Want to try something that will open your eyes?
Think for a minute about how many brands or companies you interact with before you ever get to your office in the morning.
I interact with a host of coffee-related companies, then a handful of soap, shave and shampoo-related companies. I interact with the cable company, Twitter, WordPress and the Today Show. I interact with my kids’ school. I interact with the dry cleaner. I interact with the gas station. And every now and then if I think I need a treat I interact with Dunkin Donuts or Chick-fil-a.
That’s all before 8:15 a.m.
We interact with tons of brands. Tons of companies. Every day.
And while most of those interactions are unremarkable, the broader relationships can be transformed by knowing what customers want. It’s when we know what customers want and when we deliver it well that we make a real impact in a customer’s life.
What do customers want right now? Five things:
1) Customers want connection.
Feeling unconnected is difficult. People want to be connected to you. Tell them how they can contact you. Tell them when they can contact you. In some cases, people want to be connected with other customers of yours. Help them make those links. Initiate connection by calling, emailing, sending a newsletter, texting or DM’ing. Just don’t spam. People want to feel personally connected to a place they send their money.
2) Customers want information.
If feeling unconnected is difficult, feeling ignorant is worse. Who likes being out of the loop? Who likes having a product they don’t know how to use? Who wants to pull into the drive-through at the bank and find that the name has changed? Who likes having the channel lineup change but no guide to go with it? Feed your customers information, maybe more than they want. They don’t want to feel ignorant.
3) Customers want value.
A friend bought a $700 computer for $500 at Sam’s Club the other day. He was attracted to the price, but was he shopping for a $500 computer and the stuff that comes loaded on a $500 computer? No. He was shopping for a $700 computer and the chips and processors and the 1.21 jigowatts that come loaded on it, but got a great price by paying $500.
People will beat you up over price. They’ll burn $50 in gas driving around town to save $2 on AA batteries. But what they want is value. They want to know that what they have is worth something. They want to know that what they have is worth what they paid for it or more than what they paid for it. That’s value.
Always show customers that what they’re getting is worth what they’re paying for it, or maybe even more.
4) Customers want purpose.
You can read a lot into who your customers think they are or who they want to be from the purchases they make. Our spending is often a few steps ahead of us in terms of who we’re becoming.
If your paper goods shop starts selling more calendars and organizers, you can bet some folks are resolved to become more organized and focused. If you sell juicers and vitamins, your customers have made some choices about what they’re putting in their bodies.
But here’s the thing: customers don’t always have purpose. Sometimes they’re waiting for someone else to give it to them.
Tell them they can run a half marathon. Tell them they can write a book. Tell them they can research and build a family tree that goes back nine generations. Tell them they can change a broken system.
And then watch the money flow.
Not to get in their pocket, but because connecting people with purpose is one of the most powerful things anyone can do.
5) Customers want a path.
You want 100% of your customer’s wallet.
Your customer may or may not be willing to do that, but they’re probably not willing to do it all at once.
Show your customers the path. Show your customers what it’s going to be like to take the next couple of steps with you.
We can make a difference in the lives of our customers when we give them connection, information, value, purpose and a path.
Think about some of the brands you use. What do you want more of from them?
