How to leverage on consumer stardom.

The thing about You-tube and consumer self expression has been pretty well established with the growth of social networking. You saw the VISA dancing guy in different countries, Susan Boyle etc. You probably can name a few more. The fact is that normal people like you and me have a stab at becoming 'stars' is not fantasy. The internet has provided the right medium to do so easily.

Question is, how can brands leverage on this consumer trend? Making your customers feel like a star for them to express their individuality and tastes is not far fetched. In fact, you should do it as a brand owner. To allow your customers to express themselves in their desired form (good or bad) and at the same time creating an unforgettable experience, why not? Look hard and probably the opportunities are around. A dose of creativity helps. Here are my observations.

A recent trip to a popular local KTV chain has prompted some opportunities for such consumer stardom. First, my congrats to them for having a wonderful intuitive, all-in-one remote to select songs and even food at a few button presses. For the song belters who are totally into giving their best shot holding the microphone, why not bring it one notch higher. Having a mini platform stage, mini stage light and a voting system from the audiences (yes, your teasing friends). Quite sure this will create a different experience and a differentiation from competitors.

What about retail? A local, immensely successful shoe chain can also leverage on it without spending more than their frequent renovations to refresh their store experience. Women love shoes. Its about how many brand X can sell to them. Having a proposition of affordability without sacrificing quality and design hit the right spot. On average, I notice local women will try on average of 3 pairs before buying X number. Say 3 is the most desirable, 0 is worst. But it is not a lost cause if you know how to turn it around. How? Have a dedicated shoe corner with the right mirrors and lighting for the women to whip out their camera phones (most got one) to take pictures of the 'considerations'. They can take it back and ponder, think, imagine, fantasize or better, show their friends, post it online etc. Bottom line is, it creates pre-purchase intentions and word of mouth for that brand. You can imagine what happens next? Probably a few more purchases. What does it cost shoe brand X? Not much but an elevated shopping experience with possibly more return visits. If brand X is afraid of shoe copies, they have not understood the concept of continuing innovation. Pity.

Car test drives. Perfect for consumer stardom again. What about having a mini film of you test driving the vehicle you always wanted. Car brand Y could have these delivered to you after a few days of testing driving in a nice 'Thank You for visiting and testing our vehicles' card, enclosed a mini-DVD of the footage of you driving that hot hatch. No sales? Car brand Y just added value to the brand by elevating customer experience using consumer stardom. Some months down the road, that customer would still be talking about it I reckon.

I can think of a few more but lets leave it here for now. Please feedback or comment if you want to.

How Asian technology brands stay ahead.

Speed to market. Yes, that is their strategy to roll out products faster than their competitors. Their speed to quickly churn out many products at a rate that is unmatched by other European or American brands. Their strategy involves gaining market share by rapidly flooding products with new models every 6 to 8 months.

How is this speed-to-market affecting market research? Definitely. The traditional design research which involves understanding user needs, creating new concepts and rolling them out has been shortened significantly to meet market needs and capture market share (top priority now). Being the number one market leader by sales figure speaks the loudest.

Many designers are rolling out concepts quickly and hoping that one of the many models will wow the consumers. Not your typical European brand product life cycle. Are consumer needs measured? Probably but I suspect not really in-depth. You would probably agree some smart phones look really alike to each other. Speed to market is killing innovation. Do we really need a crystal keypad from LG? My take is that Asian brands are not aiming for a big leap in innovation but a series of refinement till they get it right. I hope not at the expense of consumer needs and wants.

Please don't make me look at the back of your monitor?

Yes, we all don't like the back of it but how often customer service experience are exactly like that. Have a look around telco customer service counters and travel agencies, you get what I mean. The crux of the problem really lies in having business process taking over customer service. Service reps are more concern about filling out their forms or looking for the information you want rather than looking in your eyes (you, me, customers) and engaging you. Reps should be spending more percentage understanding your needs, chit chat, engage you to make you feel special etc. Deep down, we all want to be noticed and talked to.

There is nothing wrong with business process. In fact, without it, things will be messy and even chaotic. However, we need to be mindful that flexibility needs to be exercised by employees. Wait a minute, where is the floor manager? Perhaps in the back room performing one of his business process?

To attain better customer experience, there are a few ways. In the case of over the counter service like travel agencies, the monitor could be shared rather than back facing the customer or enquirer. This way, there is a common ground which both parties are engaged. What is there to hide anyway? Destination, price? Not happy, click or next destination. I am sure this potential customer is more than willing to tell you his/her plans for the next trip. Great starting point for conversation.

Another is to let the employee not be blinkered by these processes. Training them well is crucial as they are the interface or frontline with the customers. Bottom line, don't let the front or back of a PC monitor (business process) hinder great customer service experience. Flexibility is key.

Bonding with clients over hardship?

One of the challenges of modern day client servicing is to keep to clients interested and constantly engaged. In today's marketplace, clients come and go quickly. Sometimes it may just catch you off guard. How do we maintain these relationships? We hardly get to ask them how is their experience with you until something happens. Sometimes it might be too late if its negative. Especially so in the Asia culture where we tend to keep to ourselves.

The way to get around this, in fact is to create compelling B2B relationships with them. Delving deeper into the client relationship which is not much different from your social relationships, end of the day they are still people. We sometimes draw the line too quickly. There are no excuses these days, companies big and small to not engage your business partners.

We all know how some hardship really digs deep into us. They are both memorable and compelling, at times life changing. I still have not gotten over how my uncle Eddie looks like in his last days. It reminded me how fragile life is and how important it is to lead a healthy life. We all long for certain hardship experiences to stay away or kept as reminders. They are powerful markers in our memories.

However, hardship with positive outcomes produce the same memorable and compelling effect. An example would be doing community work, participating sporting events together like a triathlon or marathon etc. I know of a certain design agency that trains and compete together with their clients in a triathlon. http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/fast-company-staff/fast-company-blog/radical-collaboration-triathlons-are-new-golf

These experiences are hard to forget, going beyond great boardroom or killer presentations (yes, they are still important). They create solid anchor points for both your clients and you.

So the next time you are deliberating on how to engage your clients. Try doing hardship stuff together where the experiences truly bind. Hope you can leverage on these to create great business and personal relations.

Leong

Why don't Singaporeans like to stand in between MRT carriages?

MRT move millions of passengers daily. Cheap, reliable and fast. However, the train experience could be better improved to accommodate more passengers per trip and being less crowded. How?

Solution: Move more passengers in-between carriages.

The connecting segment between train carriages are great to accommodate more passengers. However, the experience is unstable and unwelcoming. All test subjects of an earthquake simulator would rather get off that thing double quick time. So would I! This segment of the train certainly feels like one. Small, unstable and awkward. Not a very pleasant experience at all.

Applying design-experience thinking can possibly deliver more pleasant. Heres how.

First, you need to make some fundamental changes. Having stability for the passenger gives a sense of security for them. Have handrails above their heads will definitely encourage more passengers to move in. Currently, there is none at all. Many are forced to touch the ceiling. I am one of them.

Second, that space is great for advertisers to put in their ads and messages. Passengers are 'locked in' that space, let them have something to look at or solve. Ever wash your hair in the salon and forced to look at the ceiling? If I am the owner, I will put my products up there! Same principle for patients in hospital being forced to stare at the ceiling when they are lying on the bed for treatment.

Third, implement a more stable platform for the passengers to stand on. Currently, not many can balance on the metal plates after a tiring day at work.

Great Design, Winning Experience

As a market researcher by training and profession, I have the chance of testing and researching on a number of products for my clients. Very often, clients are at my doorstep with design prototypes (unfinished products) wanting me to validate and improve their offerings. Over the years, I have conducted studies which range from chocolates to petroleum. I would like to take this chance to share some my personal thoughts with you on how to attain winning products for your customers.

Product experience matters.
A great product experience delivers impactful emotional branding. It is far easier and cheaper to retain a customer which has a pleasant experience with you before than finding a new one. Pleasant experience form deep emotional bonds between your brand and your business. It is priceless. Look for the ‘experience architect’ in your business. They are the ones that closes their eyes, holding the prototype in their hands and imagining what the customer will feel when they use their products or services. Design experience, it matters.

Purposeful design that meets a need is fundamental.

Many products are created for the sake of bringing in sales or ‘it’s already in the pipeline’. Too often, designers design for the sake of fulfilling project requirements and not knowing what is it designed for. Has the product lost its initial purpose? Do designers know why customers need them in the first place? Do they need another 10 TB drive that stores more media? Or do we need one that integrates all your media files that you have and make them ubiquitously accessible to make their lives easier? Sell your product benefits by first having a strategic purpose and meeting the needs of your customers.

Be open about your innovation. Involve your customers. Customers talk, be it to you or to each other. Point is that customers talk. With the prevalence of internet and social networking tools, you can stay in your rabbit hole and they will still be talking about you or your products. Why not make them talk to you and become your asset by integrating product research with them? Lego Factory is created for that purpose to integrate customers into their product design.

I hope you go on to improve your offerings for your customers and great product experience for them.

Please leave your comments, if any.