Voices: the CMB Blog

A recent report from Starwood Hotels made the provocative claim that: “73% of travelers would choose loyalty-program benefits over a spouse if they could take just one on the road.” It's a great headline, but speaking as a member of three airline loyalty programs, I would choose my husband over any benefits.

Travelling back and forth to Japan with my daughter since she was an infant has only reinforced this. For example, my loyalty program gives me the following benefits (this includes the family loyalty program benefits that I get from using my father’s points):

• Possible upgrade to business class (depending on dates and vacancy)

• Being able to bring more luggage

• Use of the airline lounges in Tokyo before boarding

• Priority boarding

• Connecting to an agent faster on the phone

• Earning of duty free “points and gift certificates” that can be used to buy duty free products, extra food, and alcohol on the plane

These loyalty benefits sounds pretty appealing, but of course they are not nearly as exciting when you are travelling alone with a small child, when there is absolutely no time to enjoy your extra benefits. I've had the following experiences more than once:

• When I go to the lounges I’m greeted with the why-are-you-bringing-a- screaming-toddler-in-here-face.

• I can get priority boarding having a toddler traveling with me anyways, so I don’t need the loyalty benefits to board earlier; I usually wait until the last moment to board anyway so my daughter uses up as much energy as possible before we board.

• I never have the time to flip through the duty free magazine to shop, and by the time my daughter is finally asleep, the on-board duty free service on board is over.

So, it seems I’m part of the 27%, according to this research. I would much rather bring my spouse on the long flight to Japan.  In fact, I would give up all of my loyalty benefits just so I can take some time to sleep, rest, go to the bathroom alone, not have to walk back and forth to walk my daughter on the plane, and not have to chase her all over the airport during transition.

The article also claims three-quarters of respondents would take extra trips to bump up their loyalty status.  I would definitely consider taking extra trips to bump up my status to get free daycare at transitioning airports, and maybe a nanny to watch over the kids and change diapers on the flight. But for now, I wouldn’t trade my husband for any of the loyalty rewards they could offer; especially since I'm taking my 5 year old and a newborn to Japan this summer.

So what do you think, what loyalty rewards matter to you?

Posted by Tomoko Shimizu-Brennan, Tomoko is a data manager at CMB; she welcomed an adorable baby boy on April 3rd. She is very excited about the new direct flight from Boston to Tokyo in April.

The recent NY Times’ article about people's exhaustion with customer satisfaction surveys made the CMB email rounds in record time. The gist of the article is that people are tired of being asked to fill out customer satisfaction surveys before, after, and during every minor transaction they have with a company. They especially don’t like being pressured by a pleading cashier to “please help me out” and take a survey.

As a company with specialties in customer experience and loyalty—analysis that is dependent on customer feedback—the piece hit a nerve. And the takeaways from the article are worth discussing in a bit more detail:

Surveys that are too long exhaust and annoy people

On the surface there’s not much news here, asking screen upon screen of questions is going to negatively impact more than just response rates, it makes people cranky. The article mentions an excellently titled blog post Infant Who Begins Babies “R” Us Customer Satisfaction Survey Dies of Old Age from a woman who wrote about her displeasure at being asked to complete a questionnaire of more than 45 questions. And it certainly matches up with our findings that ideal survey length is 3 to 6 minutes—any shorter and you may not be giving the respondent enough time to answer, too much longer and you risk making them feel like you don’t value their time.

To incent or not to incent...

that is the question. The answer is a bit more complicated than the Times article suggests. The article quotes Vanderbilt University Management Professor Robert Oliver: “The frequent requests to fill out these surveys, especially with no incentives, have been so annoying that people just stop doing it.” And while it’s true that a subset of survey takers are motivated primarily by monetary incentives or free gifts, the top motivation for more people is a desire to improve the company, its products or services. Saying thank you and letting people know that the collected information will improve service is an effective incentive in itself.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

As the article says, the availability of online surveys, free apps, and mobile platforms, means anyone can administer a survey pretty much anywhere. This is problematic, not only because good questionnaire design and data analysis requires specialized skills, but because a constant barrage of questions can feel like harassment.

I love surveys and I will take one anytime I can, but even I don’t like the feeling of being pressured by cashiers, or forced to answer questions before I complete a transaction. There is a difference between asking people for their time to help improve the company and browbeating them into providing data.  A moratorium on forcing customers to answer questions before their card goes through at the register would be an excellent start.

Make a plan before you survey

One of the problems we see, that the Times article doesn’t cover, is the distressing fact that two-thirds of companies report problems with managers not knowing what to do with the data.  Many companies are collecting data with no idea how to apply it or improve the customer experience. Without a focused plan for addressing and applying customer feedback, companies are just going through the motions, and that's a loss for customers and companies alike.

 

Learn more about our strategic approach to customer satisfaction surveys and best practices in our free download: Putting the Customer First in Customer Satisfaction Surveys

 

 

 

 

Posted by Megan McManaman. Megan is CMB's Content Marketing Manager. She is having a lot of fun with the 1940 Census data and recently realized her dream of taking the American Community Survey.

In 6^th grade, my teacher sent home a survey to parents about “What motivates your child.” My mother wrote down three things: candy, money, and anything free. I remember this so vividly because I was mortified. I wanted her to say something meaningful like, “positive praise” or “a creative academic environment.” But no, she laid it all out on the table; that I was a greedy, Twix-loving, free loader.

Here at CMB, we spend a considerable amount of time investigating what motivates consumer behaviors. We want to know what the consumer is doing and why, and we want realistic and actionable insights. Keeping this in mind, I have considered my mother’s response to that long-ago survey and realized she probably should ditch being a nurse and consider a career in marketing.

To take an in-depth look at what motivates consumers to “Like” a company on Facebook and subscribe” to e-mails we partnered with Constant Contact to survey 1,481 Americans over 18.  The top motivators to these two strategic means of engagement are: to receive special discounts, or take part in special promotions. This concept of free giveaways, deep discounts, and being privy to special information is a major driver of customer engagement.

While the understanding that consumers enjoy receiving deals and free gifts may not seem like breaking news at first, it’s an important finding for companies looking to get the best return on where they decide to spend money on special deals, discounts, and giveaways. In a recent Consumer Pulse exploring the motivations of customer satisfaction survey takers, we found many consumers were motivated by the desire to improve the company and service rather than free gifts and incentives. Yet this doesn’t hold true for consumers “liking” brands on social media or subscribing to email lists.

Many consumers don’t particularly care about the bottom line of their favorite brands or businesses. They want to know “what can you do for me?”  Businesses who utilize e-mail and social networking to engage with their consumers need to heed this opportunity. More often than not, consumers want to know how they will benefit from a long-term business to consumer partnership.  Organizations that best understand the underlying intentions of their consumers have the key to turning special promotions and discount programs into lasting customer relationships. 

Long-term engagement is essential to solidifying a brand in any market. With the volume of communication and information sharing ever growing, businesses need to be prepared to meet their markets’ expectations. Consumers spend a lot of time on these outlets and businesses must be able to find a way to provide something meaningful so they’re not lost in the noise. Facebook pages and informational e-mails are only as good as what they can provide to their audience.

Download the full report: 10 Facts about Why and How Consumers "Like and Subscribe here.

 

 

 

Posted by Keri Ibbitson. Keri is an Associate Researcher with the Travel and Entertainment team. She has found her motivational drivers have grown since 6^th grade, and they reach well beyond candy, money & free stuff. 

After spending the last few days at Loyalty Expo in Orlando I heard no shortage of different points of view on the future of loyalty and loyalty programs.  From conversations around NPS scores and measures to a great panel discussion on the Socialization of Loyalty run by CMB’s Judy Melanson (@Judy_LC), there’s never been a more exciting time to tap into this topic, and never been more opportunities to create stronger and deeper connections between your brand and your customers.

For me one thing remains clear, points and rewards, while very important, are about transactional marketing, where as true loyalty runs much deeper and is harder to come by.  It takes a different approach to create this kind of connection and penetration into your customer’s rituals. It is a deeper commitment to the brand regardless of what one gets in return.

Think of brands you go out of your way for or even pay more for.  I think of Dunkin' Donuts; I am a Dunkin’ fan through and through, as is my husband. When he travels the first thing he does is go online to see where the closest Dunkin' Donuts is. He even picks his hotel based on the proximity to a Dunkin' Donuts. Why? We run on Dunkin'. It is part of our morning ritual, it has become habit. That kind of loyalty runs deep, and it’s driven by behavior and brand preference rather that points and rewards.

One of my favorite presentations from Loyalty Expo talked a lot about creating this kind of connection.  It was from Michael Grasso of TXU Energy (@TXUEnergy) and Zain Raj (@Zain_raj) of Hyper Marketing. They presented a great case study on TXU Energy’s use of behavioral marketing to create that deeper connection and brand ritual in a very competitive commoditized market.  Hey-if an electric company can do this so can you! In their presentation they outlined these four steps to create a Brand Ritual:

1. Getting the first transaction: Everyone has to start somewhere. The first step is to understand the value equation has changed. Zain says the new value equation is:

  Product features + Customer Service+ Added Value
_____________________________________________

Competitive Price

2. Invite customers into your brand: I think a great example of this is personalized gift cards. Putting a picture on a gift card makes it much harder to throw away and increases the likelihood of reloading the card.

3. Building connections with relevant experiences and innovations: TXU created online and mobile tools to educate their customers about not only how much electricity they used, but ways they can save money on their bill. This move led to the last key to building Brand Ritual for TXU.

4. Align with key values: TXU understands the values that are close to the hearts and wallets of their customers. They created a feeling of partnership by aligning themselves with their customers' values.

As marketers and researchers there has never been a better time to tap into the behavior of our customers, align with their values, and connect with their emotions to create a deeper, richer and more meaningful connection and become a ritual.  

Posted by Kristen Garvey. Kristen is CMB's VP of Marketing, a mom of two, and the top three brands that have won her heart and wallet are Dunkin’ Donuts, Jet Blue, and Apple. Follow her on Twitter: @KristenGarvey

Customer feedback is a popular topic these days, and it makes me think about my own experiences and how companies’ responses continue to shape my perceptions.  I might have ongoing positive experiences with a company, which, clearly, results in fairly positive perceptions.  So what about when I have a negative experience?  What then? 

Recently I had a really good customer service experience that resulted from giving some pretty negative feedback.  I purchased a laptop bag at what I felt was a reasonably high price, but I loved the bag so it was worth it to me.  Imagine my disappointment when after only 2.5 months, it broke (under very normal wear and tear).  Imagine my further disappointment when I found out that the warranty was only good for 60 days… I was so frustrated!  So I thought about it, and decided to write to the company.  I politely explained the situation, acknowledged that the warranty was expired, and told them my goal was really just to communicate the issue and my disappointment—I paid good money for a bad product, and I really hoped that they would strive to develop a better quality product in the future.  

To my (very pleasant) surprise, not only did I receive an apologetic response, but they also acknowledged some recent manufacturing issues they had recognized due to ongoing customer feedback.  The company had actually decided to change manufacturers to address the problems customers were facing.  That response alone would have been sufficient for me…they were proactively addressing the problem.  But then, in addition, they offered to replace my laptop bag once the shipments arrived from the new manufacturer.  A great bonus! 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized what this company did right and what stood out:

-          They responded

-          They used manners (thanked me for my business, apologized for the problem, etc.)

-          They offered a resolution

I realized how much of an impact those three little things had on me.  I felt really good about the service I received and, despite the problems I experienced, felt better about the company I was working with.  At the end of the day, I was ultimately less focused on the problem I had experienced and more focused on the resolution… knowing that this company was listening to their customers, and acting on the issues.  Their actions made me want to continue purchasing from them and supporting their products. 

What it comes down to is that companies are, at the core, human… product development, customer service, and all the other pieces of the companies we love (and sometimes hate) are human, and they do make mistakes.  What matters is what they do about it.  So what good is my customer feedback?  In this case, it’s what is keeping me loyal. 

Posted by Dana Vaille. Dana is a Senior Project Manager with CMB's Financial Services & Insurance practice. 

For more on our Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty offerings click here.