CMO Council study: “You’re just not listening to me”
February 4, 2009 by Katherine Liew
Filed under Marketing
“It was good at first. We saw a little bit of each other, and then more and more. You were exactly what I was looking for, and you fitted in so seamlessly with my daily life. But then you changed. I tried to talk to you about it, but you never listened. There’s no communication between us, what kind of relationship does that leave us with? I’m sorry – it’s over.”
That’s what your customers might say to you…if you’re not listening to them.
And according to a recent report by the Chief Marketing Officer Council that’s what as many as two thirds of companies are doing.
In a survey of 480 CMOs, most acknowledged that the customer experience is a key part of brand-building, but only 38% said their company had formal programs to actively get feedback from customers about their experiences. Out of those, less than half were leveraging feedback to find out who they should be talking to in the future.
Without communication, there’s no relationship.
Without a relationship of some sort, you’re not a great brand, you’re just someone delivering a product or service that happens to sell. If you’re not figuring out what is wanted in the market – and not delivering on it – then your customers will go to someone who is.
Maybe small business has a better time of it.
If you’re in an SME, get an advantage by doing what big business isn’t. Listen. Talk to people.
It’s helped businesses like Coffee Groundz get a better idea of what their customers want and double their business in the process.
Would this have worked for Starbucks? Less likely.
Should Starbucks be finding out what their customers are saying now? With mass closures and rumours of trouble, definitely. The old formula isn’t working as well anymore.
It sounds simple, and it is.
Listen.
And read the full CMO council report:
C’mon. You’re singling out Twitter-submitted orders?
Considering that there’s nothing about this setup that couldn’t have been done years prior with e-mail, SMS, or a Web-hosted form, Coffee Groundz story is about as sustainable as the novelty of having a brochureware Web site was for Internet pioneering liquor stores.
The point is that Coffee Groundz is an example of a company that listened to their customers and provided them with a service option that they wanted.
Although I would have to point out that saying there’s nothing there that couldn’t have been done with email, etc, is like question why Twitter itself is so revolutionary…
Whether it continues to work – well, they’ll have to keep listening, won’t they?