November 2009
Which age groups use the internet?
November 7, 2009 | by Max IsraelThink grandma got left behind in the digital revolution? Think again.
We frequently get asked whether or not seniors really use the web. This question often comes from clients who want to ensure that their web-based feedback systems provide an accurate picture of how they serve their customers.
While we think that our clients get a sufficiently full view of how their teams serve customers even in the absence of quite as much feedback from their senior customers as their younger customers, we have to admit that there is a good point to be made: What constitutes “good service” for a senior can be different from someone of younger years.
There have been a number of studies we’ve looked to over the years to fill in this information, but this year’s publication from the Pew Internet & American Life Project really does an outstanding job. The study is available here, and it’s a fairly quick read.
The big take-away for me was not only that internet usage has been relatively even across most ages below 70, but that it’s rapidly becoming even more level at ages over 70. In fact, grandma and grandpa made the biggest surge in internet usage of any of us. In between 2005 and 2008, the percentage of Americans between the ages of 70-75 who use the internet made the biggest increase of any of us, going from 26% to 45%.
It’s even more exciting when you realize that this rapid acceleration has almost certainly continued over 2009. (Maybe it’s time to start streaming those Matlock reruns?)
The Name Badge Pitfall
November 16, 2009 | by Max IsraelIs this a priority for your company? It sounds simple enough that it just might fall off your list. Here’s why we think that’s a big misstep.
I was having a great conversation recently with the guys at American Cycle & Fitness and the subject of name badges came up. When customers give feedback, it seems logical that you’d want them to be able to identify employees by name – for better or for worse.
This is true, but it isn’t the main reason why you should look hard at having all employees wear name badges.
From retailers to restaurant operators, we find that a big part of the reason a customer chooses to come back has to do with the connection that person make with your staff. You want your crew asking good questions, giving good answers and leaving customers feeling like they’ve really made a find – and established a connection.
What we don’t want is for your customer to feel uncomfortable about coming back for any reason. Not knowing or remembering your employee’s name after a helpful encounter can do that. Think about it. If you saw somebody at a party whom you had met and spent 20 minutes talking to last week, but whose name you had forgotten, would your first reflex be walking right over to talk? No way.
Ironically, if your staff is really on their feet they could make this feeling worse by thanking the customer personally on the way out the door, since Mr. Customer’s name appears on the credit card. Now we’re smiling and addressing you by name but you don’t know or remember ours.
Name badges can be done in a ways that are suitable for almost any business. Because they’re a great way to remove barriers to building and keeping retail customer relationships, we think they deserve a spot on your priority list.
PS. One terrific example I’ve seen of a company using the name badge as ice breaker: Employees picked their dorkiest childhood photo and it got laminated together with their name badge on a lanyard. Love it!
A Surprising View: Where the Mystery Shopper Fits In the Future of Retail and Service
November 23, 2009 | by Max IsraelThis might be the last thing you’d expect a company known as the “un-mystery shopper” to say: Mystery shop can have a role in your organization’s future. Here’s how – and why – we think it’s true.
We’re as surprised as anyone to find ourselves advocating for the role of mystery shoppers / mystery guests. Companies shouldn’t pay for an imitation customer to share their thoughts when there are hundreds of actual customers walking through the doors each week. Why not ask them to use your customer feedback system?
With that said, the conditions are right for some companies to leverage mystery shopping in a different way. Providing meaningful value to managers who must do more than ever before will require the mystery shopper industry to reposition and re-evaluate the role it plays.
Pressure on Managers. Pressure has mounted over recent years for multi-unit managers – especially Regional and District Managers – to do more with less. Today, this position has more responsibility for higher unit performance over a broader geographical area than ever before. In some cases, these managers even run stores of multiple brands owned by one parent company.
Now take a look at almost any mystery shop scorecard and you’ll see a bunch of questions which, frankly, are things no customer would ever observe or remember. The people whom you’d expect to do both, of course, are that location’s managers.
But there are some cases – especially in today’s environment – where it’s just not practical or cost-effective for that district-level manager to visit as frequently as you might like. In particular, this is true for chains of locations where the organization is spread across a broad geographic area. The distances are just too far for a typical district manager to visit regularly. Quite often, a phone meeting with that location’s on-site manager will need to suffice.
An economical extra set of eyes. In cases like this, we’ve seen some of our clients combine their live Customerville feedback with a pared-down mystery shop schedule. The mystery shopper ends up serving as a kind of surrogate for the DM’s visit. The fact that the employees can usually identify a mystery shopper isn’t really a showstopper in this case. Rather, you’re just looking for a third party to perform something of an objective site checklist.Since this doesn’t need to be done with anywhere near the frequency of a traditional mystery shop schedule, budget can be used elsewhere.
The result: Regional and district managers can have a fuller view of the business. Live customer feedback provides awareness of what matters to customers, and a re-tooled mystery shop provides an extra set of eyes on the ground to monitor operating tasks.
Our view is that there is a role for the traditional mystery shop / mystery guest. It’s a smaller piece of the puzzle, performs a different role and rests on erasing the notion that mystery shoppers are facsimiles of customers. They are not. Instead, treat them for what they should become – a local assistant for DM or RM.
Is It Really About the Prize?
November 30, 2009 | by Max IsraelEnter-to-win sweepstakes drawings are a fantastic way to get customers interested in grading your business. They’re quick, fun and easy to implement. Here are some good things to know about getting this right.
Keep the Farm. I recently saw customer feedback reward drawing for $250,000 and just about went bananas. Let me tell you, if you need to offer your customers a quarter million dollars to tell you what they think of your business, you’ve got problems even we can’t solve!
Our clients nearly always find that a gift-card drawing in the low hundreds of dollars works like a charm. What’s more, you can do the drawing as frequently as you like. Customers tune into the gift card amount, but generally don’t care how frequently you do the drawing. You marketers can almost always find a great PR opportunity around giving the award, too!
Know How To Message. When you advertise or distribute collateral in your stores or restaurants, be sure to get the message right. We usually see the best traffic when the message starts with the headline: Win $XX, and then says “We’d love you to grade us”. The website address should usually be last in line on the page.
Get the Legalese Right. You’ve got to include the rules, and they need to pass muster with your State’s sweepstakes laws. Drop me a line if you’d like our boilerplate version and I’ll make sure you get it.
Is It Really About The Prize? Here’s the biggest surprise: No. Customerville’s system allows our clients to use either a sweepstakes drawing or a printable gift certificate. The redemption rate of the gift certificates is a tiny fraction of the number issued. In speaking with our clients’ customers, many of them express to us the sentiment that it’s not really about the prize. They love shopping with you and just want to be included, listened to and valued!
A well planned sweepstakes drawing or printable coupon is like a warm “hello” when you meet someone new. It’s not essential to the conversation that will follow, but it sure goes a long way toward whether or not they want to talk.
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