Written by our partner: Phoenix Marketing International
We live in interesting times, not just on the global political stage but also in the world of retail marketing. In recent years consumers have rapidly taken control of the buying process and expect a memorable customer experience (CX) along the way.
Online access to comparative product description and pricing initiated an information power shift from sellers to buyers. Informed buyers gave rise to a new “pull” marketing paradigm based on brands providing product content for consumers to find online. In addition, competition today is about good CX that builds brand equity and incents repeat business among online savvy and knowledgeable consumers.
Blogs, social media, SEO, and website content are now critical. A key point to remember is that consumers typically are not searching online for specific brand names or products, but rely on conversational write-in of a problem or challenge in need of a solution such as “What is the most nutritious food to feed my new puppy.”
Today’s social media makes it easy for consumers to be better informed ahead of making a purchase. Also, to create a short list of considered brands for when they are ready to buy. So the age old customer acquisition question among retailers is slightly altered…
How do we motivate consumers to consider making a purchase from our brand soon after they have found our offering online and before they locate additional product and pricing information provided by our competition?
To better understand the implications of these new rules of engagement on the retail playing field, Phoenix Marketing International and its strategic communication and marketing partners (Direct Choice Inc. of Wayne, PA and Boston-based HaloEffect) recently asked US consumers about their CX expectations, the overall CX provided by major industries, and to identify brands offering memorable CX.
Their answers gave us new insights on:
- Top-of-mind CX assessment of 32 major industries;
- Brand ranking within each industry;
- 315 biggest US brands ranked top to bottom by our CX Excellence Score;
- CX best practices that drive company consideration; and
- Recent company interactions that exceeded or fell short of CX expectations and WHY.
Our initial query into replies offered by the 2,415 consumers answering the brief survey was to understand what key age generation groups (Millennials, GenX, Boomers, and Matures) have to say about the effort US companies are making to deliver a good CX. We learned that as a group, Millennials are the most satisfied of the four generation groups. Not so much among GenX and Boomers.
CX AS A PRIORITY, COMPANIES TODAY…
So back to the primary question among retailers today:How to motivate Millennials to consider making a purchase from our brand? We found three types of CX best practices that drive brand consideration among Millennials: eight core CX capabilities, four capabilities calling for proactive consumer communication, and four others involving social media.
What stands out among these insights is the structure they provide for executing on the new “pull” marketing paradigm. In particular is that a brand’s reputation for the CX provided to customers has staying power.
Phoenix Marketing and Direct Choice have been providing customer research and personalized communications solutions for over 20 years to a broad range of clients across many industries including automotive, pharmaceutical, banking, brokerage, insurance, health care, retail, e-commerce, technology, media, and travel & leisure. To learn more, contact Scott Morrison at smorrison@directchoiceinc.com or 804-380-1994.
