I just read a very interesting article in the Deloitte Review (Deloitte Review is a semi-annual publication of selected articles they believe are important to their clients and potential clients) that gives a great deal of support to what we have been saying for years – building TRUST and LOYALTY with your customers is key to your success as a business. They recently published an article, “The View from The Glass House,” that was an excellent view on how Web2.0 (social networking) is going to work for you or against you with your customers in the future.
They start off by saying, “Thanks to the onset of Web 2.0, customers are increasingly able to shape the market. This is transformational. New technologies not only inform customers’ decisions about purchases, they enable a participatory role in everything from design and development to the point of sale.” Then they move on to list 6 key areas they believe organizations (specifically retailers and CPG companies) will need to have to compete in the future. These six key areas are:
- Creating customer trust and preserving reputations
- Involving customers to co-create trust and value
- Competing on responsiveness
- Competing on design
- Competing on brand
- Strategically and proactively using information to define demand
Is it any wonder that the TOP 2 areas of focus are around the customer and building Trust and ultimately Loyalty? I don’t think so. They stated (and used a quote) in describing the how to create customer trust that said, “When the goods and services that a company offers are easily duplicated by competitors, real differentiation and competitive advantage will only occur when a company improves its relationship and builds trust with its customer base.5 Trusted reputations and positive relationships are built through repeated high-integrity interactions with customers and the careful cultivation of a corporate image.” WOW, maybe people are finally getting it. We stated in our book several years ago that unless you can build a “consistent” and “repeatable” customer experience, you don’t have the chance to really build Trust and Loyalty. I guess it means more coming from one of the Big 4 today (I feel I can take some liberties with them since I worked for one of the Big 5 for many years).
They go on to say, “As customers publish on MySpace and other venues, they become referents for other customers. If companies permit them, customers are also empowered to “virtually touch” nearly all parts of the company value chain, from insights for product design to co-creating ad copy in the marketing and sales cycles. Companies are harnessing the collaborative power of their customer bases to create word-of-mouth marketing and collect consumer input on their product offerings.” We are only beginning to see the impact of social marketing and the power of the customer in many new areas that organizations have not yet experienced.
Our advice, if you can’t “get in the game” today with Web2.0 and some of the social media, at least be aware that it is out there and understand the potential power it has to work “for you” or “against you” in the marketplace. For those that are a bit more venturesome, take the bull by the horns and start doing something – even if it is baby steps so you can start to understand it better. If you don’t have a blog, get one. If you don’t have some presence on social networking sites, set one up. These are relatively easy to do but will take some care and feeding. Like with any good customer focused activity, plan it out well so you don’t have to retract or do major repairs on it later.
We completely support the comments made in the Deloitte Review and believe they are spot on target with their assessments and insights. Building Trust and Loyalty takes time and takes a concerted effort on everyone’s part. But when your customer finally receives a “consistent” and “repeatable” experience and you are able to keep your PROMISES to them, you will be the winner in the end. Thanks for reading…
