Voices: the CMB Blog

As an everyday user of the criminally addictive social networking site Facebook, I rolled my eyes when I saw the new “Timeline” design. Why fix something if it’s not broken? Didn’t I just get used to the most recent interface?  While I sat absorbing all the new features, Facebook was busy launching a revelatory tool for marketers.

Previously, the popularity of a business’ Facebook page was driven by the number of “likes” and “comments.” Businesses could hide behind the “like” button.  Now, marketers are forced to tell a story about their brand (and if you know anything about CMB, we LOVE to tell a story). Customer engagement is now driven by a personal connection developed through captivating storytelling as opposed to an unimpassioned click of a button. Users can follow their favorite brands from conception to the present through the Timeline layout.

With the new layout, fans and visitors now see the same landing page. Everyone is privy to the same content, and it must be appealing enough to convert the “lurkers” into “likers.” Marketers need to achieve this through good storytelling, and Facebook has developed several new tools on the Timeline that allow users to make their stories unique.

New features like pinning and starring posts allow developers to anchor their most important posts at the top of their page for seven days. This ensures that the best stories don’t get lost in daily posts. Videos and pictures are now amplified on the pages, helping drive deeper engagement by existing fans, and piquing interest in potential ones. Milestones can now be defined by the business and posted publicly when they are achieved; allowing companies to share their successes with the people who helped get them there.

The most controversial of the new additions, is the ability to privately message people. This tool is being viewed as a way to individually engage with fans, and allow for quicker and more personal responses. However, companies should proceed with caution in using this feature. Bombarding their fans with an abundance of messages is a surefire way to turn off their support base. This tool should be used to help foster, and not strain, the relationships between businesses and their consumers.

A common driver of the old Facebook interface was quantity of content. The new Facebook Timeline pushes the focus to quality. Developers are encouraged to optimize the content they have in order to engage fans by telling their story during their fans’ “peak” usage periods and pinning popular posts. 

As professional story-tellers, we are excited here at CMB to launch our Timeline here

Posted by Keri Ibbitson. Keri is an Associate Researcher with the Travel and Entertainment team. When not writing about the complexities of Facebook, you can find her watching the Bruins, wrapped up in an Intervention marathon, or dreaming of going back to London.  

A career in market research can make you pretty sensitive to advertising. An ineffective commercial can make me throw up my hands wondering how it got on air; a great one makes me appreciate all the work that went into making it. Recently, I got to see a behind the scenes example of what goes into a memorable ad campaign in CMB’s work with Aflac.

I expect you’re familiar with Aflac’s Duck, the be-feathered icon has appeared in the brand’s commercials since 1999 and his signature quack is instantly recognizable.  But Aflac faced a challenge, people knew The Duck, but they weren’t sure what he wanted them to do, or much about the company he represented.  To address this branding challenge Aflac needed to educate the market about their products, differentiate themselves from the competition, all while keeping The Duck in the picture.

CMB worked with Aflac, to conduct an innovative brand positioning study using discrete choice. The study allowed the team to:

• Identify the unique needs of  three target audiences: consumers, employers, and brokers

• Identify how specific changes to elements of brand positioning affected each group’s desire to learn more about Aflac, leading to the development of  a user friendly simulator for the brand and their agency

• Deliver optimized brand positioning specifying value statements, how to address audience goals, emotional and functional benefits, and the most compelling proof points.

The results helped guide Aflac and their agency to create ads that let customers get to know the company behind The Duck. Take a look at one of the ads that has gotten nearly 350,000 views on YouTube.

Want to learn more? Join us for a Webinar on March 7^th to hear CMB’s Rich Schreuer and Aflac’s Missy Wood share how CMB helped Aflac use the power of discrete choice to reposition their brand. Register here

Posted by Megan McManaman, Megan is the Content Marketing Manager at CMB. She enjoys watching and  parsing ads but draws the line at the ones with talking babies. Follow her on Twitter at @Megz79.

I started my career in sales.  In sales, you very quickly learn that it is much easier to sell to an existing - rather than a new - customer.  The fact that existing customers are valuable isn’t a tough concept to grasp. Customer loyalty researchers report that, on average, companies lose about 50% of their customers each year, that it costs 20x more to do business with a new than existing customer, and a minimal reduction in customer defection rates can significantly boost profits. 

So, can someone please explain why so many companies are making headlines for initiating new fees or penalties that seem designed to aggravate their customers?  I’m sure at least some of these stories caught your eye…

• In July, Netflix unbundled their DVD rental and streaming plan, effectively forcing customers to pay $6 more for the combo plan they had grown accustomed to. Then, in September, Netflix CEO announced that DVD rentals and streaming would become two totally separate services. The streaming service would retain the name "Netflix," while the DVD branch would be called "Qwikster." Reactions were predictably negative, and on October 10, before Qwikster had even launched, Netflix ended the failed experiment.

• Throughout the year, one after another of the major airlines (with the exception of Southwest and JetBlue) raised fees on checked baggage.  Fliers hate baggage fees and the long lines at airport security screening are made worse by passengers carrying on more bags.  The TSA estimates that the number of carry-on bags has increased by 87 million since 2009.

• On December 30th, after a customer ‘uproar,’ Verizon Wireless decided it will not institute a $2 convenience fee for online or telephone single payments, 24 hours after it was announced.

Even my favorite hotel company recently hit me with a $50 change fee for a mistake I made on the dates of a business trip.  I was coming to the hotel for goodness sake – just not on those dates!!! Ugh. 

I understand that companies need to make money; and changing regulations and technology can affect a corporation’s ability to deliver profit.  But in the spirit of the Occupy movement, someone needs to be watching out for the customer!

From a recent CMB Consumer Pulse – 44% of respondents report feelings of loyalty to 10 or more companies they do business with – another third to 5-9 companies.  In addition, we learned that two-thirds enjoy it when a company thanks them for their loyalty… and one-in three expects a company to thank them….boy they must be disappointed when instead of a thank you, they get hit with new fees and charges!

CMO.com recently listed the 10 things CEOs need from their CMOs  …drumroll please… #3 on the list is A Customer Whisperer…someone who can tell them what customers in the future, will want.  And #9 is A Customer Advocate… someone who can be the voice of the customer in the executive suite. Someone, who, in the face of pressure from finance or legal, will fight to ensure sufficient consideration is paid to the needs and interests of customers.  Marketers should seek to uphold our own version of the Hippocratic oath:  "first, do no harm to our customers."

So, what’s a brand manager or CMO to do? 

The problem probably isn’t that you don’t have enough data-the problem, instead, may be that you have too much information!  Or maybe the information isn’t being delivered to you in a way that makes it easy to find insights or support for your decisions.  If you work for a company like most, a significant portion of your research budget is dedicated to a customer feedback, performance, or satisfaction program. Are you getting the return (in insight) you are making for the investment you’re making?  Maybe it’s time to revitalize the program to enhance your role as customer whisperer and advocate! 

Here’s what we believe you should be getting from your program:   

• Direction for product/service investment decisions:  If you had $20 million to spend, where should you invest?  Where would you get the biggest bang for the buck?  Upgrading something customers see as a “table-stake”…. Or enhancing a service that is a “customer delighter?”  

• Identification of deal-breakers:  What interactions/events/problems cause customers to run away to your competitors? 

• Insight into the needs of key segments:  How loyal are key segments (Next Gen customers, Gen X/Gen Y, repeat customers) to you?  What percent of their wallet are you attracting? 

• Direction for operations improvements:  How well are you performing on the key drivers?  How does that compare to what guests get from competitors?  Which locations are excelling – and what is it that they are doing?  Which locations are lagging – and what can they do better?

• Brand-operation alignment: How well does the customer experience match what you promise?  (remember the ‘fly the friendly skies’ ad of a major carrier?)  What’s causing disconnects?  

• Competitive intelligence:  Who/Where are you leading?  Where are you lagging? 

• The voice of the customer:  Verbatim comments about what it’s like to buy from you. 

While an effective CSM program won’t answer all the questions the organization might throw your way, our clients find themselves better prepared to advocate for their customers, support investment decisions of brand or line managers, focus on areas of importance to key customers-to provide insight to reduce risk around your business decisions.  Customer performance measurement is a tool that you should have in your kit to help you engage and retain your customers.  Maybe it’s time to "sharpen the tool!"

For more on getting the most from customer feedback, download our Consumer Pulse on Customer Satisfaction Programs

Posted by Judy Melanson. Judy leads the Travel & Entertainment practice and loves collaborating with clients on driving customer loyalty.  She's the mom of two teens and the wife of an oyster farmer. Follow Judy on Twitter at @Judy_LC

Last month, we released our 10 Quick Facts You Should Know About Consumer Behavior on Facebook, and there was a lot of great discussion about how different companies are using the mega-site. The sheer number of Facebook users, all over the world, means brands and companies know they need to engage and they want to know what fans like about their brand (and what they don’t like) and how it impacts their behavior.

But, what about that other social media giant—the place where everyone from hip techies to budding revolutionaries go to speak their minds in 140 characters or less? This week we released a new Consumer Pulse report highlighting 10 Quick Facts You Should Know About Consumer Behavior on Twitter. In collaboration with our friends at Constant Contact, we asked nearly 1,500 Americans over 18 about their Twitter habits, and the results are in. Here are a few of the facts that stood out:

Consumers follow brands on Twitter for exclusivity, promotions and to be “in the know” (tweet this)

While Facebook users are interested in showing off their brand loyalty, brand followers on Twitter like getting the latest news and promotions before anyone else. What is the lesson for brands? Don’t treat your Facebook content like your Twitter content, while the vast majority of Twitter users are also on Facebook, they don’t need warmed over content they’ve already seen, they want to hear about innovations and deals before everyone else.

One-third of brand followers are interacting with brands more this year than last (tweet this)

As Twitter grows, brands have a great, and growing, opportunity to listen to their promoters and detractors, and respond directly. While the majority of brand followers on Twitter do not engage in two-way conversation with brands—brand followers are engaged, the vast majority follow fewer than 10 brands.

75% of consumers have never “un-followed” a brand on Twitter (tweet this)

While “un-following” a brand is as simple as clicking a button, most brand followers are loyal to the brands they follow. This loyalty is no reason not to invest time in your tweets, 67% of brand followers expect unique content from the brands they follow.

Nearly half of consumers on Twitter have been tweeting less than one year (tweet this)

Twitter just celebrated its 5^th birthday but many users are just diving in now. Once, home primarily to early adopters and those in the tech industry, a significant percentage of Twitter users are very new to the platform. And it’s not just the very young. Twitter’s gaining new ground with older folks as well, a quarter of users over 50 reported tweeting less than once month.

In short, consumers expect brand presence on Twitter, and they expect more than just recycled Facebook posts. Twitter is a unique medium with its own rules, language, and etiquette, but the opportunity to listen and interact with consumers in your backyard and around the world is priceless.

Download the full report here.

Posted by Kristen Garvey. Kristen is CMB’s VP of marketing, a mom of two and is getting ready to hit Orlando for The Market Research Event. You can follow Kristen on Twitter @KristenGarvey

I like to think of myself as a very positive person.  I appreciate the good meal at my favorite restaurant, my laptop’s ease of use, and the friendly service or good prices of our panel suppliers.  But, I’m only human, so when asked, I respond with much greater clarity about the things that irritate me.  Be it the noise in the restaurant, or the broken button on my computer; and when my suppliers provide similar offerings, I factor in how much irritation they’ve caused right along with price and service.

This quality of being much more articulate about what irritates us than what benefits us is salient to those in product and service planning. How do you have a competitive edge on what is important to consumers?   How do you get insight into out-of-the-box ideas that have market appeal?  What attributes should be accounted for in next generation products?  For providers of products and services, seeking market input for new products or feedback on service, a focus on the negative cuts to the heart of differentiation.   

I’m a fan of an old methodology that uncovers generally unarticulated “problems” that consumers have. Problem analysis utilizes long lists of potential problems that may not be top of mind. While it may seem depressing, it produces valuable and useful insights.  Although social media also picks up the negative, problem analysis differs in that it proactively and methodically probes for irritating issues.   These are issues that can direct providers to future “solutions” such as new products, or little considered but notable competitive distinctiveness.

For example, consider a medical equipment supplier that wanted to separate themselves from other competitors by implementing a meaningful service guarantee.   What should be included in the guarantee— friendly representatives, quality products, good prices?  Yes, those are important, and expected by the customers.   As it turned out, customers told us that all suppliers were friendly, were about the same in quality, and had prices in the same ballpark.  

However, while probing for problems, we found some very specific issues causing varying levels of irritation and ranging in importance to the customer.  These were issues which the supplier had not recognized as being real irritants or better yet, real opportunities for distinction.  In terms of service, customers indicated they needed more rapid product replacements.  They also indicated that they wanted representatives that were product trainers more than sellers, and during medical emergencies they had an extreme unmet need to consult with product managers. 

Armed with these insights, the medical supplier equipped a meaningful service guarantee including the “usual” aspects of service with some that would normally not have been included.   In addition, they were able to revamp their sales program and establish a new consulting service. 

I prefer being a positive person, but when it comes to useful market insights, proactive probing of problems is crucial. 

Posted by Anne Bailey Berman. Anne is the President of Chadwick Martin Bailey and enjoys volunteering in the community, traveling with her family and spending time in her vegetable garden.