DESPERATELY LOOKING FOR NEW CUSTOMERS

“If we had done better than our colleagues, it is because we have focused like a laser ray´s precision on customer experience. And I do believe, that´s what matters, I think about any business.”

Jeff Bezos CEO, Amazon

Where has the loyal customer gone?

Do not ask for register unless it is necessary.

Do not ask for personal information, if it is not needed.

Do not ask to take for an awkward or a non-well-designed survey.

Do not make anybody waste time nor over think. 

Everything has changed, either you adapt to it or perish. Customers will never be the same; everything is instant and your customers know it, so, they demand for more and more every day.

Nowadays, it is unacceptable if you spend more than 5 minutes for an operator to solve a problem or a complaint! Customers are in a hurry and do not want to waste any time.

Customers are online all the time and they have all the information they need to know about our product or service… It is very bad if they do not find us on the web or if our information is not updated. They want it and do not care whether we are on the other side of the world, or if the time is different.

At the end, the blame is on you. If you have the 24-hour-open advertisement, they have the right to comment and share what they think about you, and you may be threatened if you delete their kind suggestions, or if “unfriend” or blocked them. They will post or twit it, they will definitively use their social networks. And these may be everywhere around the world or local. So, your customers may be from Mongolia, Afghanistan or Chile.

You may not be familiar with their language nor their culture, but, together, it will be the force to rise you up or sink you down.

Customers have the control, and, they know it. Besides, nowadays there is a whole new language that, five years ago, did not exist, and that has been given a new meaning.

If you are not familiar with it you may not pant those customers, who may be looking for your service or product. Therefore, interacting with them, has become more complex. Home is not their house but the place where the web pages are held.

You do not pick up the phone and give them a call, you may not have realized that the phone does not longer ring. They look for you by Whats app at any time, day or night. “Whats app” is no longer a greeting but it represents an instant response, and, you better answer within a minute or asap… They know that you are there, on the other side, and if you do not answer back, they may be angry and will have two options: Block you or send many messages to be attended. 

You used to close the doors, when the work time had ended… But, today, there are no schedules respected by the customers. 

As Bezos said: “What´s dangerous is not to evolve.” And he runs the biggest company in the world: AMAZON. 

I have listened a while ago this phrase that goes: “we are the best company in failing, and we are proud of it”.

But, where and what have we done to have a slice of the cake from customers? The first thing to do is to connect with them and their world, through a memorable name of your product or service:

Achieve a unique identity.

A simple, powerful brand to stablish what they will get.

That triggers credit, status and it distinction in the market.

These lead us towards a strong position in a specific level of consumption.

Today, the customers, more than ever, want to listen to a good story about what our service or product will do for them. They also want to know the problems we will be able to solve for them. And that may offer them something to play with, to dream about and to lead them to a better place, world or space, rather than the one they are experiencing now.

They need your product or service to provide them of happiness. They want you to be creative, to be captured and surprised by you. They are looking forward for their expectations to be overcame. So, let us be real! They will push you ever moment to see what you will do to stay with you and be loyal to them.

New customers are very interested in being green and stopping the world´s damage and deterioration. Does your product or service offer anything like it?

By looking for a new customer I have also found that they long for being part of something larger, being a member, or part of a community. So, you should offer them this “extra”. It does not matter whether you are selling a fabric softener or an electric car. They want to be the protagonists and part of a world they feel related to and in touch with.

Does your company recycle? Does it plant trees? Does it clean the water it uses in its production facilities? 

Your customers want to know about your company and the crew, they want to know the reason of your organization but not that long, boring mission of the business.

They want to find you on the web and meet the other users who had bought or interacted with your product or service.

Will they ask you who has been using this? They want to find some testimonies in your web. They are also eager for you to invite them to try, right now, what you sell. And, in exchange, we need to offer them some freemium before deciding if they are going to purchase it or not. Sweeten the pot you know? Because they know that many others will give them discounts, advantages or gifts, for free.

And last, but not least, they want to be offered a wide variety of payment, that is to be able to pay in the comfort of their homes or offices. They want options and facilities about the commercial trading.

Is this where the new customer lives? In front of us, waiting for a unique experience of service, quality, presence and brand.

“The future depends on what we do in the present.” Gandhi

The new customer will change in an overwhelming rhythm and new generations will be related to in an unique way that we know so far, and they will, definitively change the way we purchase. So, if you want to reach all the media, do not think about something you will never do, instead, think of giving it a try to be willing to have a brand-new vision about everything around you, be an open-minded person.

 Carolina Salazar / Design Thinking Institute