By noon there were six of us, including Derek, who figured he was on Day Four of trying pay for a tie clip and Yvonne who could only say, to nobody in particular, “do you have this in a size six?” Floor after floor we wandered, passing abandoned cashier stations, clutching tight our purchases and little cards with the secret discount code that only a store employee could reveal.
As housewares gave way to outdoor items, Yasmina, who had just stopped in for some pantyhose, spotted someone stocking a shelf. “Get him”, we cried as we ran down the aisle. The couple who were only wanting a new shower curtain circled wide to thwart his escape, but he slipped through a service door and vanished. We all shared my two-pound tub of wine gums for lunch.
In a boardroom on the other side of the country, the marketing team for this chain of department stores was having a similarly disappointing lunch and puzzling over what they should do to address their declining market share and dismal revenue per square foot.
The little scratch off discount cards were showing low redemption rates, and the aggressive price matching discounts weren’t making a dent. Yet, in the same malls where they struggled to meet plan, other stores were alive with activity, sales were brisk, coupons redeemed, loyalty points gathered.
Back at head office, they blamed the weather and fired their agency.
This is what happens when marketing solutions are applied to customer service problems. Department stores aren’t lacking for customers because their prices are high or their selection is poor; they are lacking for customers because nobody wants to spend hours looking for a staffer to help them find stuff and pay for it.
Volkswagen is making a similar mistake, only the problem here is a lousy product (and, yes, some misguided customer communications).
Until VW can demonstrate that their cars are not bunny-killing pollution machines, all the incentives and sappy ads about trust and promises are not going to solve their falling market share, dented reputation and tumbling share price. Not happening. Even as they begin their court-ordered buy back of every unfixable vehicle, that share is not coming back anytime soon.
Far better to invest their money making things right than trying to distract us.
Dominos figured this out. Long after the noise about unfortunate employee adventures in pizza faded, they were left with declining sales and share. The reason, it turned out, was a pretty lousy tasting pizza. They owned it, fixed it and cleverly used it to reintroduce their much improved product.
So if you are wrestling with a market share issue or a retention challenge, before you start working up a marketing solution, go check and see if what’s needed instead is a product or service solution.
Related Posts
The End of Valued Customers
Why Marketing Needs to Fix the Customer Experience
BizMarketer is written by Elizabeth Williams
I help companies have better conversations
Drop me a line at ewilliams@candlerchase.com
Or follow me @bizmkter
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