Their research focused on 1000 customers of a financial aid instance and compared their purchasing behaviour to 1000 other customers who weren't asked about their satisfaction. Both groups were followed for a year and excluded from direct marketing activities. The result: customers who were asked for their opinion once (by phone) bought new products more quickly, walked away 50% of the time less and turned out to be more profitable than the unasked customers.
The researchers say that the explanation is in the factor ‘attention’. The questioned customers feel treasured. Furthermore the research stimulated their latent desire for new services.
Imagine what else you could achieve if you combined this form of attention with:
- connecting to the results of the research
- letting people know what you’ll do with the results of the research as a company
- in time informing customers personally of the implementation of the improvements or adding of points brought up in the survey
- sharing new developments with customers; repeating the survey
Future Vision by Erwin Van Lun on this article
Just like in normal human relationships, it’s all about attention in the relationship between brands and humans. This kind of research proves that. Brands of the future are very good in giving (automated) attention. They’ll cherish their customers, lure them in and especially listen a lot. Listen a lot.