Customer service

When you think of marketing- customer service probably isn't the 1st thing that springs to mind or some people might not even realise how big of a part of marketing customer service actually is.
But although attracting customers to your brand and making them aware of your products is important; whats fundamental to the success of a brand is customer retention.

Have you ever noticed that the most profitable retailers are always the ones who provide impeccable customer service instore- Apple, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Boots, John Lewis are all fantastic at it. I really do believe it's forefront to success and keeping your customer.

I had a particularly pleasant experience in Boots recently- one which surprised me.

I'm usually a MAC devotee and always buy my make-up in there, however after visiting the Debenhams store in Bristol and having a really rude sales assistant more interested in chatting too her friend and what was behind the till than actually finding me the product I needed, I decided to leave the store. I had actually intended to make quite a large purchase that day but I was so disappointed in the way she had dealt with me that I decided to leave- to be honest I have visited loads of MAC counters, in London, Birmingham, Manchester and the Trafford Centre and have never experienced any treatment like I had in there. However the Bristol staff have always let me down- sometimes blatantly having had just come back from a fag break (not nice when they breathe it in your face) or just generally not been interested in me as a customer.

Anyway, so I decided to try a different counter and went to try Boots instead this time, not only to get my advantage card points (most successful loyalty scheme ever) but by this point I was sick of Debenhams! I had heard great things about the Clinique products in blogs and wanted to give it a try- but as I hadn't tried them before I was slightly apprehensive- however the sales assistant was amazing and talked me through the products- she had amazing product knowledge and I explained my apprehension at spending a lot of money on products I hadn't tried before and she put me totally at ease by taking my phone number and offering to call me a few days later and then scheduling an appointment a few weeks later where she would check I liked them and see if I had any problems and if not she said I could return the products!!

I was astonished at how well she treated me- no hard sell and she really did look after me, seriously a different treatment from the MAC counter!!! Will definitely be returning to the Clinique counter.

Good customer service not only means that customers are more likely to return- they are also likely to spend more money!

Yet- even when you get these loyal customers- good customer service is neccessary as even one bad experience can put a customer off for life. Especially with the extent of social media today- 1 bad tweet, facebook post or youtube video can be detremental to the reputation of a brand. It isn't just a bad customer service experience shared with one person- it's shared with the WHOLE WORLD.
Similar to my blog post of public relations- posts and shares about negative news regarding a brand are FAR more likely to be shared than positive ones.

Take this video:



It currently has 650,000 views- all seen how poor hollister's customer service can be- although this may have been one isolated case, it has been seen by thousands and provided a negative association not only with the brand, but with the staff and customers may think twice about buying from Hollister in the future.

This just indicates the extent to how important customer service is in the first place. And at the end of the day- good training and brand values to begin with which are set in place in all areas of the business means there is less for the PR department to have to deal with and ultimately- less to clean up afterwards


Steph x

My friends, goose and smashbox!

Heyy,
ok so this week I've been really unlucky! Got through to the assessment centre for peugeot citroen after passing the 1st interview!! Which I was super pleased about, however it's on the 10th January which is my finance exam so I can't go and I've emailed them begging but they won't re-arrange, which I'm GUTTED about :'( especially as I could really see myself there and I worked so hard on my application. I guess it wasn't meant to be!
Secondly, had my BMW telephone interview which went AWFUL as I was totally unprepared as I did it at uni cos I was in the middle of my group meeting for marketing in practice preparing our presentation, anyway I think I did well on the compentency questions but then she asked me what was my favourite BMW model and I froze I couldn't even think of one :-( so not expecting good news from them! Also got another interview lined up for next week and still waiting to see if I've been matched by IBM which is horrible as I'm really impatient!!

Our presentation is getting super close now and I think my group are finally working well! I hate group work and hope this is the last time I will have to work in a group during my course...probably not though.

So, writing this blog seems to have inspired a couple of my friends to start writing a blog which is exciting!
My good friend Sam who is on my course at UWE has started a marketing blog and he is a very opinionated and hilarious person so looking forward to hearing a bit more from him, you can check his blog out at: http://samvenning.blogspot.co.uk/
Also one of my girlies Sophie has started a blog too which is a bit more creative and personal which I like so you can check her out here: http://ohyoudramaqueen.blogspot.co.uk/
Finally, I have followed this blog for quite a while and it's definately one for the girls!! Zoe does beauty and fashion reviews and news and she's getting paid for it now I think so her posts have been very influencial! http://www.zoella.co.uk/
Let me know if you want me to mention you or if you want me to have a read of your blog cos I love reading new blog material!

Ok so tonight I went to Cribbs Causeway with 2 of my friends Rach and Beth and we went to Boots because I had heard about a new cosmetics company- Smashbox doing free makeovers and giving out free giftsets! So I booked an appointment for a treat for us all and we went along and I was very impressed!! Smashbox are huge in America and they came to the UK 3 months ago, they are owned by Estee Lauder who also make MAC and Clinique so I knew it was going to be high quality and I wasn't dissapointed. They did full makeovers for all of us and we got free products to try! Was a very girly and chatty session which I loved and they also do things like makeovers and photoshoots all for free so definately worth checking out! I think it's really important as there are so many make-up counters that girls can go to that new brands have an interactive and fun experience especially as I hadn't ever heard of them before and now I know loads about them from chatting to the lady who worked there. Very impressed!

Finally, something occured to me on twitter recently that I had been noticing increasingly.
I saw this account https://twitter.com/GreyGooseWanker and lots of retweets and follows from people I know.
I know a lot of people who will save up all week just to buy a bottle of Grey Goose at the weekend, and this has become an increasing trend over the last year. Grey Goose represented status, class and luxury and people who spend all their time working wanted to represent these things at the weekend. However, now I just think it has become a bit of a chav drink and not really for special occasions. I see guys getting 3 or 4 bottles a night and thinking their suarve when they are wearing sports t-shirts or trainers. Not really a good brand associate for Bacardi who own Grey Goose as one of their more premium spirits.
Although it is a premium spirit and represents indulgence and luxury, in order for Grey Goose to maintain this image they are going to have to work hard to ensure they can keep this brand image up, especially with bad publicity such as the site above. Although sales may have soared, is it for the right reasons and can they maintain the sales by using the same marketing and brand associations as they do currently.
They are just my predictions and opinions and if you don't agree feel free to comment and let me know!

Steph