{"id":744411,"date":"2019-10-08T08:30:38","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T06:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/?post_type=articles&p=744411"},"modified":"2020-11-17T09:56:22","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T08:56:22","slug":"how-to-win-over-customers-in-the-amazon-age","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/articles\/how-to-win-over-customers-in-the-amazon-age\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Win Over Customers in the Amazon Age"},"featured_media":745940,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[]},"schools":[29,33,35],"areas":[16],"subjects":[416,424],"class_list":["post-744411","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schools-business-school","schools-human-sciences-and-technology","schools-university","areas-competitiveness-growth","subjects-business-and-finance","subjects-marketing"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-article-summary-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-summary":["Nowadays, companies are less interested in adopting new technologies and more concerned about how to connect better with their customers. If you want to sell more, you have to get to know your customers better and offer them what they really need. In this article, Pablo Foncillas D\u00edaz-Plaja, Adjunct Professor at IE Business School, delves into two essential techniques for connecting with customers and establishing a lasting, profitable relationship: hyperservice and servification."],"wpcf-article-leadin":["It has become a little pass\u00e9 to talk about digital transformation and e-commerce. Nowadays, what most companies really want to know is how to connect better with their customers\u2014in other words, how to sell more."],"wpcf-article-body":["Do you want to connect better with your customers? Do you want to know what they do, who they are, what they want... and offer them a better service? In a nutshell, do you want to sell more?\r\n\r\nThis infographic<\/a>, also published in IE Insights<\/em>, describes the six steps of the Winners method<\/a>. Based on years of research and practical experience, this method shows companies how to connect with fast-changing customers in the current digital era\u2014or as I like to call it, the Amazon age.\r\n\r\nOne of the most important parts of the process comes in Step 5: \u201cPosition your service model as a differentiating factor.\u201d The first and last steps of the method\u2014which, in reality, is cyclical\u2014involve listening and reconnecting with customers. Once you have defined a strategy<\/a> and designed unique experiences, the key is to correctly position the service you offer to your customers.\r\n\r\nIn-depth qualitative and quantitative research on hundreds of organizations has shown that the companies that do this well\u2014those which truly connect with customers\u2014use two main techniques, which I call hyperservice and servification.\r\n
If you want to establish a relationship with the customer that allows you to make more sales over a longer period of time, it\u2019s important to offer excellent service.<\/blockquote>\r\nA simple coffee, made even simpler<\/strong>\r\n\r\nI\u2019ll explain this with a couple of examples. Here\u2019s the first. Imagine a typical workday: You get up, get ready, and head to work. It\u2019s going to be a rough day. So many things on your plate: multiple projects, deadlines, meetings, stress, lots of rushing around... You have to be well prepared, energetic, and motivated. You\u2019re still a few subway stops away, but already you\u2019re thinking about that caf\u00e9 down the street from your office that makes good coffee, just the way you like it.\r\n\r\nBut the last thing you feel like doing, at this ungodly hour, is standing in line, wasting several precious minutes when you\u2019re already running late. And you certainly don\u2019t want to interact with a human being and answer inane questions. \u201cMy name? Pablo.\u201d \u201cCoffee.\u201d \u201cYes, a double.\u201d \u201cWith oat milk.\u201d \u201cRoom-temperature.\u201d \u201cExtra cinnamon.\u201d \u201cBrown sugar.\u201d \u201cCredit card.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe coffeehouse chain knows this, because it listened to its customers and figured out another way to offer a superior experience. The idea they came up with is a simple way of hyperserving coffee: with a mobile app.\r\n\r\nYou can use this app to select a location, order your favorite beverage, and pay for it\u2014all before setting foot in the shop. And voil\u00e0: a freshly poured cup of piping hot coffee is waiting for you the minute you walk through the door. You grab it and go.\r\n\r\nIt works: more and more customers are buying coffee this way. This year, around 25 million Americans will order coffee using this mobile app. More than 12% of the chain\u2019s orders will be placed via this channel.\r\n\r\nIn fact, it has proved so popular that the company has had to redesign its caf\u00e9s to better serve customers who order remotely before entering the building (or perhaps while waiting in line).\r\n\r\nThis is hyperservice: you offer the same thing you\u2019ve always offered, but more and better\u2014and at no extra charge. Customers are happy, and the company is happy.\r\n
The companies that do this well\u2014those which truly connect with customers\u2014use two main techniques: hyperservice and servification.<\/blockquote>\r\nHave you been \u201cservified\u201d?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe second strategy<\/a> used by \u201cwinning\u201d companies is servification. It\u2019s quite possible that you have already been servified, since this service model is becoming more and more common in a number of categories.\r\n\r\nPerhaps you\u2019ve heard of Brita, the water filter brand. If tap water in your area tastes funny or contains impurities but you don\u2019t like buying bottled water, Brita can help. Their water filtration pitcher improves the taste and quality of the water that flows from your faucet. It\u2019s quick and easy, but there\u2019s a catch: you have to change the filter every so often, or else the system stops working.\r\n\r\nOne solution they\u2019ve come up with is to servify the filters. No longer must the customer remember to buy new filters at the supermarket. At long last, the smart<\/a> pitcher has finally arrived. When it detects that a filter is on its last legs, it automatically connects to Amazon (or your preferred supermarket) and orders replacements. This machine does everything: occasional purchases have been replaced by an automatic spare-part subscription service.\r\n\r\nThis method allows companies to sell not just the item in question, but also related products. And it usually involves paying a premium, since the customer receives added value.\r\n\r\nServification is now a reality in a growing number of industries. Some customers complain, but deep down they know that it makes their lives easier. Now they can pay for something they use\u2014and only when they need it\u2014without having to make a trip to the store. Music has been servified for quite some time (Spotify). More recently, the trend has spread to bicycles, cars, and even scooters. Even home-improvement tools have been servified. Even though you might not need an industrial-strength floor polisher very often, you might like to roll up your sleeves and tear out the parquet every ten years or so.\r\n\r\nIf you want to establish a relationship with the customer that allows you to make more sales<\/a> over a longer period of time, it\u2019s important to offer excellent service.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\u00a9 IE Insights."],"wpcf-article-extract-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-extract":["By Pablo Foncillas D\u00edaz-Plaja<\/strong>. It has become a little pass\u00e9 to talk about digital transformation and e-commerce. Nowadays, what most companies really want to know is how to connect better with their customers\u2014in other words, how to sell more."]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/744411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=744411"},{"taxonomy":"areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas?post=744411"},{"taxonomy":"subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subjects?post=744411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}