Know Thy Customer
Posted by heatherrast on August 30th, 2008
It may be an innocuous-sounding creedo, but in my opinon, Know Thy Customer is likely one of the top three Truths a brand should live by. I’ll talk about the other two Truths I hold dear in the next two posts.
I’m what many would call a loyal customer. In the past eighteen years, I’ve purchased the same brand of vehicle (with the exception of one transgression in my youth). Since footing my own rent and buying my own groceries, I’ve always bought the same brand of butter. And I only buy one brand of tennis shoes (some folks call them “sneakers”). Yes, I do buy private label goods of all sorts, but since I’ve relocated six times (not just “moved,” mind you, but different geographies) the availability of store-branded products varies. What I really like and feel akin to, I stick with. I guess you could say that I have this odd sort of pride associated with my loyalty to those products. If analyzed, we’d likely find that my loyalty is born from an emotional connection to those brands. My mother used Land O’Lakes, and so do I. My husband and I only buy GM vehicles – they’re what has kept us comfortable and safe. I’m not suggesting that other brands are inherently inferior – only that these are ones that I’ve made an authentic connection with, so hence my loyalty.
Consumers have a staggering array of options available to them in almost any product or service category. Which to me is one of the very reasons why Know Thy Customer is so critical.
Only if you know your customer can you have a platform for relating to them. If you can’t (or don’t) relate to them, then there’s most certainly someone else who will. Take for instance the plethora of cell service providers – there’s like four in my tiny suburb town alone. Gosh, banks are the same way – another four in the town of likely 3,000. And most certainly – credit card companies. If I go a day without getting at least two offers in the mail, then I know it’s Sunday.
In a time when offers from cell carriers and credit card companies abound, and consumers have their choice of offers, plans, rewards, options, wouldn’t it make sense to pay close attention to retention efforts in order to reduce churn? We know the axiom about it costing more to gain new customers than to retain current ones.
Remember, I’m a loyal consumer. I’ve had an account with several large credit companies since college. I figure I’ve made them pretty tidy sums over the years. Which is one of the reasons I’m irritated at Citi. If I’m loyal to them, how come they can’t figure out that I already have their credit card?
Yes, folks. I have a Citi account through XX financial institution. I believe it’s been active for over ten years. I use it at least once a month, if not a handful of times or more. And each month, in addition to getting my statement, I receive a separate mailing – usually 3-4 days later – from the same institution offering me the opportunity for a Citi-backed card. And to rub it in, I’ve been pre-approved for it.
It’s as if they didn’t know I was already there, in their database somewhere. Surely it’s not that hard to perform a merge/purge of mailing list to account holders and figure out who NOT to mail to? One, that’s a lot of extra renewable energy gone to waste producing the mailings (doubtful I’m the only gal out there this is happening to). Two, that’s a lot of risk – what if someone with nefarious intentions got those offers and accepted them? Three, it’s just plain insulting. I thought we had a relationship. I buy stuff I needed with their help, then I pay them back for the convenience. I guess only one of us knew we were going steady.
I wonder if anyone at Citi has read Pete Blackshaw’s book “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000.”
