I’m attaching a video from a recent conference that re-focused me this morning on the importance of creating a high touch customer experience and not just thinking that having some new online feature will automatically have a benefit. Jason Calacanis, the founder of Mahalo.com had some really challenging thoughts about how we have to follow the market and if we aren’t offering what our customers want, we should stop – regroup – and re-invent to create something our customers, our team and we can pursue with passion and excellence.
Things change so fast that it’s easy to get completely caught up in the pursuit of embracing the “right” media and integrating it before it becomes obsolete and losing the thought of “who is my customer and what are they looking for?”
The hard, cold realities – no matter what your business is – are that:
- if your customers can’t find you online – it’s just as bad as if the phone company shut off your phone or removed your listing
- when they do look online, most people only click on the top 6 or 7 listings that show up in organic search
- most people only click on 3 links and then they make a decision to learn more about you or to do another search
- what they want to experience has changed and it is reflected in the changes shown below of Google Search pages – since 2007, Video content, press releases and news stories and images come to the top of the page and not just static content from your site… think interaction, freshness and motion
Snapshot of Google results 2011
Are you going to be willing to ask the hard questions when you are planning for your business as a whole AND in your marketing?
Big Question #1 – Am I offering what my customers want in a way that can create higher profits and an engaged, high performing team?
Big Question #2 – What do my customers want to experience when they connect with my business – this encompasses each connection point:
- In online or in other advertising mediums – What do they want to know when they come to my site or read my ad?
- How are they treated in person or on the telephone or by email when they contact us?
- What is their experience purchasing the product or service?
- What is their experience consuming or using the product or service?
- What is their experience after the sale?
- How are we staying connected? Showing appreciation?
We’ll be rolling out a new series about online marketing and how it needs to intersect with real life and Social Media connections in the next few months – Watch for “The World is Your Oyster: Be the PEARL” here on the Big Business Zoo blog.
We offer ideas here, but we also do consulting and planning and have a team that delivers outstanding service for bringing your company online and creating compelling, interactive customer experiences at BigBusinessZoo
Take a look at the video from Jason and then take action and get connected with a team (us) that will not only help you increase your overall success – when we deliver our services, we’ll encourage you to ask those Big Questions and be the best you can be!