Church of the Customer: September 2005 archives
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September 29, 2005
Find-A-Human! (aka phone system shortcuts)
Can't reach a human when dialing a company's 800 number?
This handy chart helps you navigate out of automated phone system hell for 71 U.S. companies. It tells you the exact numbers to dial and phrases to say to reach an actual person.
Automated hell is another reason why I'm not getting a Dell. To reach an actual Dell person, you must dial 800-624-9897, press option 1, dial extension 7266966, press option 1, press option 4, press option 4. It's probably easier to get front row tickets for a Rolling Stones concert than talk to an actual Dell person.
One bright spot on the list: Southwest Airlines. When you dial 800-435-9792, you get an actual person within moments.
[Tip of the hat to Rocketboom.]
September 28, 2005
Enter, the money
BuzzMetrics, one of the biggies in the word of mouth research industry, was acquired this week by Trendum.
"There’s real money backing word of mouth research now," is how BuzzMetrics company president Jonathan Carson described it at the WOMMA Advertising vs. WOM conference today.
Based on the general tenor of questions asked at the WOMMA conference, it’s clear there’s a strong thirst for word of mouth research. A question about ROI left one panel silent, prompting moderator Gary Stein to exclaim, "Someone mentions ROI and everyone scatters!"
Marketers need data on word of mouth dynamics, how and why stuff happens across all industries and the potential ROI. Nothing new there, but word of mouth research can clearly kick the ass of traditional brand or advertising research because it can measure what people do. That'll help bury gauzy concepts like purchase intent, impressions and brand equity, the dumbest-measure-ever. All are about as meaty as rice cakes.
Word of mouth research should borrow liberally from sociology and study how customers interact, share information and commune with one another in a business context.
September 27, 2005
Southwest's new cause: Wright is wrong
This summer, Southwest Airlines employees have been busy decorating airport gates around the country with homemade banners, signs, paper chains and glitter. And it's not even Halloween yet.
Instead, Southwest is lobbying customers to help abolish the Wright Amendment with its SetLoveFree.com campaign. In 1979, Congress passed this federal law making it illegal to fly from Love Field to points beyond the states surrounding Texas. It was meant to protect Dallas' other airport, Dallas-Ft. Worth International, but has primarily been a lollipop for D/FW and American Airlines.
This summer, Southwest asked gate agents to dream up creative ideas to engage customers about the grassroots effort. Employees responded like fired-up high school spirit cheerleaders, creating homemade signs that showcase the company's Kelleherian humor. Not more than a handful of Fortune 500 companies would encourage employees and customers to aid in their federal lobbying efforts by creating a jail metaphor with a spoof of the Aretha Franklin song "Chain of Fools."
But that's one of the reasons why Southwest continues to create passionate loyalty.
September 26, 2005
Social media's impact on marketing
How should marketers leverage social media such as blogs, social networking sites, collaboration tools and syndication feeds?
The BlogOn Social Media Summit in New York on October 17-18 aims to answers these questions. Seth will keynote. I'll be on a panel entitled "What You Don't Hear Can Hurt You: Listening to the Blogosphere."
Besides the infamous Kryptonite example, what would you say are the best examples of:
1) Organizations that listen closely to the blogosphere and adapt
2) Organizations that don't listen and have paid the price
I'm not getting a Dell
I need a new laptop, and I'd love some advice.
I want a laptop to replace both my highly unreliable Sony VAIO laptop and my Dell Dimension desktop. I want one computer for business and personal use that travels well. I've vowed to stay away from Dell hell, but I'm not sure what brand/model to buy.
My requirements:
* Fairly light but rugged enough for travel
* Ports for a USB keyboard and flat-screen monitor
* Connects to Palm Treo 650
* Built-in wireless
I've never owned an Apple. Steve Rubel just switched to a PowerBook. I'm tempted, but I'm afraid of the learning curve.
Any feedback on HP, Thinkpad, Toshiba or other models?
A different type of Apple evangelist
When dedicated evangelists band together to spport the object of their passion, some corporations take notice.
Take, for instance, Fiona Apple. Even though it's been six years since her last album, this singer-songwriter has a rather passionate fan following. When an unauthorized copy of her new work was released on the Internet earlier this year, Apple figured that Sony would scrap the project. "Who is going to give me money to make songs that are already out there?" she asked.
That's one perspective, certainly. To Apple, the future of her new album looked bleak. To the contrary.
A group of fans banded together this summer to create Freefiona.com, a grassroots campaign designed to pressure Sony to release Apple's album. As the New York Times tells us, "Hundreds of foam apples were sent to the company, and in January a dedicated band of protesters, led by the Free Fiona founder Dave Muscato, stood outside the Madison Avenue offices of Sony BMG chanting, 'We want Fiona.' "
It worked. Sony will release "Extraordinary Machine" next week.
It seems there are two lessons to this story:
1. Napsterizing one's knowledge or intellectual property can work, even for music. When Apple's songs were smuggled out onto the Internet, it fueled word of mouth. The RIAA will have us believe that napsterization destroys careers and leaves musicians penniless. To the contrary! It helps reduce the more deleterious effects of obscurity. For Apple, it fanned the flames of fan desire for a new and "legitimate" release.
2. If you focus on stirring passion or connecting emotionally with customers, fans or clients, citizen marketing or activism on your behalf can occur. Apple's highly personal songs do that with fans, and there shouldn't be any reason why a dentist, headphone manufacturer, delivery service or a thousand other organizations couldn't do the same thing. Especially when the stakes are high.
Leadership Forum webcast
In case you missed it, an archival recording of our Leadership Forum webcast from last week is now available. In fact, a rather extensive archive of presentations hosted by Microsoft for this series is available.
September 22, 2005
Another way to pitch in
If you're a fan of New Orleans jazz and public radio, there's another way help out one of Hurricane Katrina's many victims: make a contribution to WWOZ radio.
The non-profit station, which helps keep New Orleans' rich musical history alive, lost its studios to the storm and has been broadcasting "in exile" via Interent stream since then. The station has a blog a to document its exile and hoped-for comeback.
September 21, 2005
Jupiter word of mouth study
Gary Stein, senior analyst at Jupiter Research, is conducting a study on best practices in word-of-mouth, consumer content, blogs (vlogs, podcasts, etc) and evangelist marketing.
If you are a company or brand marketer, take the survey here.
Also, catch Gary (and Ben) at WOMMA's Word of Mouth vs. Advertising conference next week in NYC.
iPod My Baby, please
From the people who brought us iPod My Photo comes...wait for it....iPod My Baby. Your baby will love the iPod click-wheel on her onesie.
Launching just six weeks ago, iPod My Baby has had 1,700 orders from 38 different countries. Three retail stores are selling the items, too.
Besides $200 of Google ads, orders have been driven by word of mouth via blogs. Kevin Muoio says more orders resulted from mentions on blogs than when the site was featured in the Washington Post or local TV. The reason?
"You can't click on a TV," he says.
