Turning Feedback Into Action

One thing that often gets overlooked in the gathering of customer feedback is what your customers tell you about the competition. Obviously, one of the primary objectives of any customer feedback initiatives is to gauge how your customers perceive their interactions with your company.

But, how you factor in any comparisons to other relationships your customers have may change the perspective on the feedback. For instance, let’s assume that 70% of your customers view your company as Easy to Do Business With. Sounds great, right? You might even be tempted to take this nugget of feedback and trumpet it out to the marketplace. That’s fine if you have benchmarking information that suggests the industry average for this concept is 50%. But, if 80% of your customers view your key competitor as Easy to Do Business With, then this is something you likely need to work on before you celebrate.

Two good examples of taking what customers have complained about have been used in high profile ads recently. Apple has done a good job exploiting feedback about Microsoft in humorous campaign around the launch of Microsoft’s new Vista OS.

Apple has not escaped criticism, and Motorola has recently launched a campaign targeted at some of the negative feedback received about the iPhone.  


 

Both campaigns are humorous, but are made possible only when these companies listen to feedback about themselves, but also about their competition. 
 

The same concept works on Loyalty, and can be even more powerful. In this scenario, if you’re measuring your customers’ relationships with the competition, you can begin to understand how plausible dual-loyalty is in your relationships. It’s very possible that while a customer is Truly Loyal to your company, they may also have a similar level of Loyalty to your biggest competitor. In that case, the ability for you to increase your share of wallet may be harder to achieve. However, if another customer is Truly Loyal to you, but High Risk to your competitor, this represents a very strong opportunity that should be explored to help you prioritize your time and resources.

So, while it’s good to be selfish when it comes to customer feedback, don’t forget that it’s not always just about you.

Brad Harmon
Vice President, Consulting Services

Recently, the topic of encouragement came up in a small group discussion – the question being “Why is it so difficult for some people to encourage each other?” The general sense being too often we don’t recognize the efforts and lengths people go to since they are “simply doing their job.”

You may have seen the video where two students at Purdue University,The Purdue Compliment Guys, show us it is not difficult to encourage others.  Last spring they gained national attention for standing on a prominent walkway at the center of campus every Wednesday and offering free compliments to hundreds of passersby. Their goal is simply to brighten people's days.

Their praise might be surprising, but is definitely appreciated and makes people feel good:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QShPNcjgtfs

As a customer advocate, you likely recognize the importance of motivating individuals to take action on customer feedback. It’s true some people are motivated by linking their personal success with customer success (through pay and other rewards). But, let’s not forget the importance of reinforcing or sharing positive messages to keep people motivated. Recognizing their efforts can go a long way in motivating for action.

You’re doing a great job!  And, I encourage you to offer a word of encouragement to your colleagues…


Kitty Radcliff
Vice President
 

It is at this time of year where many conversations start to center around fantasy football. In fact, you are probably in the minority if you don’t have contact with fantasy football, either directly or through someone you know.   Just think if the amount of time and energy that went into research and making decisions for a fantasy football team could be channeled into taking action on voice of the customer!

What it is about fantasy football that draws people in? It makes football even more fun to watch - especially if you are watching a game with no vested interested in either team – because you are rooting for your fantasy team’s players. It also taps into the competitive spirit in all of us. It is fun to engage in friendly competition with friends, family members, and strangers all with the goal of coming out on top.

There are applications here that can apply to voice of the customer programs. Sales organizations are famously competitive, so think of ways that the competitive nature of your sales teams can be levered to drive action. For example, reward and recognize those sales teams who provide the most contact names or who are first to complete close the loop activities. Many companies use a “wall of shame” approach to encourage superior performance across all teams…no one wants to be at the bottom of a performance list. Also think of ways in which fun can be incorporated into these competitive elements. Creating some excitement around the voice of the customer program is a great way to motivate people to participate, and prevent them from viewing this as "just one more thing to do."

In this time of information overload, who isn’t suffering a bit from attention deficit? 

Recently, I noticed in a meeting that over a third of the attendees had their laptops open in front of them. What a great way to multi task! Not only could they watch the presentation, but at the same time they could catch up on email and get other work done. Some of us were a little more subtle, using our mobile phones to stay connected with the rest of the world for the entire hour we were in the meeting. Regardless of method – isn’t it true we likely missed something from the presentation? 

My church recently started a series about paying attention – or not – making the point that we often only half look and half see because we’re too preoccupied with other things.

“From the time we were children we were told to “pay attention,” as if this were the simplest thing in the world. But in fact attentiveness is one of the most difficult concepts to grasp and one of the hardest disciplines to learn. For we are very distractible people in a very distracting world.” Leighton Ford, The Attentive Life

Linda Stone, writer and consultant, uses the term “Continuous Partial Attention” to describe a state where workers fade in and out while conducting other activities. 

This idea of not paying complete attention struck a chord. I know that there are times when I should be more focused on the situation at hand. Our partial attention or partial inattention is not inherently a bad thing. But, in my example above, the presenter was competing with e-mails, instant messaging and other work related distractions. Really – how much would someone miss if they disconnect from email during a one hour session?

As a customer advocate, how do you keep your information users engaged and attentive enough so they will take action? Some ideas for communicating in a way to maintain attention include:

·         Be creative – Look for fresh and creative ways to get your message across

·         Be targeted – Have a focused message

·         Be clear – Communicate a manageable amount so the message is heard

·         Use variety – Mix it up by leveraging existing communications and use multiple methods to communicate your message

·         Make it accessible – Make sure you have a way for information users to have access to the information in the way they need it to keep them engaged

There’s no magic bullet, but recognizing the potential for distractions or giving only partial attention is half the battle, isn’t it?

Kitty Radcliff
Vice President

I’m convinced that my soon to be three-year-old son has an aspiring career as an agent of change. Maybe not tomorrow, of course, but the seeds have been planted for him to at least challenge his parents, teachers, and friends in the near future.

Over the past six months or so, my wife and I have traveled down the road of understanding the root cause of everything you could possibly imagine. My son has latched onto the question ‘Why?’ in reference to any subject he can think of. While frustrating at times, I’ve been somewhat amazed at how deep he wants to go into the reasons something is the way it is. In the process, I’ve found myself rethinking why I do things the way that I do, and why companies operate the way they do.

However, recently, I’ve seen a shift in my son’s interrogation techniques. It has moved from ‘Why?’ to ‘Then what?’, which I believe is a question that has even more relevance as I think about taking information and driving meaningful actions based on it. It’s not always sufficient to think about the very next step when looking to act upon feedback. We need to be thinking about the consequences of those actions, and what new actions might become evident either due to the fact that an issue has been completely resolved (raising others in priority), or repercussions (or even fallout) from the initial actions being taken. If we’re looking out for the best interests of our customers, we have to recognize that this activity never really stops, and that the celebration for any success is short-lived, as each action we take can and will elicit a reaction from our stakeholders.

We’re never going to be perfect, whether it be as parents, change agents, or organizations, but to the extent that we’re not only thinking about ‘Why’ things are they way they are, but also, ‘Then what’ based on our actions, we can minimize the likelihood of a misstep, and get ever closer to the elusive goal of undying customer loyalty and the success that accompanies it.

Brad Harmon
Vice President, Consulting Services

I recently had a very poor customer service experience at a local restaurant. I am usually laid back about these sorts of things, but in this particular instance I felt it necessary to speak to a manager about my concerns. Unfortunately, the manager heard me, but did nothing to compensate for the trouble that we had. He heard my story, and said “thanks” but offered up no solutions.

Is this situation any different than asking customers to provide feedback in a formal way, but then not acting upon it? It is not enough to just say “thanks” to customers who take the time to fill out a survey but then tune out their concerns. While acknowledgement of feedback is important, we must go beyond a thank you and translate feedback into action.

The impact of acting upon customer feedback is compelling: 

·         Increased revenue from relationships that are saved,  as well as new opportunities with happy customers

·         Strengthening customer relationships and cultivating more loyal customers

·         Increases in the numbers of customer willing to provide feedback in the future

In my situation, because I felt “tuned out” I will likely decrease the amount of business I give that restaurant and look for other alternatives. Is that the message that we want to be sending to our customers?

Melissa Meier
Vice President, Client Service

Sometimes even the most perfectly laid plans can go a bit off track. With school back in session and summer winding down, many of us are taking one last weekend road trip. On just such a trip, my family encountered a detour due to road construction. The detour necessitated driving several miles out of the way, taking extra time - thus we arrived later at our final destination than originally planned. 

Detours are a fact of life when you’re on the road, just as obstacles and barriers are a fact of life as part of the Customer Experience journey. Being aware of common obstacles and having a plan to overcome them is critical.

Recently, a customer advocate faced a major obstacle when communicating results - skepticism. Having a skeptical crew can be a major roadblock to getting them to take action on customer feedback. Ideally you can address it early in the process and get the buy-in ahead of time. Involving the right people at the right stages is extremely helpful in avoiding or minimizing skepticism. 

Unfortunately detours are often a surprise. In instances of unexpected skepticism, it is important to uncover the root cause – otherwise, you might spin your wheels trying to get around the wrong obstacle. Using techniques such as “The Five Whys” can be a great way to confirm the root cause of the skepticism. From there, update your road map to get around the detour and get back on track!

Kitty Radcliff
Vice President

According to the recent PriceWaterhouseCooper Annual Global CEO study, 94% of CEO’s believe that information on customers is critical or important to a company’s decision making (more important than business risks, industry benchmark information or even financial forecasts/projections).

However, today, only 21% of CEO’s feel that they have the necessary information about customers to make the necessary decision. This implies a severe deficiency in information or that CEO’s aren’t exposed to the right information or results from customer feedback.

One of our jobs as change agents within our companies is to minimize this gap, illustrating to executives that the information we have is comprehensive, by moving beyond the notion of ‘here are the results’, but more into ‘this is the implication of these results’ and ‘this is what we need to do based on these results’. The information is there, but we just need to connect the dots for management to give them the confidence to make critical decisions, and to stand behind those decisions, pointing to direct customer feedback that is tied to future projections as support.

Interestingly, customer feedback is actually growing in influence with executives.  More CEO’s indicate that information from customers is growing in influence than any other information source, including employees, government or investors. While most already feel engaged with customers (obviously a good thing), the fact that customer influence is expanding indicates a willingness to listen to what customers have to say and a desire to act upon their feedback.

So, now that yet another source has confirmed that your CEO:

1)      wants to hear what customers say,

2)      believes it, and

3)      is willing to act on the feedback

what are we waiting for? It should be a no brainer for this information to make a regular appearance in staff, planning, or company update meetings.

Just be sure that your information has teeth, has implications for the future, and that you have suggestions for how to solve problems or leverage success. Don’t leave that up to others; take it upon yourselves to be bold with what you think needs to happen.

If nothing else, your thoughts will spark good conversation, and will lead your company down the right path with your customers

You can view the results of the entire PWC CEO survey here.


Brad Harmon
Vice President, Client Services

Pro sports teams know that one of the keys to winning is doing homework on opposing teams to understand how their team needs to perform relative to the competition. Decisions are made regarding what team strengths will be leveraged and what competitor weaknesses will be exploited, and these are adjusted based upon who teams are competing against.

 Competitive insights from customers can be used in the same fashion and can be a great source of data for teams to action. Account by account, look at the areas where your company is outpacing the competition and leverage those items in the sales process. Alternatively, identify where the competition is doing a better job than you and decide how to close that gap.

These insights are particularly actionable for sales teams. Providing them with a competitive assessment from their customers gives them a scouting report they can use when developing an action plan. Better yet, why not give them an entire playbook? In addition to competitive insights, playbooks are account reports designed to identify:

 

·         Account priorities

·         Account leads and problems

·         Scores and comments from key contacts

·         Financial, value,  and other account information

Arm your sales teams with the scouting information they need to drive growth in their accounts and win against the competition!

Melissa Meier
Vice President, Client Service

Finally – the paperwork to change my name was complete and it was time to get a new driver’s license! 

First try: With paperwork in hand, I drove to the local Bureau of Motor Vehicles. I drove. And, I drove. I drove around in circles. (Apparently the office had moved and I was working off of old information.) 

Next try: I went to another office that tends to be busier, but I knew where it was located. Apparently the system was down. “If you can come back later, it would be a good idea.” That’s convenient.

Third try: After doing some investigation, I had the address to the new facility. (I’m not sure how I missed it…) I walked in and before I knew it, I was at the front of the line.  

·         Do you have your old driver’s license? Yes. 

·         Do you have the updated social security card? Yes. 

·         Did you move? Yes.

·         Do you have a computer generated bill with your new address? Ah, no…

Fourth try: There was a longer line, but I made it through pretty quickly. Paperwork – check. Picture – check. Pay – check. Done!

Finally I have a new driver’s license. I have to tell you, I might have given up if I didn’t really need to have it. The process was more difficult that it really needed to be.  

Does that ever happen with a customer program? 

·         Have you found information users referencing old or out-of-date information? 

·         Do you find sometimes that people think they “know” the answer without doing the homework required to confirm it?

·         Does the process sometimes not work as smoothly as it should?

·         Do the folks who are supposed to take action sometimes not have all of the information they need? 

Recently, a customer advocate discovered members of their team had a misunderstanding of some of the key components of their program and they did not have all of the information needed to take action.  As a result, some of the people who were supposed to take action - didn't. 

I encourage you to make sure communications and training materials for your customer program are available, that they contain current information, and that they are shared throughout your organization as appropriate. We don't want your teams to give up - let’s make it easier to take action! 

Kitty Radcliff
Vice President

Growing up in the 80’s, it probably comes as little surprise that one of my favorite movie trilogies is ‘Back to the Future’ – or maybe you thought I’d say ‘Star Wars’?
 

Truthfully, whether it’s the music from the Huey Lewis & the News, the Delorean or even Chuck Berry discovering rock & roll or the clock tower lightning rod, it all makes me smile to this day. However, looking back, what I think really grabbed me about these films is the theme of Marty McFly and Doc Brown wavering and struggling with the notion of protecting or influencing (destroying?) their future. They obviously knew what they valued about their lives today, and were cautious about how the information they learned and situations they were exposed to were used (and misused) to influence the future, but despite their best intentions, even they were tempted by what they wanted for their future.

So, perhaps you’re thinking, what does Back to the Future have to do with customer feedback? Hello! McFly!! Those of us who get to see customer feedback turned into action know that each of these topics requires a vision for how we want the future to be, and demanded proper planning and pinpoint execution to give ourselves the best chance to achieve that vision.

Think about it. Would Marty have gone to such extremes to ensure that his father stood up to Biff, while winning the girl, if the personal stakes for him weren’t so high?  In fact, because of Marty’s involvement in the future of his parents budding but awkward relationship, he ended up making life better for everyone (well, except for Biff) 30 years in the future.

Great Scott!! That’s exactly what we’re trying to do with customer feedback. It essentially helps us write the future. Without customer feedback, we’d be left to our own devices, making changes that we ‘think’ are right. Properly gathered customer feedback gives us the confidence that changes we make will be recognized by customers as valuable enhancements to relationships, and will lead to greater trust and a long term sense of partnership.

As Doc Brown said at the end of the first Back to the Future: “Where we’re going we don’t need roads” From my perch, I couldn’t agree more; we just need feedback!

Brad Harmon
Vice President, Client Services

PS. If you’re also a fan of the Back to the Future films and are interested in seeing how well they actually predicted life in today’s world (actually in 2015), click here for some fun tidbits.

Seems like a no-brainer, right? However, make sure this message is being communicated to account teams as a way to encourage engagement in close the loop actions. Before giving them training on the process and tools they will use to follow-up on issues and document action plans, make sure to share with them the benefits they can expect from the process:

·         Additional revenue opportunities through saved or enhanced relationships: When available, use real life stories from the field on additional opportunities uncovered through the close the loop process

·         Strengthening of customer relationships: Comes from demonstrating to customers that their feedback is of value to your organization and you have a desire to improve their experiences

·          Increased survey response rates: Customers are more likely to participate in the feedback process in the future if they are comfortable that their time is well spent and will be used by your organization

Once account teams have this foundation and belief in the customer feedback process, they will be more likely to actively engage in close the loop activities.

Melissa Meier
Vice President, Client Service

Our family recently went on vacation to Alaska (as an aside – you really need to add a trip to Alaska to your bucket list.)  It was truly amazing in terms of the scenery, the wildlife, as well as all of the travel logistics required for the land tours and cruise.   But then we hit a snag on the way home.

A prized possession of my oldest stepson is his iPod Touch.  He takes it everywhere.   He has his favorite music loaded on it, along with several videos.  He pulls it out and listens to songs wherever he is.  During the course of our vacation, he listened to it on every flight, bus ride, train excursion, and even on the cruise ship. 
 
On the return trip home we had a connection in Denver (DIA) and found a charging station.  After spending a few hours at the airport and having some Häagen-Dazs, we eventually made our way onto the flight home.  Unfortunately the prized iPod Touch stayed at the charging station.  In Denver.  Uh oh. 

I have to admit, we were all skeptical that he would ever see it again.  We all had the belief that anyone who picked it up would ultimately keep it for themselves.  Though we took action and submitted a claim with lost & found, we all just knew it was gone forever. 

As a Customer Advocate - Have you ever had a starting point assumption like that – where you just know what will happen?  
 

Sometimes when one has assumptions like these, they do not even try to take action.  A Customer Advocate may make the decision to not waste the time and energy required.  

But, the thing is, what we “know” to be true can be completely wrong! 

In my case, a Good Samaritan found the iPod Touch at the charging station at the Denver airport and took it home to California.  Then, he looked through the contacts and found a relative’s name and number.  After a quick conversation, he located my stepson and arranged to send it back to him.  Really, it’s true!  It has already arrived and is back in use. 

Not only is my faith in humanity restored – but this also serves as a good lesson to limit negative thinking.

In your Customer Loyalty initiatives, use possibility thinking and put plans in place to make change happen. 

Kitty Radcliff
Vice President, Client Service

We have many examples showing how customer-focused companies are more financially successful in their industry versus the competition. These Loyalty Leaders grow at a faster pace, have better margins, and most importantly now, lose less in a downturn versus companies with a weaker customer following (we call them Loyalty Laggards).

But what makes a company successful at being “Customer-Focused”?

Pat Gibbons, our Senior Vice President of Marketing, recently posed this question to a group of Walker thought leaders. 

Now when you consider the total experience this group has in working directly with Fortune 1000 clients, it is more than 200 years of Customer Loyalty Management expertise in industries such as IT, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Healthcare, Utilities, Hospitality, and others.

I’m comfortable this is an appropriate group to handle this question.

So what did they say? As you might guess, the responses varied, but three major themes emerged:

1.       Leadership – It comes from the top. You better have executive-level support, and they need to be actively involved in the process.

2.       Strategic Alignment – Strategy development and decision making processes include customer input at all levels of the organization.

3.       Action – Customer-focused organizations are driven to respond to the needs of their most important stakeholders and take systematic action on functional issues identified by customers. Not only is there the constant push to improve the customer experience, but there is also a continuous feedback process in place that is visible to both customers and employees. 

Other major characteristics include being good Listeners and Communicators and having Customer-Focused efforts be a part of their Mission and Corporate Culture.

So where does your company stack up? What are your strengths and weaknesses related to being customer-focused?

If you are a customer advocate, a great place to start is to tackle one of your weaknesses. It will move your organization in the direction of being a customer-focused Loyalty Leader, and your company will profit from it.

Gary Szeszycki  

Vice President – Client Services

As one of the over 200 million Facebook-ees worldwide, I find this site a useful way to stay in touch with friends, organize events, compete in silly games, and track down long lost acquaintances (Most who are almost unrecognizable now both in their photos and their comments. Who knew people would actually grow up after we lost touch years ago?).

But, it seems that every time I turn around, Facebook is making changes.

From modifications to Facebook’s:

·         User interface

·         Layout

·         Status update question (from ‘What are you doing?’ to ‘What’s on your mind?’)

·         Privacy policies

·         Custom usernames

I have a hard time keeping up with them all. And, given the chatter I hear about these modifications, it makes me wonder how much Facebook is investing in gathering opinions and then acting upon them, rather than making a change and then waiting to see what their users think. In doing a quick search on Facebook for ‘new layout’, I note that over 500 groups have formed to comment about the changes they’ve made. Most are, to put it mildly, not pleased.

You see, every time something changes, the backlash seems overwhelming. Part of that is that you obviously cannot please everyone all the time, and part of it is that people get comfortable and don’t want to learn something new.

However, I’m sure that with some targeted guidance, Facebook should be able to better identify the areas that users praise them for relative to their perceived competition (Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc), where their biggest areas for opportunity reside, and what users care about most in their experiences. While many members have gotten over their initial anger, that sentiment can linger. It’s obvious that Facebook utilizes beta-testers and focus groups, but small pockets of qualitative feedback cannot possibly be representative of the perceptions users have across this vast network.

While I’m more of a casual user, I’ve never been asked to provide feedback about the site or my overall user experience. Of course, I have the opportunity to give my ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ based on comments, start a group, or add my own comments, but I’ve never seen or heard of an opportunity to provide Facebook with a form of structured feedback that could assure me that my voice is being heard and leveraged in the next change that Facebook has in store for us.

Perhaps this is happening within their organization, but if so, they’d be well served by communicating their efforts and how it drives their actions. Not everyone would have to like it, but it would communicate the rationale for making changes, and lend itself to some goodwill by directly linking to a core group of users registering this as a request or gap. Today, though, it seems that Facebook’s changes come off as let’s hold our breath, cross our fingers, and hope that people like it, rather than having the confidence that they know a representative group of customers have requested a change, and we’re delivering to meet their evolving needs.

What kinds of mistakes could your company avoid just taking time to figure out what customers are going to think beforehand?

I was recently at my local Starbucks and while I was waiting for my latte, I noticed a handwritten sign with a very simple message:

Thank you for providing your feedback on how we are doing! Based upon your suggestions, we are going to improve the following about your experience:

·         The taste of our product

·         The speed of our service

The quality of the sign was whimsical, rather than professional, but was surprisingly effective. The message was simple, clear and sincere. It grabbed my attention and made me feel that they really wanted to improve the customer experience.

It is very easy to get caught up in all of the details associated with reviewing customer feedback, understanding what it means, deciding what you are going to do about it, and then communicating it back to your customers. Don’t let the details become an impediment to your success with customers.  Once your organization has identified the actions it is going to take based upon customer feedback, there are some simple ways you can communicate this back to your customers:

• Send an e-mail to all customers, thanking them for their feedback and closing the loop with them on your strategic initiatives for the next year
• Post your areas of focus on your web site...an electronic version of the Starbucks example
• Shoot a video talking about how customer feedback is being addressed at your organization and what customers can expect to change.
• Leverage social media tools, such as blogging and Twitter, to have an ongoing dialogue with your customers regarding your plan for using their feedback and your progress relative to those goals

Next time you are reviewing your communication plan, try to incorporate some simple messaging to your customers…you may be surprised at its effectiveness!

Melissa Meier

VP, Client Service

As a newlywed, several people have asked if I plan to change my name - since getting married is one of the most common reasons why someone changes their name. 

Other reasons for a name change could be following a divorce, separation, or simply because somebody isn't happy with the name they were given as a child. I have even read it is becoming increasingly popular for men to adopt their partner's surname upon getting married (though surprisingly this has not come up in conversation with my new husband). 

There is some work involved with making a name change, including:

• Decisions: Decide what my name will be (do I keep my middle name or change it to my maiden name?).
   
• Activity: File for a name change with social security. Then fill out the paperwork to change my driver’s license, passport, bank accounts, magazine subscriptions, etc. 
   
• Communications: Get the word out to colleagues, friends, and family.  

Over the years, I have had a few clients want to change the name of their program –  to names like Customer Feedback Program, Customer Viewpoint, Customer First, Delight the Customer or something else. Usually that has happened when the initiative is feeling a bit stale and needs to be refreshed. In those cases there is a lot of discussion to decide what the name should be, there is a lot of activity required to change the name on surveys, report templates, and email lists, and finally there is communication required to get the word out about the new name.

But, if you’re only changing the name, then you haven’t really changed the essence of the program. Other things have to change too. Delighting customers is now a strategic imperative for one Walker client. Getting the C-suite on board has impacted the level to which customer information is being acted upon. As a result, the identity of the program is truly being transformed – it’s more than a name change. There is a fundamental shift in how they are integrating the voice of the customer into their business strategy.

Do you have this level of support for your program? If not, now is the time to enlist the help of an executive sponsor. It raises the relevance of your efforts to a new level. If that is not possible in the short run, before focusing on changing the name of your program, consider other adjustments needed first, such as:

• Communications: Your communications strategy
   
• Delivery: How results are delivered, and
   
• Training: The level to which your associates understand how to use the information

Kitty Connelly (soon to be Radcliff)
Vice President, Client Service

Acting upon the feedback customers provide doesn’t have to require a complete overhaul of a process, product, or communication vehicle. One great example of this came rushing back to me the other day when having a Reese’s Piece (is one just a ‘piece’ or are they still ‘pieces’?) with my wife. We discovered that we hadn’t won their latest sweepstakes in conjunction with ‘Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian’, and this reminded me of one of the weirder things I recall about my high school days. 

You see, Mr. Johnson, my sophomore English teacher was fanatical about two things – the power of the English language, and candy. During that time, and based on the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory premise, I’m sure, Hershey’s was sponsoring a sweepstakes contest, giving away $50,000 if you found the lucky game piece stashed in one of their packages. The intentions were good; get consumers to buy more of our candy for a better chance to win. However, they failed to realize that they were alienating this one particular consumer, Mr. Johnson the English teacher.

You see, on every game piece that didn’t reveal a prize, the message read simply:

You are not a winner.

Read quickly, it communicated that the consumer had not won a prize in this game. But, read literally, it struck a blow to a person’s self confidence. This might have gone on for some time, had Mr. Johnson not had a weak spot for chocolate. When reading that he was not a winner, it sent him into outrage, sparking an impromptu project for his sophomore level English class.

We each were required to write a letter to Hershey’s expressing our concern that they were essentially calling us losers by not having won their little contest. The test was to see if the company would a) listen to us and apologize, or b) not acknowledge us, thus forcing us into boycotting the chocolate giant (and settling for an inferior brand of candy) for the rest of our lives, given our aspirations of being winners in life?

As it turns out, within the span of a few weeks (within that school year), Hershey’s did respond to Mr. Johnson and our class, apologizing for the poor wording on their game pieces. In fact, they went further, by changing their packaging to address the feedback that they heard from our class. I believe he also got a coupon for some free candy, which was also appealing, of course. But most satisfying for Mr. Johnson was that Hershey’s had heard his feedback, and taken immediate, but very simple action on it to address his concerns. What could’ve turned into a lost customer became a loyal one for life (despite the fact that I never heard of him winning one of their contests).  

He, and his class of sophomores learning about the power of the written language, had indeed become winners by persuading the Hershey’s Chocolate Company to change its way of communicating. So, when checking to see if my wife and I had one a free night’s stay at the Smithsonian, I realized that the feedback that my classmates and I had provided nearly twenty years ago was still in play today, which made me realize how powerful it can be when a company listens and acts on what they’ve heard.


 

It may not have been a change that many people noticed, but today, every time I participate in a contest, I pay close attention to how they’ve worded the message if I didn’t win, and always think back to how we made a difference in how these messages read today.

Are there simple things that can be done to address your customers’ feedback that don’t require much effort? What are some simple ways that you’ve changed that have paid off in ways greater than you could’ve imagined?

Brad Harmon
Vice President