Customer Service Excellence - Lecture 10

Customer Service Excellence

Lecture ElevenProviding excellent customer

service across the generations

‘The era in which a consumer is born creates for that person a cultural bond with the millions

of others born during the same time period’

Solomon et al ‘Consumer Behaviour, a European perspective’

Teenagers and excellent customer service

Are they bovered?YouTube - Kevin becomes a teenager - BBC comedy

Teenagers throughout history…..• Insecurity• Parental authority issues• Peer pressure

Teenagers in 2008…….

• All of the above, plus;• Concerns about the environment• Racism• AIDS• Increasing social problems• Constant monitoring and assessment (UK)

Marketing to teens

• Euro teens have a spending capacity of in excess of 61 billion euros a year

• Puberty and adolescence – the best and worst times

• Saatchi & Saatchi’s four themes of teen conflict;

1. Autonomy v belonging2. Rebellion v conformity3. Idealism v pragmatism4. Narcissism v vanity

Food for thought

• According to Mintel Teens are more responsible, technologically literate and more unpredictable than ever before.

• The average monthly income of 15 – 19 years old was £214 in 2007 (Mintel)

• Verdict research estimates that teenagers spend an average of £3,300 a year on consumer goods.

• Mid market retail brands are seen as uncool ‘you hear M&S and you just cringe’ and Next is simply off the radar. (www.telegraph.co.uk 27/11/08).

• Teenagers are as tribal as ever and influenced mainly by people their own age – peers are the biggest influence on their purchasing decisions.

To service their needs we need to gain insight into what they want…

• Experimentation• Belonging• Independence• Responsibility• Approval from others• Much of their money goes toward feel good

products – cosmetics, fast food…

Consumer Behaviour a European Perspective, Solomon

They are elusive shoppers…

• They know what to buy and where to buy it.• Fuelled by teenage purchasing habits, fast

fashion chains such as Top shop and Primark have become the biggest names in UK fashion.

• This is however a huge irony, once a label becomes too trendy, teenagers up sticks to see out new and underground brands.

‘Attempts to target this demographic tend to be cack - handed or patronising

and often end in failure’

Telegraph.co.uk 1/10/07

How do you offer excellent customer service to teenagers?

• Entertain them to engage them….

• Viral marketing is one way….

• Advertising that is so good that not only does it engage them but they pass it on for you – spreading the brand message exponentially amongst that elusive target audience!

Examples of Top Viral campaigns 2007

• YouTube - D&AD Awards - Viral Films - Sunglasses Catch

• YouTube - Cadbury's Gorilla Advert Aug 31st 2007

Symptoms of a virus 1- 5

1. The term ‘viral marketing’ was coined by a Harvard Professor, Jeffrey Rayport in December 1996

2. Virals need value for consumers to pass them on (humans are herd creatures who like to receive recognition from others)

3. ‘Viral’ refers to how the content, whatever the medium gets around

4. They’re a young person’s game 64% of people who forward e mails are under 34 years old.

5. Virals are like car wrecks, according to Seth Godin ‘we slow down and we can’t believe what we are seeing’

The Marketer October/November 2008

Symptoms of a virus 6 - 10

6. Production can matter as much as the idea (think Cadbury’s gorilla)7. Its an uphill struggle (fewer that 0.1% of YouTube videos are

viewed by 1,000 users or more)8. Timing is paramount ‘Consumers will lose interest once the viral is

mentioned in mainstream media’9. Entice with incentives. Threshers’ 40 % discount voucher spread

like wildfire in 200610. Simplicity works: Hotmail one of the earliest users of viral

marketing, merely placed a message at the bottom of very e mail encouraging recipients to sign up for their own free Hotmail account. It now has more than 65 million subscribers

The Marketer October/November 2008

Is there a downside?

• It is increasingly difficult to stand out. Edgy, dark, funny or artistic – companies are falling over themselves to create the next viral epidemic.

• Remember: The people hold the power - with teens in particular, once it becomes mainstream or popular with the oldies, their interest wanes…

The Marketer October/November 2008

….Offer them an experience (but make sure you get it right)

Jack Wills: University Outfitters - Fabulously British lifestyle clothing.Jack Wills organised a party where everyone hard

to wear their branded wrist bands to get in. The wristbands offered discounts at the trendy

Devon based tweedy fashion retailer.

Telegraph.co.uk 1/10/07

……Talk their language….

Employ people with a passion for an knowledge of the products being sold to teens……..and continue the knowledge and passion on line;

GAME.co.uk - Buy video games, consoles and accessories with free UK delivery - GAME.co.uk

Why Nike aim to give creativity back to the consumer - Features, Fashion - The Independent

…….Involve them in the creative process, with people they respect advising and inspiring them…..

Marketers have been accused of being obsessed with the youth audience but

what about the ‘Baby Boomers’?

• Baby boomers are the large generation born in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

• As teenagers in the 1960’s and 1970’s, this generation called a revolution in style, politics and consumer attitudes.

• As they have aged they have been behind cultural events as diverse as Paris Student demonstrations and hippies in the 1960’s and Thatcherism and yuppies in the 1980’s and they continue to influence culture in many ways.

• £20m to help baby boomers grow older gracefully | Society | The Observer• BBC NEWS | Business | Chasing the baby boomers

Food for thought…

• In industrialised countries, the over 60’s already account for 20% of the population – compared with less than 12% in 1950.

• By 2050 this proportion is expected to rise to 33% and Japan’s population is expected to have two fifths of its population aged over 60.

• The over 50’s own three quarters of all financial assets and account for half of all discretionary spending power in developed countries.

• The elderly are healthier, wealthier and have more time to spend their money.

www.economist.com ‘Over sixty and over looked’

‘A young mind in an ageing body with a maturing wallet’

Robin Wright, Chairman of WCRS

Buzz Activity:

What would such people deem excellent customer service?

What’s different about being old?

• There is a decline in physical condition- sight smell, touch, eyesight, hearing and cognitive abilities all decline with age.

• How age affects consumer attitudes and behaviours is less well understood. Marketers have amassed a number of assumptions about how the over 35’s respond to new brands , technology, change and wanting new experiences. Assumptions should not guide marketing Research and insight should!

Technology is important to the elderly• Opinions about how older people use technology are littered with

myths.• The view that older people are resistant to new technology is a

distortion of the truth. However because of dexterity and sight problems using a mouse, typing on a keyboard , viewing a screen and navigating a website can be a nightmare.

• Designers must ensure that they take account of such issues when designing interactive channels to ensure that they provide an excellent customer service.

• The issue should be included in the design specifics at the outset of a project as older age groups are important potential customers who are being badly served by the current generation of interactive channels.

• An example of excellent customer service;

• Car Insurance, World Cruises, Travel Insurance, Holidays - Saga

What about Silver Surfing?

• BBC NEWS | Technology | Silver surfers say net is 'vital‘

• BBC NEWS | Business | Silver surfers ready to storm shops

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=2JRJYWJ5UR3ANQFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/08/23/nofcom123.xml&site=5&page=0

How do you provide excellent customer service to the older demographic?

…..Keep an open mind!

The average age of a Harley Davison owner? 52

….Pay more attention to the physical effects of ageing rather than the

attitudinal ones; • Danone when deciding to target older consumers with

their calcium enriched mineral water, made the bottle easy to open and the label was designed to be clear and readable.

• Unilever launched Proactiv spread aimed at reducing cholesterol levels in older people.

• NTT DoCoMo, a Japanese telecoms company, launched a new mobile phone called’ Raku Raku’(Easy Easy) which featured a panel with larger buttons and easy to read figures (over 20,000 units were sold in less than two months).

Age Concern’s ‘Through other eyes’ training programme

• Age Concern launched a training programme for retailers to simulate the physical limitations that older consumers experience when shopping.

• Ford’s ‘third-age suit’ helps its designers (most aged under 40) to get to grips with the needs of ageing drivers . The outfit adds 30 years to the wearer’s age by stiffening the knees, elbows, ankles and wrists and adds material at the waist. The designers also wear gloves to reduce their sense of touch and yellow goggles to find out what it is like to have cataracts.

• This exercise has been fruitful – seat belts are more comfortable, cars are easier to get in and out of; glare has been reduced, controls are more readable and reachable. Such initiatives are the exception rather than the rule.

www.economist.com ‘Over sixty and over looked’

….. Engage them, ask them their views..

• RATP, the Paris public transport network, asked its older passengers what they disliked most. The metro map came out high on their list so RATP introduced 150,000 copies of a simplified and more readable map . Its instant success with all passengers led to the old map being replaced by the revised one!

‘Designing for the young excludes the old but designing for the old included everybody’

Jean Paul Treguer, author of ’50 + Marketing’

…..Provide excellent customer service through ‘Assistive technology’

• ‘According to the stereotype, older people can't cope with technology. They can't hack the latest mobile phone or music

player, they don't like looking at websites, they've never blogged. But in many cases the reality is that they have made the perfectly

sensible decision that they don't need to. Instead, the technologies they really need to get to grips with are far more basic: such

seemingly simple things as remote controls, non-mobile phones and even jam jar lids’.

• Elderly get to grips with gadgets | Technology | The Guardian

Not a different breed…

‘When I talk with clients and agencies they often think it is necessary to customise their advertising for the over 50’s. I tell

them that our readers are mainstream consumers and to use their existing campaigns. Getting marketers to understand this message

poses a challenge’

Martin Smith Sales Director of SAGA Publishing

‘Select the right media, see the world through their eyes, treat them as people and don’t be surprised if

they don’t differ too much from other members of the human race.’

Jeremy Bullmore Chairman of the UK’s Advertising Association

….Engage with creative, positive and effective communication

…..Take a refreshing approach to dealing

with difficult subjects..

• YouTube - Stannah Stairlift Advert - Makes sense

• http://www.tena.co.uk

Group activity Success or failure?

Gerber , the maker of baby food realised that elderly people with dental and stomach

problems were buying their products for their own use and so they decided to launch a range

of similar food called Senior Citizen

Was this a success or failure?