Author Nicole Ertas says the savvy brands are those that make every customer interaction end well.
“Knock. Knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“An Unhappy Customer.”
“Please hold for Customer Service.”
Let’s face it, as marketers, ‘Customer Service’ is usually not something most of us think about in terms of marketing strategy. Or even as a creative platform.
But, there is a growing minority of brands that are wise to the activity happening in the shadows. And they are creating powerful brand-building bonds by harnessing the opportunity to create branded consumer experiences.
These are the Free Range Brands.
Free Range Brands are brands that know how to navigate today’s ever-changing and unpredictable marketing environment by making every consumer interaction powerful and connective. They know every opportunity to delight a customer creates far-reaching marketing momentum that extends well beyond that one-off experience. And they’ve recognised that one of the most overlooked opportunities to create a connective experience is when a customer calls. Free Range Brands don’t send the call to Customer Service. They own Customer Service.
Unlike almost any other marketing-driven program, a powerful customer service plan provides an incredible opportunity to create the most noteworthy brand experiences.
“Customer experience is the new battlefield,” confirm surveys by Gartner, Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. By 2017, 50 per cent of consumer product investments will be redirected to customer experience innovations, predicts Gartner. By 2020, customer experiences are predicted to overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator.
Also trending is the rapidly and deepening cultural need of the post-digital age for consumers to interact with, influence, and impact their brands (for example, the post on Learned FanGirl by Heather Ash, ‘LEGO is for everyone’, see below). This is a profound shift from the behaviours and relationships shaped during the broadcast era of one-way communication and the passive consumer acceptance of corporate marketing activities.
This can be a head-scratcher for many businesses that simply don’t feature themselves as having an ‘interactive’ product. But the Free Range idea is to expand the notion of interactivity beyond functional to include emotional.
And one of the most emotional moments consumers have with a product is if and when they interact with the company personally – say, through customer service. And this is why so many of today’s most influential brands attribute their success more to their customer service, and less to their formerly conventional marketing programs.
Here are some ways to inspire you to rethink how you’re using your customer service opportunity:
1 Empower your customer
Blogger mom Heather Ash posted a rant about LEGO’s online club segmenting toys by gender. When Ms. Ash’s six-year old son asked his mom to change his gender to ‘girl’ so he could access the toys he was seeking, Ms. Ash complained about the ‘sex-change’ experience LEGO was creating for kids.
This could have been a one-off exchange between LEGO and a customer about seeking help in finding a product online. But instead, LEGO used the opportunity to showcase its values and make a single customer’s voice feel big and meaningful.
LEGO quickly responded to the post with a mea culpa, and worked across global functions to immediately resolve the problem, resulting in a change in company policy. The company’s empowering response got noticed and elevated the LEGO brand among current and new customers.
2 Reframe the conversation
Delta Air Lines decided it would take their customer service to new heights. Rather than participate in the functional conversations of price and legroom, Delta focused on building its brand value through customer service, by inviting any traveller to tweet their travelling troubles to @DeltaAssist. Through @DeltaAssist, even non-customers could receive instant, friendly help from Delta. Delta effectively used Customer Service as a marketing strategy and, by doing so, fuelled their social media success.
3 Humanise your brand
Taco Bell has reinvented its brand based largely by its timely and fun replies to customers. When Illinois high-school sophomore and swimmer Ryan Klarner posted a request on his Facebook page asking Taco Bell to create a suit for him with ‘think outside the buns’ printed on the back, Taco Bell instantly replied: “What size do you wear and what’s your address?” The exchange caught the attention of thousands of people and the media. Since then, Taco Bell has revolutionised its brand largely by extending that fun and bold voice into social media.
4 Surprise and delight
Responding to DJ Jay Whalley’s complaint to ASOS, cleverly written as a rap riff of an Eminem song, an ASOS customer service representative replied in turn and the exchange went viral. Unexpected replies from brands cause great excitement with customers and often can turn an unhappy customer into a powerful advocate.
5 Get creative
Most people would credit Warby Parker for its business model of offering stylish, affordable eyewear served up in a smart, socially responsible package. But the team behind the brand actually credits most of its success to the company’s exceptional customer service. As technology evolved, Warby Parker’s customer service team got creative in replying to customer service tweets by shooting videos of themselves answering questions and embedding the videos in the Twitter replies. These customer service video replies are retweeted 65 times more than other tweets. “Customers were so blown away that we are going to these lengths to meet their needs that they tweet about it and tell dozens of other people,” Warby Parker co-founder Dave Gilboa says.
Distinctive customer service is now a leading way Free Range companies are differentiating themselves. This formerly, passive, back-office, little-attention-getting cost of doing business is now a strategic platform for branding and emotional customer experience. Leading brands are increasingly discovering the brand-building power of customer service.
Reimagined, the future of customer service will be an active strategic marketing weapon for driving positive emotional experiences, brand awareness, consideration and loyalty.
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Nicole Ertas is an executive advisor and recognised global brand strategist who has helped build many of the world’s finest and most powerful brands. Her thinking has been embraced by companies such as Jim Beam, Wrigley, SC Johnson, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, Kraft, and Nestle. Her book, Free Range Brands, is available from January 2017.
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