Andrew Chen (formerly of Revenue Science) recently posted about the "experience cycle" and how a company's actual product/service is really only a small part of a customer's total experience.
Mr. Chen writes:
The EXPERIENCE cycle for the customer starts, in fact, before they are a customer. They might include things like:
- The first time they hear about your company/product
- When they here an opinion from a trusted source
- If they go into a store selling your product and look around
- When they see the packaging
- Or if your product is a website, when they see a blogger link to it
- Then, when they use your product, what happens
- After they try your product out, what they say to their friends
- How you charge them for the product, and how that interaction goes
- If they have problems, how that gets handled by your company
- What the product allows them to accomplish, and how that feels
- How people interact with your customer after the product gets used
- After they use your product for a while, and think they need a new one
- ... and the cycle goes on
Either way, this customer experience is obviously a lot more important than the product, which might really traditionally encompass one or two lines of the cycle described above.
I think there are one HUGE idea that you should take away from Andrew's post.
Everything is marketing.
Therefore everything matters.
Sure, some of it matters more but it all matters.
Are you obsessive about great customer service? Good. Because it matters.
What about your packaging? Good. Because it matters.
How about how approachable your website is? Good. Because it matters.
The list goes on.
Everything is marketing and everything matters.
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