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Archived in [This is the second half of a two part post. You can read part one here.]
Consumers are never happy unless you give them what they really want
In another recent post, Seth Godin commented on how consumers are never happy, but are constantly demanding freebies, updates and product improvements from businesses.
Seth suggests you can continue feeding the demands of unhappy customers, as though trying to buy a spoilt child’s affection, or you can give them what they really want: a sense of connection, to feel appreciated and loved.
Generic mass marketing cannot make people feel special or loved. Email blasting the same message to every customer is like sending a bulk message to your entire address book at Christmas, when what they really want is a personal message in an individually addressed card.
Luckily, the technology is now available for marketers to satisfy the desire for greater relevancy and connection. The ability to track and record an endless supply of data on customers means you can deliver one-to-one marketing personalised to match the interests and preferences of each individual.
Here are a few more marketing tips for making customers feel special and loved:
- Offer valuable insight or information (e.g. in a blog, newsletter or eBook) on solving a problem which can’t be easily found elsewhere
- Listen to your customers’ interests and preferences using personalised URLs
- Deliver timely messages and offers e.g. a congratulatory message and discount on their birthday
- Follow up sales with an email, even if it’s just to say thanks
- Tell your audience a captivating story about the history of your business which they can invest in emotionally and feel a part of
If you make them feel unhappy, remember to tell them they’re special afterwards
People aren’t interested in businesses or their products. They’re interested in how a product makes them feel and the promise of what it can do to improve their lives. Marketing’s aim isn’t to sell features, but the emotional benefits people will gain from them, or as lipstick maker Charles Revson once put it, “In the factory we make cosmetics. In the store we sell hope.”
So when looking to acquire customers, marketing’s aim isn’t to deliberately make them feel unhappy or inadequate, but to appeal to their inherent aspiration to better themselves, improve their lifestyle and enhance their standing with others.
Just make sure that once you’ve persuaded people to become customers you then switch your focus to making them feel special and appreciated. Because otherwise your customers might look elsewhere for connection and attention, which your competitors will be only too happy to provide.
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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog - real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Should Marketers Make People Feel Unhappy or Special? Part Two | bda - Buckingham Design Associates…
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