedy who?”
Matures (age 69 and older)
• Iconic entertainer: Frank Sinatra • HHI: $40,400 • Defining Idea: Duty • Style: Team player • Work is: an inevitable obligation • Education is: a dream • Reward because: you’ve earned it • Home stuff: Timex, milk and cookies • Money: put it away, pay cash • Family: traditional nuclear • Technology: slide rules and rotary phones
Boomers (age 50-68)
• Iconic entertainer: Mick Jagger • HHI: $59,800 • Defining Idea: Individuality • Style: Self-absorbed • Work is: an exciting adventure • Education is: a birthright • Reward because: you deserve it • Home stuff: Casio, milk and Oreos • Money: buy now, pay later • Family: disintegrating • Technology: calculators, touchtone phones
Generation X (age 37-49)
• Iconic entertainer: Madonna • HHI: $49,500 • Defining Idea: Diversity • Style: entrepreneur • Work is: a difficult challenge • Education is: a way to get there • Reward because: you need it • Home stuff: Swatch, milk and Snackwells • Money: cautious conservative: save, save • Family: latchkey kids • Technology: spreadsheets and cell phones
Generation Y (age 18-36) • Iconic entertainer: Lady Gaga • HHI: control $160 B in spending • Defining Idea: Authenticity • Style: Worldly • Work is: a chance to do some good • Education is: an incredible expense • Reward because you can share it • Home stuff: use phones to tell time, iPads,
Xbox, PS3, Wii, organic • Money: earn to spend • Family: merged families • Technology: all access,
text messaging
No More “Joe Consumer”
"The concept of an 'average American' is gone, probably forever. The ‘average American’ has been replaced by a complex, multidimensional society that defies simplistic labeling.”
– Demographics expert Peter Francese
Source: New U.S. Census to Reveal Major Shift: No More Joe Consumer. AdAge, October 12, 2009.
Connecting with Those “Not Like You”
1. People Need What They Need
2. Relieve Pain
3. 6 Ways to Deepen Customer Experiences
People Need What They Need
Not Just What, But How
• Public storage payment options
Men Hate Ironing
• Omni Hotels learned that men hate ironing
• Their “Select Guest” program now offers free ironing of two garments
Texas Medical Association
Your Turn
Think of a Customer “Pain Point” & How You Might Relieve It
Ask Them!
• Formal methods, such as surveys, reveal insights – Omni Hotels, Safelight Auto Glass
• Informal conversation with customers
• Soliciting feedback from
front-line employees
Employee Feedback
• Front desk clerk at boutique hotel
Hire Diversity
• Bilingual or multi-lingual associates to serve diverse customers
• State Farm agency hired
Gen Y agent
• Agent works leads through social media and texting, not phone calls
#2: Cultivate Your “Pilot Fish”
Consumer Insights: Women
• The truth can never hurt you
• No pressure – ever
• Value expansive choices, seeing all options
Hispanics/Latinos
• Good customer service is more important than speed or efficiency
• It trumps mistakes
• Appreciate being given all the time needed to ask questions
African-Americans
• Show people of color in ads, on your website or any marketing materials – Diversity of skin tone is important
• Don’t try to connect on a superficial level
New Products Meet Demand for Connectivity
#6: Be Fearless • It may feel weird and unconventional to you, but
if it’s what the customer wants, then it’s the right thing to do
• “Tweet Seats” at the symphony
Strategy #7: Be the Good Guys
• Demonstrate & market social consciousness – Green efforts – Community involvement
#8: Helping Beats Selling
“We don’t need information. We need advice.”
Relevance + Experience + Relationship = Feeling the Love
©2014 McDonald Marketing 7820 Enchanted Hills Blvd. Ste. A-199
Rio Rancho, NM 87144 214-880-1717, Fax 214-880-7596 kelly@mcdonaldmarketing.com
All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced
In any form without permission by the author.
For more information about consumer trends, contact
Kelly McDonald at 214-880-1717 or kelly@mcdonaldmarketing.com