Why CMOs Need To Put Their Customers First

I am a huge believer that we humans tend to overcomplicate things. And we marketers take it to a whole new level. 

So when I saw the headline announcing the results of a MarketingSherpa survey my immediate thought was two-fold. First, the results should be obvious and secondly this is yet another reminder to marketer the world over to not overthink or overcomplicate things. 

The headline in question is followed by the subhead via this link:

Study Reveals Customer Satisfaction Expands Dramatically When Companies Place Consumer Needs Ahead of Immediate Business and Marketing Goals

Customers are 269% more likely to be satisfied when they view a company's marketing as putting their needs ahead of its business goals, according to MarketingSherpa survey of U.S. consumers

Like I said earlier, when I first saw this headline my thought was this should be obvious to ANYONE; to ANY brand. Of course satisfaction goes up when you put the needs of your customers ahead of your own. 

Conducted in September and October 2016 MarketingSherpa surveyed 2,400 consumers split down the middle with half asked to reflect on their experiences with a brand with which they are highly satisfied, and the other half questioned about a brand with which they are not satisfied. 

And in case you were wondering re: the age breakdown, respondents from the following age groups were nearly evenly split:

• The Silent Generation (71-93)
• Baby Boomers (52-70)
• Generation Xers (34-51)
• Millennials (18-35)

The Numbers Simply Do Not Lie

There are a lot of great findings in the survey but I want to focus on the following three that best match this context. 

This result should surprise absolutely no one. 

While it's encouraging to see a good portion of brands putting the needs of its customers ahead of its own via their marketing, it is disconcerting to see that 1/3  (Very Few & None) are not. To think that almost 1 in 10 brands are in fact putting their own needs ahead of its customers is frightening.

This one is a head scratcher for me for I would have guessed that the percentages for "Very Important" and "Important" would be much higher. And I'd love to chat with the 5% who responded "Not Important." I'd love to ask them why they don't think it important to put their needs ahead of a brand's?

It's Simple, Really

Satisfying your customers has its benefits. According to the survey, satisfied customers are more likely to continue purchasing from a brand they like (66% very likely vs. 8% very likely for unsatisfied customers) and recommend it to others (61% very likely vs. 7% very likely for unsatisfied). And 

And at the end of the day all this comes down to two words: Customer Experience. Delivering the best possible customer experience each time, every time goes a long way in satisfying your customers. 

The problem is much of the customer experience is broken because the marketing experience is broken. But it’s not marketing’s fault. With legacy technology, marketers only get a distorted view of the customer because data silos cannot be shared across channels.

Download Customer Experience Simplified to discover how to provide customer experiences that are managed as carefully as the product, the price, and the promotion of the marketing mix.

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