This year, frog published The New Rules of Engagement, a flagship piece of research about consumer responsibility, which encompasses both how consumers engage with brands and how brands can serve a more responsibly minded consumer base. We wanted to find out how many organisations are truly putting consumers first, so we asked several brands what customer-centricity means to them. What’s the bar for unconditional customer-centricity? And, where are they with their responsibility towards consumers?
We believe that there are a number of strategies for unconditionally meeting the needs of modern, responsible consumers. But not enough brands have the bravery to do what it takes.
In some instances, it’s simply a problem of not getting the basics right. Take meal kits, for instance: a food retailer has all of my data, I’ve told them I’m a vegetarian, so clearly I’m not interested in summer chicken barbecue ideas and these shouldn’t be advertised to me just because it’s their promotion of the week. To me, that’s an example of poor customer experience; the brand is not putting the consumer’s needs first. For other brands, it may be that they can’t think of new ways to be more customer-centric. Our report puts forward a few options.
Help consumers to waste less
Most consumers want to be better, more responsible people. They want to protect the planet and not waste resources. As marketers, we can help consumers to do that, and, in turn, have more fulfilling experiences with our products.
We talk a lot at frog about the eco-digital era: the dual transition to a more digital and a more sustainable world. When you think about how much waste there is and how much more brands want consumers to buy, there is a clear opportunity for digital technology to be genuinely helpful.
We have had a lot of brilliant conversations with brands about how they can help consumers to create less waste. We’re working with global FMCG companies to tag products with QR codes so we know that a particular product belongs to a particular household. The idea is that we would replenish the product on subscription, based on the consumption. This way, we can make sure it’s completely used up before selling them more. Take mayonnaise, for example: if the brand or the seller knows there’s a little bit left, they can send the consumer ideas for mayo-based dressings, so nothing gets wasted.
That’s the vision we’ve created, now let’s take it to the next level. If the sell-by date is approaching and we know the product is not being used, brands need to work out how they can motivate engagement with the product or make sure it finds a good home. If a consumer doesn’t want to use the product, that’s fine; but, if it’s tagged, we can make sure it’s donated to a local food bank or a soup kitchen.
Another brilliant use case involves workplaces or households with multiple occupants. Say a colleague or housemate has recently bought mayonnaise, but I’m unaware so I go to the store to buy more. That should trigger a message saying, “no, you’ve already got some”. So again, nothing is wasted.
Unconditionally helping consumers to meet their goals
Another way brands can become truly customer-centric is by driving greater product sophistication and personalisation around people’s lifestyles and nutritional needs. This means understanding what’s in the pantry or the fridge, curating recipe ideas and then suggesting only the things that need to be purchased. It’s saying to a customer: you’ve got some of this, you’ve got some of that – here’s a nice stir fry recipe, you might want to pick up a protein.
So far, everyone’s on the journey with us. Now, let’s take it to the next level: unconditional consumer-centricity.
Let’s say your brand has the customer’s data, understands what they need and is committed to supporting their lifestyle. If that consumer is in a shop or on a website with the intention of buying your product but it’s sold out or not stocked in that particular retailer, what do you do? In a world of unconditional customer-centricity, you would suggest the most similar product possible, even if it’s not made by your brand. Then you are meeting the customer’s needs unconditionally.
And, customers will remember your brand because you put their needs first even if it meant sacrificing one sale opportunity – you met their nutritional goal or their kids’ health needs or their partner’s dietary requirements, whatever it might be. They’ll remember you for that. That’s where brands start getting uncommon.
Driving the new future of marketing
Consumer-centric brands need to be much better at working together. Consider logistics, for example. Each week, say that 20 to 30 deliveries come to your street. They’re all run through the same courier networks. Why can’t we consolidate and simplify that?
It used to be the case that we would all help each other out and recommend each other. There’s enough space for everyone to play if you do it the right way.
When I’m asked about the future of marketing, it’s often about whether marketing’s job is brand awareness, brand engagement or selling – upselling and cross-selling. I would love to see marketing evolve past this to be much more about education, communication and facilitation.
Communicate to the customer what’s going on and how their needs can be met. Facilitate their consumption journey, their health journey and their lifestyle journey. That’s where we’re going to see a lot of new data partnerships being formed, especially when you consider that with devices such as smart watches, our nutrition is tracked, our steps are tracked, our heart rates are tracked. Marketers need to get better at using this data to really help consumers better engage with brands and live more sustainably.
Bhavesh Unadkat is head of brand and marketing at frog, part of Capgemini Invent
