Category Archives: marketing

Customers Have Bad Days Too

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Customers Have Bad Days Too

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

You’ve probably experienced this. No matter how hard you try to please some customers, they aren’t happy. It’s frustrating, but at the same time, it’s reality.

And speaking of reality, no matter how good you are at creating an amazing customer experience, it is the customer’s perception that counts. Their perception is their reality.

I once went to an amazing restaurant – at least, I was told it was amazing. That evening, I had a bad cold. The people I was with raved about the food, however, I didn’t have the same experience. It had nothing to do with the food. It had to do with how I was feeling.

When customers aren’t responding to the excellent service you’re providing the way you want them to, you might refer to them as “difficult” customers. The question to ask is, “What’s making them difficult?” Maybe they have a legitimate gripe. Maybe they have unreasonable expectations. Or maybe, as in my example of the restaurant, they aren’t feeling well.

I was reading a LinkedIn post from Valerie Choniuk, the national director of patient experience at Agilon Health, who described exactly what I’m referring to. A hospital may be known for its compassionate treatment and commitment to taking care of its patients, but if patients are in great pain, they may not be able to “enjoy” the experience you provide. That patient may be the nicest person in the world, but because of the pain, may become a difficult customer. To Choniuk’s point, “Patients are not purposely GIVING us a hard time. They are HAVING a hard time.”

Sure, some people are chronic curmudgeons. You may never be able to make them happy. Accept it. Other customers are very nice people just having a bad day. You must accept that, too. Continue to do your best, regardless. If you can turn the mood of a person having a bad day into something better, you can declare victory. But don’t stress over it if you can’t.

Not every experience you create for your customers will be exceptional, no matter how hard you try. But the point is that you try. Nobody is perfect, and things can go wrong. That’s okay. It’s how you fix it that makes the difference. And then there are days when it seems things did go well, but you still can’t make that customer happy, no matter how hard you try. It’s like a professional sports team that played a great game but lost. It’s going to happen. It’s not your fault. If you can sleep at night knowing you did your best, you should sleep well.

So do your best, and remember, sometimes customers are just having a bad day!

Image Credit: Pixabay

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Eliminating 100% of Live Customer Service is a Mistake!

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Eliminating 100% of Live Customer Service is a Mistake!

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

You need help. You call customer support. Nobody’s home!

Actually, somebody is there. They just aren’t taking support calls. Someone at home—as in a corporate office—has decided to eliminate live, human-to-human customer support, pushing the customer to a digital option such as a chatbot, frequently asked questions page, etc.

My opinion is that this could happen in the distant future, but I can’t imagine that in the next few years there will be 100% digital and AI automated customer support. And here’s why. If all you are is an automated company, you have no way to emotionally connect with your customers. That means your customers have only one way to compare you to direct competition that sells exactly what you do, and that is price.

At that point, the only way to keep your customer is to always have the lowest price, and that is typically not a viable long-term strategy.

Recently I wrote about Frontier Airlines’ decision to drop traditional live phone support, and the reviews have not been good. That said, I give them credit for a bold move that may be just a little ahead of its time—and time will tell. Maybe the reactions are from initial shock. Perhaps there have been glitches that can be fixed for a smoother experience in the near future. We’ll know in six months. If the current reactions continue, at best, some changes will be made, provided the airline wants to stay in business.

I had a chance to interview Paulo Almeida, the CEO of Clientscape, on Amazing Business Radio. We talked about the possibility of AI and automation taking over the contact center. We briefly discussed Frontier Airlines, but more importantly, Almeida articulated the perfect answer to my question:

How do you feel about complete elimination of a human-to-human customer support department?

Almeida responded, “If you’re working in an industry that chooses to automate everything, you can potentially become a commodity. If that is what a company wants to do, the only difference from one company to the next will be what they charge. If that’s the only way a customer makes a decision, the company will go bankrupt!”

“It is not a sustainable financial model. It’s the human factor that makes the difference. It’s about giving the customer the care they deserve. That’s a way to differentiate. For example, Apple may make some of the best products, but they also have some of the best support. If their reputation for support goes away, they will no longer be perceived as having the best product. They will also lose pricing power. When that disappears, they could be on the path to failure. They will lose customers, and the cost to get them back will be extravagant.”

Almeida used a powerful word to summarize a decision to eliminate a human connection, and that word is bankrupt. I can buy into this for some companies, but there will always be exceptions.

People have said, “What about Amazon?!” Yes, Amazon is a digital company, and it has great digital customer support. However, if you need to talk to someone, you can. It’s a last resort, but when you do so, it’s typically a very pleasant experience. Amazon knows how far it can go with automation before it has to say, “It’s time to talk to one of our reps.”

Many products and services are becoming automated. To Almeida’s point, 100% automation is a mistake. Without a human-to-human relationship, how can you create an emotional connection? How can you differentiate yourself from other automated companies? You can’t. You’re a commodity.

More automation and AI technology are in our future. It shouldn’t surprise you that at some point in time planes will be flown by computers, not pilots. We’re already seeing self-driving trucks moving across the country. Companies like Tesla, Google and others are investing tens of billions into autonomous self-driving vehicles (even if they are still a long way from success). Amazon and Walmart are betting on alternative delivery methods that include drones and robots. And yes, some customer service functions are being handled by automation and artificial intelligence (AI).

We can’t fight progress. I love seeing products and services get better through automation. But I’m concerned about the companies and brands that are distancing themselves from their customers by not letting them connect with customer support people, who are also brand ambassadors for the company.

If the leadership of a company thinks the customer support agents’ only role is to fix a problem, then shame on them. Your agents can do much more. If they handle a call well, they can confirm that the customer made the right decision to do business with you and give them the confidence to do even more business. So, at least for now, don’t miss that opportunity. Don’t make the mistake of 100% elimination of live customer support.

Image Credit: Pixabay

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

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Act Like an Owner – Revisited!

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Act Like an Owner – Revisited!

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

One of my favorite concepts to cover in my customer service keynote speeches is to act like an owner. I originally wrote about this in 2011 and shared the story of an 18-year-old server at a pizza restaurant who took so much pride in his work that the guests thought he owned the restaurant.

In preparing for an upcoming speech, I worked with Anthony Demangone, CMO of the National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions. We discussed the ownership concept and how everyone can act like an owner or leader. Anyone can be “that person” everyone admires and wants to emulate. He shared the remarkable story of Richard Montañez, a janitor at a Frito-Lay plant in California. Here’s the short version:

One day Montañez heard Roger Enrico, the CEO of Frito-Lay, share an inspiring message: to “act like an owner.” Montañez took this message to heart, and for almost 10 years, while still working at the plant, tried to learn everything he could about Frito-Lay. One day he asked a Frito-Lay salesperson if he could spend a day and learn about the sales process.

The salesperson took Montañez to a Latino neighborhood where he noticed something that would eventually change his life. As he helped restock the shelves, he noticed that the Lay’s, Fritos and Ruffles were all plain – in other words, no spicy products. And right next to their display was a shelf of Mexican spices. Montañez wondered what Cheetos would taste like if dipped into chili powder and other spices, so he went home and made his own version of spicy Cheetos. He liked what he tasted and reached out to the Frito-Lay CEO to set up a meeting.

Somehow Montañez landed an appointment to meet with the CEO and other company executives. During the meeting, an executive asked, “How much market share do you think you can get?” Montañez nervously opened his arms wide and said, “This much!”

The CEO smiled at Montañez and said, “Put the mop away. You’re coming with us.” The rest is a corporate fairytale come true. Montanez became an executive and worked his way up to VP of multicultural sales for PepsiCo America, the holding company for Frito-Lay.

I love this story for two reasons. First, it’s about an employee who took initiative and thought beyond the role he was hired to do, which was to be a janitor. He took such pride in his work and loved his job so much that he was willing to step out of his comfort zone and reach out to the CEO of a major company with his idea. And second, just as impressive is that Roger Enrico, then-CEO of Frito-Lay, imparted the inspiring “act like an owner” message and was willing to meet with Montañez!

So, are you an employee who’s willing to share your ideas with leadership? Or are you an executive who’s willing to listen? Not every idea will have a Richard Montañez fairy-tale ending, but every idea has potential. So, I encourage you to adopt and embrace the “act like an owner” mindset inside your organization.

Image Credit: Shep Hyken

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What I Learned Solving a Business Crisis

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What I Learned Solving a Business Crisis

GUEST POST from Greg Satell

By 2006 we knew we had a serious problem. Our company’s onetime flagship product, called Afisha, was in a steady decline and it was becoming all too clear that something had to be done. What had once been a market leader that generated huge profits, which fueled the growth of our company had slowly, but surely, lost its market position.

It was clear that the business was in crisis, but nobody was exactly sure what to do about it. Operationally, nothing had really changed. We still believed in our product and our people. Nevertheless, the marketplace had evolved and our business model, which once had seemed bulletproof, was no longer viable.

We didn’t know it at the time, but Afisha’s brightest days were still ahead. We were able to reimagine the business model, strengthen the brand and return to profitability. What we learned is that solving a crisis is not a straightforward linear process, but a journey of discovery. You never know what you’ll find so you need to be willing to experiment.

Acknowledging The Problem

As I explained in Mapping Innovation, when Afisha came out in 2000, it was an immediate hit. At its core, it was simply a guide to restaurants, nightlife and other entertainment, somewhat similar to Timeout. Its restaurant, music and movie columnists quickly became tastemakers in Kyiv, while its sex advice column, achieved a cult-level status. Ad dollars soon came rolling in

In 2006, all of those elements that had made Afisha successful were still in place, but the business environment had changed significantly. The ad market, which had been worth less than $100 million dollars in 2000, was now quickly approaching a billion dollars. Strong multinational publishers like Hearst, Hachette and Rodale had begun investing heavily into Ukrainian versions of top international titles like Cosmopolitan, Elle and Men’s Health.

What we had to accept was that Afisha, although still popular with readers, was no longer a dominant brand. At the same time, the free distribution model which it had once depended on to quickly achieve wide readership was now seen as a liability among advertisers. That diminished our ability to command top ad rates while, at the same time, the booming media market sent our editorial costs through the roof.

None of this happened all at once, so it was easy to believe that Afisha was just going through a temporary downturn. It was only when we were able to acknowledge that our once-successful model had become fundamentally broken that we were able to start moving forward.

Assembling A Broad-Based Team

Once we had acknowledged the problem we assembled a meeting to come up with a strategy to move forward. This included the publisher and editor-in-chief of Afisha, several of the key staff, our company founder, me (as CEO) as well as several company leaders outside of Afisha who had specific knowledge and skills and who were widely respected.

The composition of the meeting was important. Clearly, the Afisha team had to be deeply involved in the process. Having the company founder and me there made it clear that the business had the full backing of the executive leadership. However, in many ways, it was those outside the core Afisha team who had critical impacts.

For the Afisha team and the executive leadership, the business model was so familiar it seemed almost like second-hand. Bringing in other leaders from around the company helped us look at the business in new ways. They asked questions that challenged us, made observations that we hadn’t seen and suggested things that wouldn’t have occurred to us.

Identifying Issues And Developing Options

As the working group met and got down to business, we began to identify problems. First, as noted above, the competitive landscape had shifted dramatically and, although Afisha remained a beloved brand, international titles had taken away significant market share. Second, the free distribution model was no longer financially viable.

As we discussed options, we were able to quickly build consensus on two actions. We would redesign the magazine and the website to beef up the editorial content and better compete with the international titles. We would also look for partners to license Afisha to other cities in Ukraine and create a more national brand.

We also came up with a third option that was considerably more speculative. For years, we had been giving paid subscribers Afisha cards to receive discounts at local merchants. We thought that we could add value to the card by creating an event calendar that was exclusive to Afisha card holders.

Our reasoning was that if we could increase subscribers through upgrading the Afisha card, we could reduce our reliance on free distribution and improve the economics of the business. It seemed like a longshot, but it was also low risk. All we had to do was sign up some partners for events and publish an event calendar in the magazine and on the website.

Finding The Unexpected

The editorial and licensing strategies, which seemed like no brainers, were, at best, mildly successful. Readers seemed to like the new design and expanded editorial content, but then again they liked the old Afisha too. We were able to set up licenses for five major Ukrainian cities, giving up close to national coverage, but the licensees struggled to earn a profit.

The Afisha card strategy, on the other hand, was an unexpected hit. We had hoped to be able to do one event a week, but were soon so deluged with partners that we had to limit events to one per day. From happy hours and shopping nights to club openings and movie festivals, it seemed like everybody wanted to work with us.

Before we knew it, we were able to upgrade events from a promotional activity to a seriously profitable business. We organized a nationwide Frisbee contest for a beer launch, a French movie festival for an upscale coffee brand and organized party trips with sponsors. To our amazement, the business just grew and grew.

What we learned from the experience is that you can’t plan your way out of a crisis. If we were able to plan effectively, we wouldn’t have been in the crisis in the first place. Our success wasn’t the product of our own brilliance, but our willingness to experiment. That’s how we came across the “happy accident” that led to the events business.

The truth is that it takes some bad luck to get into a crisis and it takes some good luck to get out of one. Sound management can help stem the bleeding, but if you are ever going to rebuild a successful business, you have to experiment and allow for the unexpected.

— Article courtesy of the Digital Tonto blog
— Image credit: Pixabay

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Customer Service is a Team Sport

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Customer Service is a Team Sport

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

The other day I was having breakfast with 11 of my friends. The server came over, introduced herself, and said, “I’ll be taking care of you.” She took our orders, and a few minutes later, a different server dropped off three of our meals. Then, two more servers brought a few more meals a moment later, and another server showed up just after that with the rest of our meals. It wasn’t until after all the meals were served that our original server came over to ask if everything tasted great.

Was it this server’s job to simply take our orders and let others do the work? No!

I observed all of the people who brought us our meals. They also had other tables to attend to. And, I noticed that our server was dropping food off at different tables.

Different restaurants may have different processes, but in this one, the food is prepared, plated and set on a counter with heat lamps. Once the food is ready, it doesn’t matter whose table the food is for, whoever is available to take the hot food out immediately becomes responsible for the meal.

I liked what I was seeing. The employees recognized that customer service is a team sport. It’s everyone’s job to make sure the customers leave happy.

Shep Hyken Waiter Cartoon

Unfortunately, I’ve also witnessed the opposite at a restaurant. The food is set out on the counter, but the server responsible for it is busy taking care of another table. So, the food just sits there while other employees ignore it – because it’s not for one of “their guests.” Talk about a lack of team spirit!

Another example of this lack of team spirit is something I once saw at an airport. A baggage handler was driving a load of bags out to an airplane, and one of them fell off. I watched as numerous other baggage handlers drove by it. They would slow down, look at the bag sitting there by itself on the tarmac and then drive away. At least a half-dozen employees drove by the bag and did nothing. I’m pretty sure that the passenger arrived at their destination and was disappointed when their luggage didn’t show up at the baggage carousel.

The point of these examples is that everyone must take care of the customer, regardless of who the customer “belongs” to. If they see that something isn’t right, they shouldn’t just ignore it like the baggage handlers did.

Lately, I’ve resurrected a concept I used to cover in keynote speeches: every employee has at least two jobs. The first is to do the job they were hired to do. The second is to take care of the customer. When all employees understand that, the customer will most certainly have a better experience.

Image Credit: Shep Hyken, Pixabay

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Customers Care About the Destination Not the Journey

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Customers Care About the Destination Not the Journey

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

On a recent flight, the captain of the airplane announced over the PA system what time we would arrive at our destination. That would have been enough to make most people happy. However, he continued his announcement with a three-minute-plus speech. We learned that we would take off to the west, make a U-turn a few minutes later to head east, how high we would go, the various cities we would be flying over, that we would take a right turn as we approached the runway to land, and more. I looked around and noticed many people were annoyed or had stopped paying attention to the long-winded announcement.

The point is most customers don’t care as much about the details of the journey as they care about the destination.

Here’s another example, which has nothing to do with a journey but does have to do with an overload of details that can hurt a sale or erode the customer experience. Some people love a fancy, expensive sports car, while others just want reliable transportation. Even though these customers essentially want the same thing – a car to get them from one place to another – they are very different customers.

Shep Hyken Lobster Cartoon

A few years ago, my wife and I were looking for a new car. We narrowed it down to the make and model – even the color – we thought we wanted. We walked into the dealership and were approached by a salesperson who was very friendly and engaging. Then, we told him what we were looking for. So, he took us over to the exact car we wanted. He was very excited. He started to share details about the size of the engine, how many cylinders, how quickly the car could accelerate from zero to 60, the RPMs, and other details that mattered nothing to us.

Had he asked why we were interested in this model car, he would have realized we had no real interest in such details. Our version of the destination was that we wanted a nice-looking car (and it was) that was comfortable, safe, and easy to drive. Maybe we wanted to know a few other details about the car, but nothing to the extent he was sharing. Had he paid attention, he would have noticed he had us when he said, “I have the exact car you’re looking for.”

My point is that most customers don’t care about the details behind the experience or product they are buying. It’s up to us to recognize this and respond accordingly. All they want to know is what awaits them at their metaphorical destination.


Image Credit: Shep Hyken, Pixabay

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Five Ways Fender Guitar Rocks Customer Service

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Five Ways Fender Guitar Rocks Customer Service

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

In 1946, Leo Fender, founder of Fender’s Radio Service, renamed his company Fender Electric Instrument Company—better known as Fender—and it became an iconic music company that manufactures some of the greatest guitars and amplifiers on the planet. Leo Fender had a saying back then: “Artists are angels. It’s our job to give them wings to fly.”

You could call that saying a mission, vision or values statement. In just 12 words it sums up Fender’s desire to create the best musical instruments for his customers. Even though the company was sold to CBS in 1965 and then purchased by its employees in 1985, the words are still a part of Fender’s culture 77 years later.

I had a chance to interview Scot Pickerill, Fender’s vice president of Americas Inside Sales, Service and Sales Operations, for Amazing Business Radio, and he repeated Leo Fender’s vision. He referred to it as Fender’s “call to action.” He also shared several other ideas that I want to examine here. Before we get into that, you should know that Fender recognizes and supports two types of customers. There is a dealer network that sells the products. These range from independent “mom-and-pop” stores to large chains like Guitar Center. They also support the consumers who own and play their instruments.

So, with that in mind, here are five ways Fender rocks customer service. I’ll share Pickerill’s strategies, followed by my comments.

1. Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is about identifying friction points with every department involved and analyzing the process to correct problems and prevent issues from happening in the future.

Continuous improvement goes beyond improving the customer experience. It’s looking at every part of the process, including what’s happening behind the scenes. Even if the customers don’t feel any friction in their experience, it’s essential to eliminate or mitigate any internal friction caused by outdated or cumbersome practices and processes.

2. Treat Your Customers Like Partners

Fender doesn’t want to just sell a customer a guitar. They want to partner with customers in their musical journeys, and they want their partners to be successful. When they take care of their customers, the customers want to give back, and they do so in the form of repeat business.

3. Embrace Feedback from Both Customers and Employees

Fender goes beyond asking for feedback from its customers. It also asks for feedback from employees, especially those on the front line. And getting that feedback is just the start. As Pickerill said, “Feedback is one of the few things in life that is free. Take that feedback and do something with it.” I’ll add that once you do something with the feedback, let everyone know what you did. If you want more feedback, prove that you’re listening and taking action on the feedback you receive.

4. Get uncomfortable

Taking a business to the next level isn’t easy. There could be a little pain and fear involved. Innovation is about moving forward, and that requires change. Many people are happy to settle for the status quo because they are uncomfortable with anything new or different. But not Fender. Pickerill said, “The world is evolving daily. Customer expectations are increasing, and buying behaviors are shifting. Don’t be afraid to lean into discomfort, test new things and then measure to ensure that it’s working the way you designed it.”

5. It’s All About Culture

Pickerill is proud to acknowledge that Fender employees live, breathe and speak the brand. He sees the passion in employees, including executives. They have the desire to leave a mark and constantly improve to help artists and potential artists and make them as great as they can be. This way of thinking comes from the top down and is a perfect reminder of Leo Fender’s words, which Pickerill refers to as Fender’s call to action: “Artists are angels. It’s our job to give them wings to fly.”

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Image Credit: Pexels

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The Loyalty Gap

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The Difference Between Repeat Customers and Loyal Customers

The Loyalty Gap

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

In a recent Shepard Letter, I discussed the Trust Gap, which is the difference between an organization’s belief that their customers trust them and the percentage of customers who actually do. I’ve covered different gap concepts in the past, and it’s time to add yet another to the list, and that is the Loyalty Gap.

By the way, this is a perfect time to mention International Customer Loyalty Month, which happens every year in April. It is a time to focus some extra care and attention on your loyal customers. You can learn more at www.CustomerLoyaltyMonth.com.

So, back to the Loyalty Gap. This is the gap between the percentage of customers you think are loyal and customers who actually are loyal. If you’ve been following my work, you may remember that I preach there is a big difference between a repeat customer and a loyal customer. A customer that comes back again and again could be mistakenly labeled as a loyal customer. Before we can call someone a loyal customer, we must find out why they keep coming back and buying from us. And there are many reasons why customers might return that have nothing to do with being loyal. For example:

1. The Price Is Lowest: Customers who buy based on low price aren’t loyal to you. They are loyal to the price. The moment a competitor has a lower price, the customer disappears. And you thought they were loyal!

2. The Location Is More Convenient: Does the customer buy from you because you are closer than your competition? You don’t know if you don’t ask. As soon as a competitor moves into the area, if their location happens to be more convenient, the customer moves on. Again, you thought they were loyal!

3. The Customer Is Satisfied: This one is super important. There’s a big difference between a satisfied customer and a loyal customer. Satisfied customers are just … satisfied. The experience is good, but not great. It’s enough to get them to come back until they find another brand or organization that satisfies them just a bit more.

A loyal customer not only comes back but also spends more than a typical customer and evangelizes your brand by sharing word-of-mouth referrals. This is because there is an emotional connection. Maybe it’s the way the customer is treated. Or maybe there is an employee the customer loves to work with. Maybe it’s the confidence that’s created when a customer interacts with the brand. There are many reasons, but they all evoke an emotional connection.

So, what’s the Loyalty Gap in your business?

Do you understand your customers’ buying patterns?

Do you know why they come back?

In a perfect world, there shouldn’t be a gap. But that’s not reality. There will always be customers who don’t have the emotional connection needed to drive loyalty. There’s nothing you can do but keep trying. For the rest of your repeat customers, understand why they return, then keep delivering the experience that makes them want to return.

Image Credit: Pexels

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Ten Reasons You Must Deliver Amazing Customer Experiences

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Ten Reasons You Must Deliver Amazing Customer Experiences

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Ten years ago, I wrote an article about why delivering an amazing customer service experience is important. While many of those concepts are still valid today, it’s time to modify the list and give a few of the original reasons a facelift to bring them into current times.

First, a reminder that an amazing customer experience isn’t about being over the top. It’s simply consistently meeting or (ever so slightly) exceeding expectations. It’s the consistent and predictable experience that makes customers trust you and come back.

So, here are today’s ten (10) reasons why you should deliver an amazing customer service experience:

  1. Creating customer service builds trust, credibility and confidence. Our customer experience research found that 83% of people trust a company or brand more if it delivers good customer service. The benefit of building trust is potential customer loyalty.

  2. Your happy customers become the best members of your marketing department. The right customer experience gets customers to talk about you, refer you and evangelize your brand.

  3. Delivering an amazing customer experience makes price less relevant. Fifty-eight percent of customers we surveyed said excellent customer service is more important than price.

  4. A great customer experience goes hand-in-hand with a great employee experience. It’s no surprise that the best customer-focused companies are also some of the best places to work. Just compare a list of companies that provide the highest levels of customer satisfaction with the list of the best places to work on www.GlassDoor.com. It’s no coincidence that many of the same companies appear at the top of both lists.

  5. Customers who typically receive excellent customer service from you will be more willing to provide honest feedback when there is a problem or complaint because they trust that you will fix the problem. And when you do, they come back.

    6. Shep Hyken Amazing Cartoon

  6. Seventy-eight percent of the customers we surveyed said they would go out of their way to do business with a company that delivers a better customer service experience.

  7. You can’t afford not to deliver a strong customer service experience. Seventy-four percent of customers would switch to a business that provides better customer service.

  8. A good customer service experience leads to higher customer retention and customer lifetime value (CLV).

  9. An amazing customer service experience begets positive comments and reviews.

  10. Finally, do it because it’s the right thing to do!

If you want customers to do business with you, you must treat them in a way that makes them want to do so. Don’t expect them to be loyal to you until you show loyalty to them. That comes in the form of delivering an amazing customer experience.

This article originally appeared on Hyken.com

Image Credit: Pixabay, Shep Hyken

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How Community is Reshaping the Marketing Landscape

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How Community is Reshaping the Marketing Landscape

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

According to bestselling author and marketing expert Mark Schaefer, the next—and last—great marketing strategy is community. When I read his latest book, Belonging to the Brand, I was intrigued by the subtitle, Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy. Is it really the last? Having read Schaefer’s past books, I put faith in his words, but it’s up to you to decide.

First, let’s look at the definition of community, as it applies to marketing and business. The community includes customers aligned with the company, its brand promise and what it stands for. Schaefer writes in his introduction, “Helping a person belong to something represents the ultimate marketing achievement. If a customer opts into an engaging, supportive and relevant brand community, we no longer need to lure them into our orbit with ads and SEO, right? What we used to consider marketing is essentially over.”

Schaefer is saying that once the customer is part of the community, the need to engage with intrusive advertising and marketing messages is no longer needed. You will want to find meaningful ways to connect with customers other than traditional advertising and marketing programs, and these can include positive customer experiences, quality dependable products and services, the contribution the brand or company makes to making the world a better place and more.

In my book, The Amazement Revolution, one of the seven strategies covered was community. Harley Davidson was failing and rallied its community of customers to make suggestions that would get them to come back and buy its motorcycles. The company listened, the customers noticed and Harley regained its popularity and iconic status.

Lush, a cosmetics retailer with more than 950 stores worldwide, chose to make its products cruelty-free, which means no animals are harmed in manufacturing the products. They knew this would appeal to a segment of customers who are against animal testing practices. Those customers show intense loyalty toward Lush.

Apple created different communities of customers who voluntarily offer suggestions and answers to other customers in need of help and support. These communities are in addition to Apple’s regular customer support options.

These companies (and many others) have created communities of customers willing to evangelize their brands. They enjoy and love the companies so much that they provide some of the most powerful marketing techniques ever in the form of positive reviews and referrals, also known as word-of-mouth marketing.

Early in Schaefer’s book, he shares ten (10) reasons businesses can’t ignore the power of creating a community. I’ll share three of them with some of my commentary on each one:

  1. Brand Differentiation: Beyond price and product, which are often similar to the competition’s, the community can create an emotional connection. People like to belong to something. When they love a company and its products and find others who think and feel the way they do, they naturally gravitate toward the community. Once people join, they are participating at a higher level of brand engagement and their connection to the business is deepened by this connection.

  2. Market Relevance: How do you stay relevant? Listen to your customers. The community gives you the forum to listen and engage with your customers. The conversations you monitor or participate in will fuel you with ideas to make you even more relevant to your customers. Just remember, no matter how powerful the ideas and information you learn from listening are, they won’t mean anything unless you take action.

  3. Brand Loyalty: Loyalty is an emotional connection. Creating a community is a powerful way to drive loyalty. Schaefer shares some stats that make the case. Sixty-six percent of brand community members say they are loyal to the brand. Twenty-seven percent of customers say belonging to a brand influences their decision to do business with the brand. And, 66% of companies claim their community has impact on customer retention.

As powerful as creating a community is, don’t be lured into thinking you have a captive audience to which you can sell. That’s abusing the privilege and could be an insult to your customers. While members of your community may be more engaged and buy more, they don’t want to be sold. Use the community to offer early access to products and updates, ask for opinions and feedback, help in testing products and more. You want to give them a reason to meet and something to talk about.

So, is creating your company’s community your next big marketing strategy? If you haven’t already created one, it’s a concept worthy of serious consideration.

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Image Credit: Pixabay, Shep Hyken

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