Price-less Questions
I don’t have any answers, just questions…a lot of questions.
My questions are about messaging, communication, dialogue and interaction.
Definitions are in order.
Messaging: one way offer-to-purchase/act
Information: a (partial) telling of the brand story
Interaction: a consumer initiated program constrained exchange
Dialogue: two-way dynamic flow of information
Generating profitable sales is the number one goal of an enterprise. Without it the enterprise can not move forward. But in our endeavor to secure profitable sales, are we perhaps creating bigger problems for ourselves?
Despite all of the other communication options, it seems (to me) that the vast majority of our customer outreach simply promotes a price point call to action. But in our endeavor to generate the “Buy this for $2.99 now”, are we perhaps conditioning our customers to be price sensitive? I raise this now because ever since the loonie hit parity with the greenback – it seems we can’t turnaround without some sort of price comparison being featured in the mass and social media - and on the verge of the biggest purchasing season.
So how does one compete? Yes one needs to have competitive prices that reflect fair value. But in the rush to meet the quarterly targets we seem to have become overly fixated on the price and dare I say, not giving customers enough opportunity to learn more about the brand story.
What percent of your brand activity is allocated to messaging vs communication? 90/10? 60/40?
Does it have to be an either/or choice?
The good news is that we can accommodate both simultaneously by having our product as the hero/solution in the communication with price in a support role. Think back to Loblaws Insider’s Report – did anybody care about the prices (they were there) or were you captivated by learning about the new wonders they found in the far flung corners of the world? Need more convincing?
Consider this example of the messaging-communication evolution taking place at Dell.
So if we can successfully message and communicate - what about a triple play: message, communicate and interact/dialogue?
Consider inviting your customers to a higher level interaction by incorporating a hyper link to a poll regarding some feedback you ‘want’ (maybe colors for the next season) or perhaps a link to a company progress report on some social/good works initiative. The point is by layering this additional dimension you are communicating much more than just the price point – you are communicating that you are a partner looking for input and interaction regarding the future.
This will not be of interest to all consumers, but excluding those who only want a transactional relationship, the mere overture casts your brand in a different light - that of a partner.
So next time you gather round the water cooler to do the Loto 649 happy dance because your response rate broke the 20% mark (well done BTW) – think about the 80%. Think about those who found the message irrelevant for whatever reason? Did you just miss an opportunity to communicate or even dialogue with them on some higher level? I wonder what the ROI will be on that?
Like I said, lot’s of questions.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
