It is nearly 25 years since Coca Cola decided to give the world New Coke and a text book example of how not to do marketing by ignoring loyal customers.

Background

In 1985 Coca Cola unveiled New Coke on the world. This was a new sweeter recipe that was to replace the “secret formula” that had been around for a mere 99 years.The words “the best just got better” were uttered during the unveiling. It was the start of something special for Coca Cola, unfortunately it was not a positive experience to begin with….

The reaction of consumers was a lesson in how companies meddle with their brands at their peril. Despite all the market research that had been undertaken the company had failed to engage with their customers directly. Research indicated that the sweeter formula was preferred to the existing flavour.

The company failed to grasp that brands should always be viewed through the eyes of customers. Companies may own their brands but they need permission to change or tinker with them.

Customer Reaction

Within 78 days after a barrage of letters and phone calls the original formula returned branded as Coke Classic.

Customers had reacted with such intensity of feeling that it had shocked Coca Cola. The brand was and is such an integral part of American culture that its removal caused almost panic amongst consumers.What took nearly a hundred years to build was almost lost in the blink of an eye.The closet example of such brand destruction in UK terms has to be the famous Ratner speech.Overnight a respected chain of jewelers had its reputation and stock value reduced to next to nothing.

Outcome and Lessons

Coke had panicked at the the thought of Pepsi stealing a march on them. Pepsi was running the taste challenge commercials which showed that consumers preferred their sweeter product. New Coke was the response that went so wrong.

Disaster turned to triumph as sales of the Coke Classic went through the roof. Customer loyalty was reinforced and the brand remains to this day one of the most valuable  in the world.

The lessons of this are clear. Brands generate a strong emotional bond that is a vital strand in success.If any part of the complex interdependency of emotions, value and price is changed then the brand ceases to be the brand.

Consumers expect the relationship to be such that any changes are run past them first…All companies must at all times make sure that they seek regular feedback from the people buying their product or service.Customers react to lack of communication by spending their money with someone who will listen to their views.That someone will always be one of your competitors…

“Listen to your Customers before someone else does” is something that we are passionate about, it forms the basis of what we do. We provide a cost-effective research service that enable clients to do exactly that.

Business is about customers, getting them and then building profitable relationships with them. These customers could be from your competition so it is essential to listen to all customers, yours and rivals.

Intelligent business decisions should be based on sound business intelligence – your own customers and the feed back from your competitive environment. The current economic climate makes it even more important to keep getting feed back on how your brand is performing. Every business is a brand and every brand has to stay in tip-top condition to be able to respond to changing market conditions. By gathering feedback from your existing customers and from your competitive set you are giving your brand an effective market place work out.

Every New Year brings personal resolutions to get fit, stay in shape and improve overall health. Make 2010 the year that this is extended to your business as well.

It is well established that the best sales force is always going to be your current customers who, in an ideal world, should be recommending your company to everyone they know. Too many customers defect to other suppliers because of perceived indifference to their needs.

How many times have you heard the phrase, “if only you’d asked me what was wrong” when it comes to hearing a customer moved their spending to one of your competitors? It seems strange that companies don’t find out why customers defect, especially when some of those customers may have been long term ones.

Questions=Answers=Relationships =Profit=more business = Profit

You could of course conduct that research yourself and get some good results. You might consider using the services of an independent, objective and experienced company that will be able to help build and carry out a cost-effective research framework.

The obvious benefits are that often customers feel that they should flatter by saying the right thing if approached directly by the client.Rarely is the real picture of a business relationship portrayed and rarely will a customer even begin to suggest what could be changed or what improvements would have kept them spending with you.

Lost customers will often not even want to engage in a discussion as to why they left and you will never get the full picture of what factors contributed to the departure.A third party is often seen as independent are more likely to be given chapter and verse on what is good and bad.There is no embarrassment in telling the truth to third parties .Often a good chat leads to  suggestions of other services or products not previously considered that could be extremely profitable.

Competitive Framework

Customer Insight is important but only a part of what our Business Builder Service seeks to deliver.

Your competition is a vital source of market intelligence on where the market is and where it is going and more importantly where your company brand is sitting.

Customer feedback often informs the short-term, competitive  monitoring is the long view allowing you to plan and allocate resources to potential new sectors before they become established. A joint programme that looks at both current customers and the competitive framework lets you neatly cover both bases.

Business Builder is a cost-effective service that helps companies to make sure that their brand is in the best possible shape to trade profitably.

Business Builder makes sure that current customers, lost customers and customers from the competitive set are contacted giving you a comprehensive picture of your market place. Flexibility is the main point of this service, any, some or all of the competitive framework can be covered depending upon client needs.

Benefits of the service include -

• Prevent customer defection
• Regain business from Lost Customers
• Early warning mechanism so that issues don’t become problems
• Potential New Product or service intelligence
• Market environment assessment to make sure that you know what your competitors are doing and where the market might be heading.

Please contact us at info@customeyes-research.co.uk with any questions and to ask how we might be able to help your brand and company. We will be glad to talk with you about the particulars of the service.

Please call Angus Grady on 0845 688 5272.