Customer Listening: Markets are "Conversations"...Brands are you Really Listening?

We move our blog to CustomerListening

2006-03-31T22:07:00.000+02:00

We move our blog to:

See you there to "converse"!

I Listen, or at least do my best to...soon a Blog in French

2006-03-30T13:14:00.000+02:00

Thank you for your comments and reactions to my latest post Will the French Goverment Listen?. Beyond the reactions on the the content itself, French readers rightfully ask me, why I am not blogging in French? My answer is that I will soon indeed blog in French as this is indeed my primary language. In fact, I started in English to reach more people on the web, but soon my colleague Guillaume Weill and I, will in fact start blogging together on a dedicated French Blog that will pass along thoughs and comments. So thanks again for your feedback, your comments are extremely valuable, continue, and I will do my best to Listen and Adapt.

Will the French Government "Listen" to Young People in the street?

2006-03-29T08:52:00.000+02:00

Ironically, as I was advising brand managers to go in the street and listen to people and learn from them...the same should probably apply to the French government. Indeed, yesterday, according to different sources, between 1 to 3 millions people were in the street to boycott the "CPE" (Contrat Premier Embauche). Most of them are students, worried about their future and unemployment. According to the government, the CPE was a way out: offering young people a first job with a 2 years term during which they can be let go more or less at any time. What is of regular practice in the US, let people go with a 2 week notice, is in fact not all in line with the French culture of work, social protection and people well fare.

I personally think that although the French government may have actually listened to the young people need for work, they probably did not probably communicate nor position their message rightfully.

Furthermore, the issue goes way long back, and is a result of the government unability of communicating truthully about how problematic is the French situation in face of the growing globalization, and the need to really wake up in face of new challenges where social protection, work for life is not any more granted...

So, Guys you may have listen to the need for work, but all successive governments fail at drawing the right picture of the world to French people...Over protection is not good, and change is key to adapt and evolve. So listening continuously and feeding back truth to markets and people using a conversional tone is the only way to go...

The ones that last are the ones that state truth and remain true even if truth is sometimes painful, but maybe truth and politics do not go together?

Like for markets, I more and more think that successfull politicians will be the ones that are and sound true and humans...

What if brand websites were the best drivers and proofs of Engagement?

2006-03-28T00:18:00.000+02:00

We really applaude the leading initiative of the Advertising Research Foundation in its efforts to move the advertising industry to finally pay better attention to “consumer empowerment”, and the need to better value media and marketing in their abilities not only to distribute “contacts” but also, and more importantly, to engage consumers. The just released definition of engagement tells us that:

“Engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context…Marketers have identified engagement as a crucial component that underlies consumer brand preference and loyalty especially in response to communications.

“Engagement occurs as a result of a brand idea or media the consumer experiences which leaves a positive brand impression. It is now a critical advertising model to replace GRPs in the 21st century” says Dr. Joseph Plummer, chief research officer for the ARF. “It is important that we think hard about engagement to develop a robust measurement of when consumers are strongly engaged in brands, brand ideas and their surrounding environments.”

So, from the ARF definition, it seems clear that Engagement really occurs through an interaction with the brand or the product itself. Quite clearly, it therefore seems that “interactive media” have a clear edge vs other media as they offer consumers the possibility to interact with their favourite brands or products. As such, the brands that best use the interactive media are probably the ones that will win in the future…but

“all brands can engage with their customers…:on their brand websites!"

As I already pointed out on a previous post that brand websites were a great place to learn and listen to the brand best customers and advocates
(more details here), and in fact, our data demonstrate it, brand websites may be the best “media” to engage consumers as they provide a unique ability to “turn on” consumers to a “brand idea”.

In essence, we believe that brand websites offer the ‘magic moment’ when brands can make headway in changing the minds and hearts of >“receptive consumers”…Receptive? Why? Because they want to engage with the brand and give it their full attention as they come to the brand website! Their “share of choice” (we thank Ted Mc Connell from P&G for the useful and great expression he recently came up with) is all for the brand then…

Brands do you think you really care enough about your brand websites?

Listen & Converse where "Humans" are: on your brand website!

2006-03-25T13:04:00.000+01:00

So, the point, is am sure you got this by now, is "stop faking things, be natural, stop asking questions to consumers, listen to them as they are: Humans". To do this, stop talking, ask permission, and get to know people by livig with them. Per my previous post, "go and swim with the fishes" at the minimum "jump in the aquarium". Live with your customers, eat, dine, listen, wake up with them...just listen, and you will learn a lot about what they want, simply because you pay attention (what a change...you usually request attention!), so listen, and observe...For example, this guy loves you, did you ever pay attention to him? Probably not...

Guess what, There is a high chance that this guy came to see you... on your website...Did you know?

Indeed, we found that

on average about 80 to 90% of brand website visitors are made of High to medium value customers ("the only brand they buy, one of 2 or 3 brands they buy regularly, fyi check out the white paper: " 10 things about brand websites)

You probably do not know this, as your media strategies are driven by quantity rather than quality of contacts...you spend money on TV to "acquire" new buyers whereas you do not need to spend on media to "engage" with your best customers, they naturally come to you on the brand website. What do you do about this? Do you ever pay attention to them? Listen to brand website "visitors", I should say to "Humans" knocking on your door...The ones that do, look at " the Tide.com website message board for example (a recent comment on one of my previous posts actually relate to the same example, so must be true, no?), are able to "co-create" value with consumers...So listen up!

So why focus groups do not work as well as you think? Because they are "AQUARIUMS"...

2006-03-23T22:59:00.000+01:00

Because they are not REAL...if consumers are looking for truth and human conversations...how can "faked" discussions with "trained" consumers or professional respondents can be real? How can brands really learn from those set ups? As I said in a previous post, rather than to talking to real consmers directly, brand managers hide behing the screen...and listen to faked conversations...I usually compare those to "visits to the aquarium"...Let me explain... I have a 5 years old boy (Benjamin) that loves fishes...so guess what I do from time to time, take him to the aquarium to see fishes...very much like marketers or brand managers do when they "attend" focus groups: they go to the aquarium watch "6 or 8 consumers swim as fishes do in an aquarium"...they get back home and think hard about what the "fishes" say, eat, discuss and are convinced that those feedbacks and "experiences" are real...Wake up! They are not real...the ones take place at home, in the store at the "moment of truth" of buying the product(this actually explains the current popularity of ethnography as a research technich I think). How do this compare to watching fishes swimming in an aquarium...Even my son (and remember, he is only 5 years old!) knows that fishes in an aquarium may be real but the way they are featured is not, completely artificial! It seems that although we knew this since childhood, we forgot...Furthermore, the so call moderator has sometimes a tendency to lead rather than moderate...so where are truth and real human conversations in all this? I think there is no truth in this, simply at best the impression that looking at the fishes will get us smarter about what consumers want about products and brands...Wake up again, go in the street, talk, listen to people they have millions of things to say, be natural and listen..."Netography" or the science of listening to consumers on the Internet is there to help. So marketers what are you waiting for?

No market for messages...but one for truth, human voice from brands. Stop focus groups, go in the street...

2006-03-23T08:21:00.000+01:00

Back to my last post (seems old, but I actually posted it only yesterday), where I said that people need real conversations to bond and engage with brands...Usually, marketers relate to this as definting "positioning", then "messages" to convince consumers...If people want to have true conversations, with human voices, how can they care less about "messages"...When you think twice about this in the context, it sounds indeed everything but truthful...conversations are not prepared, they just happen, and what comes out are real things, because they are natural, that people care about and relate to...On the other end, look at what the adverstising industry is looking to draft: "positionning" & "messages"...a message that at best may come from one or two focus groups, where brand managers (I was one...and did the same, though the same, and did the same mistakes) think and strongly believe that "Consumers" "naturally" react to the message...The issues is that focus groups are all but true conversations...still marketers and focus group moderators let us believe that their are the heart of consumer feedback and relationship with brands...How so? How can you bound in a non natural environment, a pre-conditionned one? I believe this is because focus groups are easy to set up, use, and analyze, and cheap (they think it is although blogging is free, the internet is, no?)...and most importantly pleasant to the hears of marketers as they think that "real consumers" speak to them (ironically, marketers are usually behind the door "hiding" rather "fronting, meeting and conversing" with people, consumers, clients of their brands...Think about it this way...When you need advice and are about to buy a product, brand, what do you do? You ask, call your firends, go online search for reviews, etc. You basically converse with others...Why do not marketers simply listen more to these conversations? Instead of drafting messages, positionnings, why they do not simply listen, learn and converse appropriately? They are no markets for messages but one for true, unbiased, natural conversations...even conversations with negative content, but fronting and being in "the conversation" allow you to sound more natural, to simply sound human as a brand...and remember people only want "human" feedback and recognition...so think natural, think people, use your voice to listen and converse... and stop only using focus groups!

Markets are Conversations, Brands Stop Talking, Start LISTENING

2005-03-31T06:50:00.000+02:00

About the time to put down thoughs and ideas that I have for the last three years...Thoughs that come from my day to day work in marketing and the so-called "research industry" (I will comment more on this soon), my day to day live as a consumer...lucky enough now blogs exist, a great way to pass along thoughs, and hopefully get other peers feedback, ideas, reactions...In fact, as I just re-read the ClueTrain manifesto www.cluetrain.com I must say that I really appreciate the forward thinking of authors back in 1999/2000 that were predicting the failure of traditional marketing and the rise of conversation marketing, in fact, the Cluetrain manifesto started their 95 theses with a simple yet powerful point...

Market are conversations

, simply remaining us the basics, we are all humans, we are all dieing to be treated as such, yet brands and marketers still think that we are all equal, treat us as mass markets, targets, anything but what we want. They think we do not think, do not feel, and are just there, to buy, spend, and nothing else, a resource more than a partner...Still even though the Internet is changing it all, brands, and most specifically the so called most powerful brands are not yet really changing...tough to change for sure, scared to change more so...so they continue talking, not really listening...How many times did you feel like treated like a thing, and bject rather than a human, or a client at least, the way they call us...When you call customer service dieing to speak to a human, a recorded automatic voice mail tells you that your call is "important", "please wait" or get to solve your problems alone with "our touch tone teller!" then, when a human speaks to you, he/she speaks more than he/she listens, sticking to a ready made script, rather than really convesing with you...As consumers, we are fed up, it is time to consider us for what we are: humans, and that brands consider us as such, and please, stop using bullshit ready made marketing terms and messages, be human, be you and listen to me, I want you good more than bad...I simply want to be treated as a human that think, have ideas and want to be treated at the level the money I give to the brand deserves...Is this too demanding? Or is it simply that brands did not yet realize that their traditonal mass production and mass marketing models are dead and that it is about time to have true conversations, and please really "naked conversations" naked conversations, the ones that sound true and honest, because they come from humans...so brands are you really ready? I doubt...I will share my views on why, and offer my 2 cents on what we can do TOGETHER...to co-create value for our better as consumers, and your better...as I respect the fact that you have to make money of course...