I recently wrote the following piece for my friend Richard Sedley’s book “Winners and Losers in a Troubled Economy”. You read more about the project at Richard’s blog.
Survival: your customers have got to want you too
There are many strategies that get discussed when recession looms with maximising revenue and minimising cost high on anyone’s list. My preferred strategy is to use the opportunity to get as close to your customers as it is possible to; and to love them in unmistakable ways. I have many reasons for favouring this approach and not least because it is hard for anyone (that may hold a budget in or outside my organisation) to argue against investing time and money in “shoring up” client relationships. But chief among them is that I believe customers have got to want you to survive the recession and they are more likely to do so if they like, or even better, love your brand and all that it represents.
The arrival of the internet itself has been akin to a recession for many organisations with market changing dynamics being caused by dot com start ups. In my opinion many more of them are better equipped to survive and grow this time round than they were back in the 90’s. The digital media properties they have created have the ability to connect them with their customers in more meaningful ways than ever before if they can learn how to.
Let us assume that getting the key processes in your digital property to work (i.e. be usable) is a table stake. This isn’t the case everywhere but it should be, given that the supply chain inefficiencies that hid usability issues in the past have almost been eradicated. This won’t make anyone love you but it will stop them disliking you. If you have not yet fixed the basic usability of your property spend whatever budget you have to do so or your survival cannot be guaranteed.
What you are left with are the small differences. The ones that shout out “we thought about you and we made it work like this, feel like that, make your life better in this way”. These come from more creative experience design, facilitated by greater knowledge of the customer through increased research.
Recession often sees research budgets cut but I don’t think this will happen to digital research budgets. Unlike the offline world the research carried out online has a direct and measurable impact on bottom line and can get you closer to your clients and allow you to create an experience they will love you for. The next step is to make sure that the experience you deliver is consistent across all your touch points online and off. But that I fear is for another recession.
Practical tip
Don’t try to be all things to all men/women. I meet countless organisations that literally have no idea who their target audience is. They are trying to create a digital experience that appeals to everyone and in the process are delighting absolutely no one. If there is one piece of advice that I can offer it is to identify who your target clients are, to research with them, and to create great experiences that they value in meaningful ways.
Winners and Losers in a troubled economy
10 03 2008I recently wrote the following piece for my friend Richard Sedley’s book “Winners and Losers in a Troubled Economy”. You read more about the project at Richard’s blog.
Survival: your customers have got to want you too
There are many strategies that get discussed when recession looms with maximising revenue and minimising cost high on anyone’s list. My preferred strategy is to use the opportunity to get as close to your customers as it is possible to; and to love them in unmistakable ways. I have many reasons for favouring this approach and not least because it is hard for anyone (that may hold a budget in or outside my organisation) to argue against investing time and money in “shoring up” client relationships. But chief among them is that I believe customers have got to want you to survive the recession and they are more likely to do so if they like, or even better, love your brand and all that it represents.
The arrival of the internet itself has been akin to a recession for many organisations with market changing dynamics being caused by dot com start ups. In my opinion many more of them are better equipped to survive and grow this time round than they were back in the 90’s. The digital media properties they have created have the ability to connect them with their customers in more meaningful ways than ever before if they can learn how to.
Let us assume that getting the key processes in your digital property to work (i.e. be usable) is a table stake. This isn’t the case everywhere but it should be, given that the supply chain inefficiencies that hid usability issues in the past have almost been eradicated. This won’t make anyone love you but it will stop them disliking you. If you have not yet fixed the basic usability of your property spend whatever budget you have to do so or your survival cannot be guaranteed.
What you are left with are the small differences. The ones that shout out “we thought about you and we made it work like this, feel like that, make your life better in this way”. These come from more creative experience design, facilitated by greater knowledge of the customer through increased research.
Recession often sees research budgets cut but I don’t think this will happen to digital research budgets. Unlike the offline world the research carried out online has a direct and measurable impact on bottom line and can get you closer to your clients and allow you to create an experience they will love you for. The next step is to make sure that the experience you deliver is consistent across all your touch points online and off. But that I fear is for another recession.
Practical tip
Don’t try to be all things to all men/women. I meet countless organisations that literally have no idea who their target audience is. They are trying to create a digital experience that appeals to everyone and in the process are delighting absolutely no one. If there is one piece of advice that I can offer it is to identify who your target clients are, to research with them, and to create great experiences that they value in meaningful ways.