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Look for Customers on Their Own Turf
October 2, 2008

An article via today’s eMarketer Daily reminded me of what Willy Sutton said when he was asked why he robbed banks: “Because that’s where the money is.” It is perhaps an apocryphal story, but relevant to today’s post.

eMarketer says:

Generation Y (those born after 1979) online buyers are more immersed in online and mobile activities than any other generation, according to 2008 research from shopping comparison site PriceGrabber. Some 85% of Gen Y respondents said they participated in social networking, and 57% reported involvement with blogs.
To reach this demographic segment, Web retailers are marketing to them on their own turf. Data from an August 2008 survey of Web merchants sponsored by Internet Retailer found that, of the 39.3% of retail respondents that use social networks, 32% have a page on Facebook, 27% on MySpace and 26% on YouTube.

If you’re trying to reach potential customers, it helps to go where they happen to be. Not only that; the article goes on to point out that consumers who are on social networking sites use those sites to laud or loathe retailers. That is, consumers share their experiences with brands, both good and (especially) bad. Since retailers never know who is shopping and subsequently blogging about their experience, everyone potentially is in the position of the anonymous restaurant reviewer who dines incognito. Kind of reminds me of the Fawlty Towers episode where Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) is tipped off that a hotel critic is staying in the hotel, thinks he knows who it is, and fawns over him, while at the same time being his typical abusive self to all the other guests. (It turns out he had the wrong guy, who only sold spoons.)

The point is, it behooves companies to always put their best foot forward where customer service is concerned. And if you think all companies already do, well, have you flown U.S. Airways lately? (See what I mean?)

Posted by Richard Romano on October 2, 2008 | Comments (0)