The founder and CEO of crmmetrix explains how to find, listen to and learn from the customers that matter.
Recently, I argued that in order to leverage WOM and drive better marketing, brands should be putting more attention toward "listening" to consumers rather than "talking" to them. Along these lines, I also provided some initial directions on how and where to listen to customers.
Following this flow, I figured that it was most logical now to further investigate who to listen to, or in other words, what type of customers should we specifically listen to, learn from and lead with. Indeed, if we know what types of customers brands should engage with, where to find them and how to engage them, it makes sense that marketers will be in a much better place to better serve their customers and thus grow their brands. Sounds logical, no?
If so, let's first try to understand if all customers are equal.
Are all customers created equal?
The underlying point here may partly explain why so many marketing strategies tend to drive average results and average products, and why 70 percent of new product launches fail year after year, according to new product research experts like those at ACNielson Bases for example. More importantly, it explains why there are so few truly remarkable products.
Let me explain.
Most marketers have been trained to develop and launch products for mass markets. However, the very notion of a mass market is somewhat flawed as even in mass markets not all consumers are equal, and as most brand managers tend to quickly forget not all of their brand customers are equal.
Direct marketers understood the 80/20 rule -- which states that 20 percent of customers make up 80 percent of their brand profit -- a long time ago. It may not be exactly 80/20 but, even in packaged goods, my experience shows that a 75/25 or even 65/35 rule tends to stand true across a variety of markets.
So why do we still drive marketing strategies directed to the average Joe rather than paying attention and co-developing new offers with those most valuable customers?
Well, probably because mass marketing is still too entrenched in the current marketing practice. Encouragingly, however, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel, highlighting a better route to marketing success. Why? Because successful marketing strategies tend to be driven by key customer voices rather average customer voices. These strategies are, I believe, central to current and future marketing success, and have been recently brought back to the spotlight by such leading books as the "Tipping Point," "The Influentials," and others. These simply remind us that not all consumers are created equal; not from an economic stand point like direct marketers see them, but from an innovation and leadership standpoint.
Let's reflect more specifically on that last point. These remarkable books did not really invent anything new. Moreover, they are all based on the groundbreaking research of Everett Rodgers back in 1962.
In his original book "Diffusion of Innovation," Rodgers describes how different segments of customers accept an innovation through a diffusion curve.
Quite clearly, then, all customers are not created equal. Some are more creative than others and able to spark new product ideas and services, others are more innovative (in Rodgers sense, those refer to people truly attracted by new things, usually among the first to buy a new product), and some others are more opinion leaders (able to influence other consumers in their decision to buy and try new products). Opinion leaders are those consumers that have been awarded the most attention lately as they represent the 10 percent of consumers that influence the 90 percent of others.
So if all consumers are different, why does marketing still run one size fits all campaigns and strategies?
Early ideas and concept development could involve "lead users" (for more information on this look at the original work of Eric Von Hippel, for example); then innovators(consumers that are attracted by new products or services, and not necessarily consumers that invent new things. These types of creative users are typically lead users) and finally opinion leaders. As highlighted earlier, the emergence of word of mouth as a marketing practice has triggered some renewed interest towards influential consumers or opinion leaders, and these consumers are very important in helping brands move towards more customer-centric driven marketing, where marketing with consumers is central to success.
It clearly seems that there is room now more than ever to involve the right customers at every stage of your marketing needs.