Notes

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So, now, we're at the last stage.
A purchase has been made, and consumers
evaluate the purchase.
And, what matters here, is whether or not
the consumer's satisfied, and
also, whether they're likely to
repurchase,
or tell anybody about their purchase.
So, let's look at this post-purchase
stage.
So, what does consumer satisfaction mean?
Well, on one hand you might say a consumer
is going to
evaluate or, the product based on the
actual performance of the product.
If it's, if the actual performance is
good.
They'll be satisfied.
If the actual performance is bad, they
won't.
However, that's not really the way it
works.
Consumers don't really evaluate what,
actually, happens.
What's much more important, I think I've
made this point, a few times, previously,
is the perceived performance.
Even if the actual performance is not
exactly right,
if a consumer perceives it to be good,
they're happy.
If they perceive it to be bad, even
if the actual performance is quite good,
they're unhappy.
So, what matters more, is the perceived
performance, not the actual performance.
But, even that is not enough to understand
satisfaction.
The evaluation of the perceived
performance, is subject
to some expected value for that perceived
performance.
So, consumers are satisfied, if the
perceived performance of the product, that
they
just purchased, and then subsequently used
or consumed, is better than their
expectations.
That's high satisfaction.
If it's worse than their expectations,
they're not satisfied.
And if it equals their expectation,
they're neutral.
And neutral doesn't, generally, get people
to think about it much.
If the product just meets what they
expected to happen, that's that.
They don't think about it much.
So, what's really interesting, from a
satisfaction point of
view is, if the product exceeds
expectations, or below expectations.
That's when consumers are more apt to
act, actively.
If it meets expectation, and it's a
frequently purchased product, they'll
purchase it again.
There's no problem.
but if it's higher than expectations, or
lower than
expectations, they are more,more likely to
have an active reaction.
So, what are the reactions?
If the satisfaction is positive.
If the product exceeds expectations.
There's two things they likely to do.
One,
they much more likely to repurchase.
If this was a really good experience,
people are likely
to repurchase, and you're likely to have a
loyal consumer.
That's idea.
Secondly, if, if the, if it's positive
satisfaction.
If the product exceeded expectations,
they're more likely to
tell other people about it, and to say
positive things.
So, that's all really good.
The thing a marketer wants to do, is to
manage expectations.
The expectation has to be high enough, to
get
people to want to purchase, in the first
place.
So, you can get positive satisfaction, by
lowering expectations.
But the problem with that, is people won't
buy in the
first place, if they have very low
expectations for the product.
So, you have to set expectations, so, that
they're reasonable.
They encourage purchase.
And then, if you come in higher
than expectations, you're going to
generate very positive
satisfaction, and positive word of mouth.
On the other hand, if consumers have a
certain
expectation, and the product experience
comes below the expectation.
And, the perceived product experience,
comes
below the expectation, that's obviously
not good.
They're likely to switch to a competitor.
They're less likely to repurchase.
They're more likely to spread negative
word of mouth.
And, we do know that negative word of
mouth, is about
nine times more likely to be spread, than
positive word of mouth.
So, a complaint is much worse.
They may register a complaint.
In some cases, if they're really
dissatisfied, they may file a lawsuit.
So, that is obviously something a marketer
wants to stay away from.
Negative satisfaction.
There is an interesting little, caveat to
this problem.
If a consumer is unsatisfied, and they
tell you,
and you respond immediately with a proper
response.
Or maybe you give them their money back,
or you do something to make them
ultimately satisfied.
You can actually generate, even higher
satisfaction.
So, if you respond very, very quickly, to
a customer complaint, in a way that
satisfies, or exceeds expectations, you
can undo a negative satisfaction incident.
But now, in word of mouth, one of
the things nowadays, with viral marketing
and things.
How people respond to their post-purchase
uses of a product, is very interesting.
We know consumer reviews are very
effective.
We know that people, that other customers,
read consumer reviews.
They care what their friends say.
Facebook and Twitter, and those kinds of
things, make it
very easy to see what other people think
about your product.
So,
this person to person, word of mouth, is
extremely
important, for a marketer to monitor and
think about.
we have, you know, some of the things
that are now happening with Pinterest and
Facebook.
The conversations.
Tumbler and all of those.
Instagram and those kinds of things.
If you could encourage consumers to spread
the good word about your product,
we know this is very, very influential at
encouraging other people to shop.
And, it also makes you more loyal to the
product.
You become an advocate for the product.
So, this is a really good news.
Of course, the bad news about it is, if
the word of
mouth is negative, then, that's much less
likely to result in repurchasing.
And, much less likely to get new customers
to buy your new product.
So more then ever, marketers must be
concerned with customer satisfaction.
And, the key point
that I'm making here, which is really
important,
is not only is purchase not that single
incident.
I told you, lots of things happen before
a customer purchases, but it's not the
last step.
What's more important, perhaps, than the
purchase, itself, is how
people evaluate the purchase, and what
they do with that information.
So, you really must, as a marketer,
deliver the customer expectations,
so, that you generate positive
satisfaction, and positive word of mouth.
One of the things that you want to think
about is, because in this world of viral
marketing.
Word of mouth, and, and passing on
information of your
product is, is really influential, and
gets other people to buy.
There have been a lot of studies done, on
what are messages that catch on and get
shared.
My colleague at Wharton, Jonah
Berger, has written a very nice book.
It's a bestseller called Contagious.
That talks about what kinds of information
is more likely to
get shared, versus other information,
that's less likely to get shared.
And, he's identified six trigger points
that, or six points, that
identify the kind of material that's more
likely to be shared.
And, if this is true, about the customers'
reactions to your brand.
Then, it's more likely, that they'll
spread messages about your brand.
He calls these 6 points stepps,
S-T-E-P-P-S.
And, what he finds is, that information
that has social currency,
that makes you look good, is more likely
to be shared.
So, if you can share something about a
cool product, or a cool restaurant, you're
more likely
to tell other people about it.
because, it makes you look cool, that you
consumed that cool product.
So, increasing a person's social currency,
with a
product experience, makes something more
likely to be shared.
The other thing, and this is
just incidentally, people share what they
remember.
So, if you can remind people about a
particular product experience, they're
more likely to tell somebody.
So, if somehow, there's a reminder that
says, you know, you got a haircut today.
You see that...
You see that sign, as you're talking to a
friend.
It might remind you of a very favorable
time, when you got a haircut.
and that's called a trigger reminder.
To remind people to share positive
information.
We also know, people are much more likely
to share information, if it's emotional.
If you're really happy, or as I
said, negative emotion also, affects
whether people share.
So emotional information is much
more likely to be shared.
public information.
Something that's contagious, in and of
itself.
If it's seen around a lot, and it's very
public.
It's more likely to be shared.
if something has practical value, I can
help you out.
I get social currency by helping you out.
That also, is information, I'm more likely
to share.
And finally, people are more likely to
share something where,
they can tell a good story about it.
If they're stories, people are more likely
to share.
In Whole Foods market, where we are now,
they
have a lot of stories around, around their
products.
And, they, what happens is, if you
understand the story behind the product.
Where the product came from.
Where the fish was caught.
What was the name of the captain of the
boat of the fish.
Or you understand, where the background
is, of these different products.
These stories
make it more likely to share that
information.
So, these six steps that Jonah Berger, has
identified, are called stepps.
Social currency, triggers, emotion, make
it
public, practical value, and tell stories.
And, if you can get people to identify
these kinds of things,
with your brand, they're more likely to
spread the word of mouth.
And, if they have a positive
experience with your brand, that word of
mouth will be positive.
So, in conclusion, what I've been trying
to talk about here, is to
think about your marketing from the
consumer or the shopper, point of view.
You have to be in the shoppers' life.
Your brand has to be where the shopper is,
in order to get the shopper to,
eventually, purchase you.
You need to understand the shopping
experience from
start to finish.
Understand, that shoppers make impulse
decisions.
They work on their own perceptions.
They work on emotions.
It's not necessarily what's actually true.
It's what they perceive.
and they make decisions on what they see,
and what they know.
And again, it's really all about the
personal relevance to that shopper.
How does this purchase influence my life,
satisfy my needs,
meet my expectations?
And, I hope you've realized, that again,
in this
world, this purchase process or shopping
experience, is multi-stage.
You can make mistakes, or fall out of
consideration,
at many different levels, and it's also
multi channeled.
It's online, off line, mass media targeted
media.
It's a very complicated world, where
marketers have
lots of opportunities to get their message
out to the consumers.
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