« Clic and walk » reinvents the customer satisfaction survey
The social media rise has launched a new era in customer satisfaction measurement; twitter, Facebook and the like have allowed marketers to collect more primary data to evaluate whether clients were satisfied or not. Yet the multiplicity of sources makes it difficult (not to say impossible) to properly analyze this data. Before even being able to analyze anything one has to select the relevant data. This selection process is a challenge in itself. The Clic and...
How a postcard can create high customer satisfaction
We promised in an earlier post to deal with one example of how a company can increase its customers’ satisfaction and loyalty by paying attention to details. This example is inspired by Werner Bruyns, the CEO of Coolblue whom I met at a bpost event earlier this year. After the event I browsed the Coolblue website and found out that the promises made (and the prices) were pretty attractive. I ordered a few stuffs (all the...
The market of recycled devices grows with the crisis
There are some markets which benefit from the crisis. The market of recycled electronic devices is one of them. With the growth of smartphones and a diminishing buying power, consumers tend to look increasingly for bargains in the second-hand market. A recent study shows that only 20% of cell phones are recycled and that each houselhold has 3 to 4 phones on average sleeping somewhere in the drawers of the house. Some startups have developed a...
Get inspired by concept stores to improve your marketing strategy
I was called in mid-July by the Belgian TV Channel RTBF to explain what concept stores are. The 3-minute television report was filmed –obviously- in a concept store located in Brussels : SMETS. I went back to the store later to shoot some photos because it has pretty much all the attributes of a concept store. As I explained on TV a “concept store” is, by definition, a place where new ideas are put together (“a...
Some innovating ideas around customer satisfaction and loyalty
I recently attended an internal BPost event where externals speakers went to give a speech and inspire the audience. This event had been organized at the initiative of BPost COO Peter Somers and it was a great opportunity to better understand the strategy of the group as it was explained to investors during the pre-IPO phase (which has been a big success by the way). Two speakers had been invited: Google Belgium CEO Thierry Geerts and...
BSE Academy: first prize awarded to bugs’ food project
The first prize of the BSE Academy was awarded on 12 June to Brecht Vanhecke and Jasper Peeters for their novel food project. Brecht and Jasper’s project revolves around insects and aims at transforming them into food that can be commercialize in western Europe. Unlike other initiatives that we have seen in the past years, a careful and sound market research was performed that enabled to identify to main customers’ pains. It was recognized during this...
Mono-product marketing strategies: the exemple of l’Atelier de l’Eclair
There is no such difficult thing than to start a successful business with only one product. Yet, we have noticed recent initiatives in the retail sector of innovative mono-product marketing strategies. We visited last month “L’Atelier de l’éclair” in Paris, a store dedicated to a traditional French pastry called “éclair”. Ladurée made the macarons famous and launched a long-lasting trend; the three founders of l’Atelier de L’éclair found old papers related to this pastry and also...
Measuring customer satisfaction: the practices of large corporations and SMEs in review
Customer satisfaction measurement is a much debated topic. In this article we claim that measuring the satisfaction of its customers may not be useful for SMEs. Here’s why. For many firms the measuring their customers’ satisfaction level has become an end in itself which keeps people in the marketing department busy and has generated a whole industry dedicated to software for the design and the administration or satisfaction surveys. Given the low impact of satisfaction on...
Avoid biased results when measuring customer satisfaction
Measuring satisfaction of clients is a widespread practice among large companies as we showed in an earlier post. A new practice is however to link employees’ salaries to customer satisfaction scores. We’ve had the opportunity to witness this practice in two large automotive retail groups in Belgium last month. In one of them we also witnessed what kind of excesses this practice may lead to. An example of well-implement customer satisfaction practices … The D’Ieteren...
Will Boco revamp the food-served-over-the-counter sector?
BOCO is one food-served-over-the-counter concept that is currently attracting a lot of attention in Paris. Launched by the Ferniot brothers (Simon is a business guy who has sold his latest food complement company; Vincent is a well-known journalist and TV guy), BOCO was first started in a corner street of Avenue de l’Opera in Paris. I met with Simon Ferniot on a Saturday to discuss the genesis of their business idea, their future plan, and the...
Pseudo scientific results lead to bad decisions: the example of spelling mistakes
My attention was recently caught by an article reposted on Linkedin by one person in my network. The article was entitled “market shares are lost due to spelling mistakes”. Wow .. when you read a title like this it’s difficult to resist the temptation of opening the hyperlink and actually read the article. The article by Alain Gerlache describes how spelling has become a skill that fewer and fewer professionals master; the author explains that spelling...
How to decide on the location of a store when doing market research
Location is a key criteria to study within market research. The HORECA sector (HOtels-REstaurants-Coffee shops) has paid a heavy tribute to the crisis. Official sources announced in April that 1945 companies in this sector had filed for bankruptcy in 2012 in Belgium, up 28% over the last 5 years. As we explained in a recent post on the survival rates of startups, this isn’t much of a surprise actually given that the HORECA sector has the...
How to use customers’ habits to increase customer loyalty
Customer satisfaction is now subject to controversy as far as its effect on customer loyalty is concerned. As we recalled in a presentation on loyalty strategies that we have given ca. 10 times in Belgium in 2012-2013, customer satisfaction accounts for a maximum of 10% in customer retention. What this means is that 90% of customer loyalty is NOT influenced by customer satisfaction. Although many different antecedents exist, some theorists say that habits are at the...
What you should know about (online) surveys and market research
There is one key message that we repeat again and again to entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs when we coach them: sending an online survey is not doing market research. Market research is far more than that. Yet, this message seems to not to be understood by everyone because business owners, entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs have been polluted for years by biased messages on market research. Many firms proposing solutions of online surveys have relabeled themselves as...
Firms’ survival rate in free-trade zones
Eric Raoult, UMP Deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis (a region located north of Paris), submitted a report on free trade zones in July 2011 to the Minister of the City. In this report we learn among other things that the survival rate at 5 years of companies operating in free trade zones is 23.3% (for companies of the “first generation”, i.e. companies created after the first series of bills were passed to created free trade zones. Conditions were...
The relevance of customer satisfaction in SME
Below is the introduction of a working paper on the relevance of customer satisfaction for Small and Medium Enterprises. The purpose of this academic paper is to show the gap which exists in the literature on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty between what has been studied (big companies) and what actually constitutes the very essence of business in Europe, i.e. small companies. This paper is also put at your disposal in a viewer below. Introduction...
Thank You Merci
From time to time you meet inspiring people. I have the chance to meet many entrepreneurs coming from very different horizons and with various backgrounds. Although they are all special some of them show world-class expertise and skills. My encounter with Jean-Luc Colonna d’Istria will certainly remain as one of the most inspiring moments of 2013. The marketing director of Merci, the now world-famous concept store of Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris was kind enough to give...
Is the future of online pure players in brick-and-mortar shops?
The question may seem provocative but the reign of pure online strategies may slowly come to an end. Consider the following 53% of all EU retailers are selling through the internet In Ireland, Denmark and the UK, between 88% and 93% of retailers use distance sales channels But distance selling only represents between 5% and 7% of the retail turnover (FTI estimates) Add to this the economic crisis situation, the perception by consumers that transport doesn’t...
4 advices to remember when measuring customer satisfaction
The Heathrow airport has installed devices to measure satisfaction after the security checks. Yet, we think did not get customer satisfaction right. The biggest mistake they did was to put the device too far away from the lane, making it out of reach for most customers. Hence only customers with a good reason will find the motivation (or need) to walk the extra steps to the device to give an input. As a result you see...
Visit at Stella Cadente shop: well worth a design award
Stella Cadente proves it’s possible to obtain outstanding results with (relatively) little money. We visited their unique store in Paris (opened in April 2012 on 102 Boulevard Beaumarchais) and although it’s relatively small (<50m²) it offers a wonderful experience. We were welcomed by Armand Perrier, the head of communication, who explained us the genesis of the brand and of the store. Stella Cadente is a fashion designer who was also hired for interior design. In her...
One Day One Idea : Aesop’s technique to get customers in the store
On our latest trip to Paris, after we interviewed Merci’s managing director Jean-Luc Colonna d’Istria, we went for a tour in Paris’ trendy area “Le Marais”. One of the stores that caught our attention was Aesop in Rue Vieille du Temple. Aesop is an Australian upper tier brand of cosmetics that you won’t find everywhere (it’s actually one of the two brands to have a corner shop at Merci). As you can on the pictures they...
What does branding mean? The example of Miss Vicky Wine
Anne-Victoire Monrozier has an interesting entrepreneurial story to tell. Despite having little experience in the wine industry, she built a new wine brand from scratch. How did she succeed and is it really a wine brand? This is what we discussed with her in Brussels in January. Anne-Victoire, ala Miss Vicky, is well known for her blog “Miss Vicky Wine”. She is #26 in ranking of the most influential people in the wine industry. Not bad...
One Day One Idea: Let customers try your products and make them buy
We already mentioned the increased probability of selling a product when a customer has tried or touched it before. This principle is applied perfectly by Bodum, a Danish manufacturer of kitchen appliances and accessories. The flagship store they opened almost 2 years ago has testing area on the first floor where customers have fruits and vegetables and can use the Bodum products and cook if they wish. Advice for your marketing strategy Software editors have...
How design contributes to the overall customer experience
The design of your point of sales is of utmost importance. It not only attracts people in the store, but it also keeps them in the store. this is something that Silvera has understood very well. A winner of the 2012 Paris Shop & Design contest, Silvera sells design objects and furniture and has crafted its salespoint as a design object itself. Why should you keep people in the store To buy! Believe it or...
The 7 profiles of social network users
The dynamics of social networks depend on their users. They can be analyzed according to their content creation/consumption profile. There are 7 profiles, which we analyze here. Contact IntoTheMinds research agency The 7 types of social network user Research into the use of social networks generally uses a segmentation such as that proposed by Forrester (see above). This is a practical model for an initial understanding of online behavior. User profile Description Insights Creators Publish blog...
Service quality and the role of employees in the customer experience
Previous posts have dealt on several occasions with the important topic of service quality. After re-reading what we had written we found out something important: employees are crucial. Employees are of course important to deliver the service quality that customers expect (although we still need to explain you what service quality really means). However over the last few years what we have noticed that firms tend to describe how employees should behave to deliver the requested...
“Les Causses”, an example of successful retail concept
Sometimes I feel fortunate. I do a wonderful job, have a lot of wonderful clients, advise a lot of very different businesses. And on top of that I meet inspiring entrepreneurs when going on market research tours. The story of Alexis Roux de Bezieux During our last tour in Paris I met with Alexis Roux de Bezieux who launched “Les Causses” a tiny upscale proximity store selling food and drinks. Alexis was kind enough to give...
One Day One Idea : use offbeat humour to sell your stuffs
The marketing idea in brief Sometimes in worthwhile to be “offbeat”, i.e. not to follow the rules (especially the marketing ones). Look for instance at the example of this store I came across while in Barcelona on Passeig de Garcia. Pitty I can’t remember its name. It was just crowdy, full of people looking for the latest gadget to buy in this modern bric-a-brac. Even if you had already everything on earth you’d find something to...
One Day One Idea: the management of customer experience by Cerdan Heritage
Santa Claus brought me this year some very cool “Cerdan Heritage” stuffs. If you don’t know about Cerdan Heritage, read the article we wrote a while ago about this SME started by Marcel Cerdan’s grandsons. The idea in brief Not only are clothes of extreme high quality but the products come with a series of little details that enhance the overall customer’s experience: cardboard label with its vintage safety pin, Cerdan label stitched in each piece...
What’s new in 2013: more advices for entrepreneurs with a focus on market research and innovation
Looking back over our shoulders Looking back at 2012 we’ve written a lot (like in 2011) but took a pretty long break after the summer. With a sudden increase in workload we had to concentrate on clients’ assignments. This is no excuse though as part of our company’s mission is to collect, analyze and diffuse knowledge. Fortunately enough there were a few events scheduled in the second half of the year that kind of forced us...
L’imprimerie, a new kind of customer experience
I was fortunate to meet an atypical entrepreneur, Nicolas Guthart, who started several businesses that are highly complementary and propose an innovative value proposition for brands. How a new marketing concept was born To make a 10-year story short(er), Nicolas launched with two partners a magazine dedicated to footware that ended up dealing with cultures and subcultures revolving around trendy shoes like sneakers and the like. I like this concept of culture and sub-cultures because...
Delhaize seems to be happy about the results of The Cube barcodes scanning campaign
When Delhaize launched The Cube earlier this year we were warning that it wouldn’t be as successful as expected. However in a recent press release Delhaize said it was a success and that online sales increased 22.6%. So in the end, who tells the truth? As we explained in our post Delhaize got its inspiration from Tesco in South-Korea, the online sales of which had increased 130%. As you can note there is already a...
Niche markets are sometimes larger than you expect. The case of Pedon.
Pedon is one of those brands that has a solid market share but is not known very well, even in Italy, its home country. A manufacturer of dozens of private labels product, Pedon has also its own lines of products, one of which deserves special attention. Pedon has developed a line of gluten-free products which Luca Zocca, the marketing manager, saw as a natural extension of traditional product lines. Especially interesting was the typology of consumers...
How design can enhance business innovation
I spent 4 days in Barcelona in a workshop at ESADE business school practicing techniques used by designers to create. And the least I can say is that those techniques DO help make a difference in business. Let me explain you why. The workshop was organized by the ESADE business school together with the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. The goal was to create new businesses from scratch using the very techniques used...
Rolls-Royce’s extreme segmentation
Sometimes brands can go very far as far as segmentation is concerned. In the luxury business the growth path goes through Asia and in particular therough China. I recently came across a crazy example. Rolls Royce actually prepared a limited edition for the Chinese market only. Nicknamed “Year of the Dragon”, this limited series of the Phantom sold out in 2 months although it was priced at 1m€ each. The red exterior (the color of luck)...
When the consumer interacts actively with the store window
To follow up on our latest post on future store windows, we publish today this example we found in Portugal in an ICT store. Located at the bottom of an office building in Lisbon, this store proposes a window with an integrated touch screen. It’s more than a tablet; it’s actually a technology that has been used extensively in the industry and in automation for years. This technology is now made available, thanks to increased customer...
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