Mostly I think customer service is a matter of common sense; but as we all know common sense can be a surprisingly rare commodity. One of the biggest problems I encounter with customer service people is the procedures they’re shackled to. Not only are those procedures infuriatingly short-sighted at times, they also tend to have the effect of causing the customer service agent to turn his or her brain off. A customer service encounter I experienced today didn’t run into trouble for any of these reasons though. The person at the (small) company was clearly bright, sensible and not tied to any procedures; it may very well have been her own company. But when I asked when I could expect delivery of a product I’d ordered four weeks ago that they’d told me would be delivered in about four week’s time I was told that, “We’re doing a collection from the manufacturer […]
Reading Behaviour
A lot of my work in understanding consumers is based on watching consumer behaviour; people do give away quite a lot. One of the reference points I also use quite a lot is children. They aren’t so adept at hiding their feelings and thoughts and so tend to reveal even more of what’s going on in their minds. Given that, psychologically speaking, a lot of what makes us tick is well established by the age of two, this provides a wonderful window of opportunity for insights into what’s going on. Here’s a behavioural example of the extent to which my daughter, aged four, likes reading. She first revealed that she could read at the age of two, she’d picked it up from being around her brother we suppose, we hadn’t spent any time teaching her. I think it’s fair to say that she enjoys reading! Philip Graves
Is There Really No Such Thing as Bad Publicity?
Following on from my post on the unconscious nature of advertising, Duane Cunninghamasked whether it was fair to say that any exposure was good for a brand? The old chestnut of “there’s no such thing as bad PR”. Unsurprisingly perhaps, when it comes to consumer behaviour and the workings of the consumer mind, there isn’t a clear cut answer in my opinion. Let me explain… For the most part exposure to a brand works positively. As I’ve mentioned previously, the unconscious (largely visual) detection of brands builds unconscious familiarity and this alone is preferable to nothing. When the brand is encountered consciously, it feels slightly familiar, safer and therefore slightly preferable to a previously unencountered rival. Often there will be some associations with that brand. It might be a high street sign, in which case the associations are with the environment of that high street (perhaps upmarket, perhaps skanky!). Even […]
Unconscious Advertising
Firstly, thanks for all your comments, I find them encouraging, constructive and inspiring. Secondly, Yann has raised another question. Questions are wonderful things and, yet again, Yann has raised something that causes me to think about the subject of consumer behaviour (which I love to do) and given me a direction for this edition of my blog. Yann asked whether our unconscious associations of brands are more influenced by broader environmental factors than advertising; things like what we hear (reputation). Of course, there isn’t a single, clear-cut answer to this. It is certainly the case that, were someone to hear an involving account (story) from a friend (social proof / trusted source / someone like me) this would trump an advertising message. In this case, the powerful associations primed by the friend’s account work very similarly to negative personal experience: as soon as the brand name appears (be it at the […]
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