I heard again today…another company trying to find some way to differentiate themselves and decided to go get more “customer research” before they do anything. We have enough research…what we need is action! Action that will get them working on creating a customer experience for the customers they already have and know about.
Don’t get me wrong, I love research and statistics…especially when it is used to get more and deeper information about your communities of customers. It is also great when used to predict trends or areas of interest from our customer. But this wasn’t the case here, as with many companies I talk with about their customer programs. They feel they need more “data” on their customers so they can determine what kind of experience they should deliver. THEY DON’T NEED MORE RESEARCH…the answer is in front of them already!
The answer, or at least a good portion of the answer, is in the “EXPERIENCE” they are delivering to their customer. The problem they are facing isn’t more information…it is that they are delivering a mediocre (maybe even good) experience. More research is great but they can get started without it…because they actually know more about their customer than they think. If the customer isn’t saying your experience is AWESOME or REMARKABLE, they aren’t going to tell you much (other than it isn’t awesome) in a survey or more research…they simply don’t have the time or interest to invest in you.
Do a “self-evaluation” or have someone come in and assess the experience you are currently delivering. Most likely it will fall well short of WOW or REMARKABLE. Invest the time in changing the current experience. Create a TOTALLY AWESOME MEMORABLE CUSTOMEREXPERIENCE and then go get the additional research/feedback from the customer…they will be happy to oblige. You can make a huge difference in your customers’ life without one more data point or piece of research…TODAY!
Blow up the customer experience you are delivering and create one that your audience can’t wait to “talk more about” to everyone else. Create one where they sing your praises on their social networks and tell everyone they know how AWESOME they were treated. Try this…you might just find you never need any more research about the customer…because they will already be telling you (and the world) why you are so REMARKABLE.
