Customers Can Tell When Companies Dont Listen

You’ve seen it again and again: A dumb idea dressed up to look like this year’s must-have product. You shake your head, knowing this won’t work. Sure, maybe one or two people will buy the product for the sake of irony, but other than that, it’s a dud. You wonder: Where on earth did they come up with this idea?

It’s a well known fact that some of the worst ideas are generated in a vacuum. No, not the cleaning kind, and not the kind you always heard about in physics classes. This kind of vacuum might be a fancy corner office, an overstuffed conference room, or even a private jet. In any case, the air’s too thin and the ideas are too weak, and everbody’s jostling to rush through the next great thing. Recipe for success, right?

It’s astonishing to see the number of companies who boast about their customer satisfaction and yet seem to be only tangentially in touch with their actual customers. Odd product ideas, services that nobody needs, and special offers that nobody understands -- how can these lead to customer satisfaction?

As customers, we’re all guilty of the occasional silly purchase (Just had to have it!), but generally, we care about where our money goes. Products that don’t meet our needs and services that are out of touch are easily passed by. Feature sets. Prices. Availability. Everything matters.

For companies, it’s critical to target the right audience, but it’s absolutely necessary to get to know that audience first. Fake profiles of what Mr. Smith wants to buy or how Ms. Jackson ranks potential features just don’t cut it. It’s great to have user profiles in mind, of course, but these must be informed by real data. Focus groups, interviews, online survey creation software -- choose a direction and start collecting the data you need.

Customers aren’t dumb. We know what we’re looking for, more or less, and we’d generally rather pay less if possible. Companies that have the data they need can more easily demonstrate that they get it -- through smart decisions, on-point marketing, quality products and services, and well-formulated strategies. Real customer satisfaction is based on real customers. Simple enough -- or so you’d think.