The Wizard Chronicle
How to Attract, Convert, and Delight CustomersBy: Wizard of Ads Partners Editor: Craig Arthur
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Entries in The Customer (15)
Customer Experience... What's Your Policy When Things Go Wrong?
- "The customer doesn't expect everything will go right all the time; the big test is what you do when things go wrong." - Sir Colin Marshall
Causing Customers to Remember You at Their Moment of Need
From the library of the Wizard.... Planting a mental trigger.
One of the ways Wizard of Ads helps grow owner-operated businesses.
"Successfully implanted, a reticular activator will cause your prospective customer immediately to think of your company when she has need of your product."
YOU BUY A NEW CAR. As soon as you drive out of the dealer’s lot, you begin seeing cars just like yours everywhere you go. We can safely assume these cars were here yesterday — but yesterday you didn’t notice them, and today you aren’t looking for them. What’s happening?
Your old refrigerator begins to make odd noises. You finish breakfast and go to work, immediately forgetting about the refrigerator and the noise. During lunch, you read the paper and notice an ad for refrigerators on sale. You weren’t thinking about your refrigerator, but you notice the ad anyway. What’s happening?
You are asked to total fourteen different columns of single- digit numbers. Each of the fourteen columns adds up to exactly fourteen. You are now asked to name a vegetable. You say “carrots.” Why?
Planting a reticular activator in the mind of the customer is the Mount Everest of ad writers. The reticular activator is a mental trigger in your unconscious that directs your attention and causes you to notice and remember things you never intentionally committed to memory. Successfully implanted, a reticular activator will cause your prospective customer immediately to think of your company when she has need of your product.
It is easier to implant a reticular activator using sound rather than sight. Medical science tells us it takes 29 percent longer to understand written words than spoken words. This is because the brain must translate the written word into the spoken word before it can be understood. When we memorize the written word, it is the sound of the words we remember, not their appearance on the page. This is true even when we have been reading silently. We hear the words in our minds.
The eye cannot be trusted to remember what it has seen. One of the most frustrating parts of police work is that different eyewitnesses often recall an event differently. Yet people can repeat the last sentence a person said, even if they weren’t paying attention. How often has someone asked, “Are you listening?” and even though you weren’t, you could repeat verbatim their last statement?
Information taken in through the eyes enters into iconic memory and disappears in less than one second. Information that enters through the ears rattles around in echoic memory for nearly five seconds before it dissipates.
Well-written, intrusive ads establish echoic retention through the use of a reticular activator. Echoic retention and a reticular activator will cause you to say “carrots” after repeating the number “fourteen.”
How many times have you heard the phrase “fourteen-karat gold”?
From the Editor: But be warned - Planting a Mental trigger is NOT a short term strategy. It takes a relevant message (Uncovery and message development) and frequency (money)... and then you still have to wait for the moment of need. Do you have the patience?
PS. Do you need help planting a mental trigger in the mind of your customer?
Advertising, Copy, The Customer Returns Policies and Customer Guarantees
Kick the Devil…
By Anna Gerard, Wizard of Ads Associate
Image www.k9nipit.com"How many of your store policies are based on the assumption your customer might be fraudulent?... When deciding on returns policies and customer guarantees you need to find a balance between protecting yourself and protecting the customer."
“Hi mum, I know you’re in the middle of grieving and organising a funeral and stuff, but could you just fax granddad’s death certificate through to the airline… cheers”.
If it hadn’t been a comedy show nobody would have laughed. Still it was that “how ridiculous is the world” type of laugh, because we knew this was a true story.
Daniel got me thinking. How often do businesses listen a little too strongly to the devil’s advocate in their heads and make decisions based on the lowest common denominator?
How many of your store policies are based on the assumption your customer might be fraudulent?
The Shift Toward Low, Low Prices
By Michele Miller, Wizard of Ads Partner
The recently-released “2008 Customer Focus” study conducted by marketing firm Vertis shows that amongst women who are “chief shoppers” (responsible for more than 60 percent of household grocery shopping), nearly half (48 percent) say that low prices, advertised specials, and store coupons are the most important thing when it comes to choosing a grocery store.By contrast, only 30 percent of men consider low prices to be a top reason – convenience and proximity rate higher, at 41 percent.
Well… yes and no.
With headlines that shout the latest news on failing mortgage companies, record-setting oil prices and the dreaded R-Word, it’s obvious that we’re settling in for a bumpy ride on the big yellow economy bus.
People have less money to spend, but more choices than ever about where to spend it (thank you, Internet!). So, when push comes to shove and people are tightening their belts, low prices are going be in the driver’s seat.
You Made a Change to Your Customer Experience...
"For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen." - Douglas Adams
Now What?
Don't expect instant gratification from your customer experience improvements.
Just like getting fit, it will take time. Be patient... Be consistent.
Australian Consumer Sentiment Falls to Near 15-year Low
All ships rise on an incoming tide just as even a lazy business can increase sales in a buoyant market. However the tide is turning.
To quote Roy H. Williams in his memo Buried Treasure, "2008 is shaping up to be an unhappy year for most product and service categories."
Want some more indicators of the turning tide?
"HIGHER interest rates and rising food and fuel costs have pushed consumer confidence to its lowest level in almost 15 years.
People with mortgages are the least upbeat, but rising food and fuel costs are also making their impact felt.
The latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index figures out today show an "extraordinarily large fall" - down 9.1 per cent in March to 88.6 points.
The index, which is based on a survey of 1200 people, is below the 100 level, showing that pessimists outnumber optimists.
A separate survey has found three-quarters of Australians are worried about their ability to pay their bills.
A phone poll commissioned by Veda Advantage showed 75 per cent of respondents had debt repayment anxiety.
Price rises were a concern for 55 per cent of the 1050 people polled, according to the Galaxy Research.
Rising food and petrol costs were a worry for 55 per cent of respondents, with one in two complaining about higher food prices."
The above is an excerpt from an article at www.news.com.au, dated March 12, 2008 03:40pm. Click here to read the full story.
General, Change, The Customer Where Did You Hear About Us? A Dangerous Question.
"Trying to measure what people think they know is not always easy. People don't even know what they know. Measuring their actions is always better." - Dave Young, Wizard of Ads Partner