Some would argue that with the prevalence of technology and
social media, there is a growing disconnect in the world of customer experience.
But the way I see it, it’s a breeding ground for opportunities to build
advocacy among your customers.
Gone are the days of consumers sitting helplessly on hold at
the other end of a generic 1-800-number waiting for help (well, maybe not
completely, but times have sure changed).
Now, with social media and the ever-growing online presence
of today’s consumers, companies have so many touch points to engage in dialogue
and forge relationships. I write a lot about customer experience from a variety
of perspectives and angles, and this recent
story from Inc Magazine about Casper, really intrigued me.
Casper is essentially turning
the sleep business on its head. It’s no secret that shopping for a mattress is
not the most exciting experience – more of a necessary evil. People often roam
around stores, touching, sitting, laying, even bouncing, on mattress after
mattress until they find the right fit. It’s also a super personal decision
because everyone has different requirements for a mattress. It’s certainly not
a one-size-fits-all racket.
So what did Casper do to shake
things up? Sure, they did market research and tons of testing and marketing. But
they made a bolder move than others in their industry. They decided to make one
single model mattress that would meet the sleep needs of the widest variety of
consumers using a cross-section of the best materials to achieve an almost
universal comfort. Definitely a big risk. Most of the company’s competitors
have model after model with nuanced differences (that makes mattress buying
confusing and laborious but potentially more appealing to a broader audience).
So the real differentiator for Casper was… drum roll, please… the customer
experience! How’d you guess?
Casper set out to connect with
mattress buyers in a way they’d never been connected with before. And to change
the whole experience of buying a bed – from the single model to the home
delivery-in-a-box! Because the reality is, there was a gaping hole in this
industry where customer experience was supposed to go. Since most people buy
mattresses every 8-10 years, most retailers don’t really focus on building a
rapport with someone who probably won’t be back anytime soon. But Casper did.
In
the article, Casper founder, Neil Parikh says, “We know how long you've had
your bed, and if you have kids or a pet. We keep track of all that, and then
send people anniversary gifts, or dog beds. It's not about just selling you a bed.
It's "How do I make this person our biggest advocate?"
They
are making an investment in customers that others do not. And I’d say,
considering they had $1 million in sales the first month, and hit $100 million
cumulatively, they might just be on to something.
They
even built Casper Labs around their customer database. “We have 15,000 customers who are part of our
product-development process. They come to events, and test prototypes. Many are
obsessive about sleep. They send us sleep tracker data and say, ‘I tested this
product versus this one, and here's what I found.’ That process has helped us
build a group of evangelists.”
The power of customer
evangelists is incredible right now. People become impassioned about products
or services and not only are they talking about them at lunch with friends,
they are posting about experiences on Facebook, and Tweeting to the companies,
and sharing Instagram posts featuring these products and services. The
possibilities for exposure are endless and Casper is capitalizing on that by
creating a customer experience worth talking about – whether you like their
product or not!
We can all learn something
from them about strong customer experiences creating customer evangelists.
What do you think of their
approach? Tweet me at @GaryMagenta using #CreatingaKillerCX
No comments:
Post a Comment