Customer Delight Is Better Than Marketing

We often think of disruption coming from new products, the way computers seemed to. "Here's this thing we never had before, and it changes everything." But in reality, disruption comes from changes in service. It's the new, easier way to do things that creates customer delight ... and disruption. New Service Systems = Disruption The computer didn't create a new kind of ledger, writing or art (at least initially), but it made them easier to do. It improved the service to users. In the keynote at Inbound17, Brian Halligan, CEO and founder of HubSpot, showed how, today, it's not the new product that disrupts an industry, it's the new service. Disruption comes not from a new thing, but a new way of delivering a thing people love and need that eliminates the hassles they hated in the old delivery system. He specifically pointed to Uber, iTunes and NetFlix, three companies credited with single-handedly destroying industries. But Uber didn't create a new kind of car ride. It delivered the car ride in a way that eliminated the things people hate about using taxis and other ride services: Unreliability, waits, the inability to get a taxi, and in some cases exorbitant prices. And customers were delighted. Disruption = Customer Delight iTunes didn't create a new kind of music and NetFlix didn't create a new kind of TV show. Instead, they both changed the way these things were delivered. iTunes meant music lovers no longer had to buy a whole album to get just the songs they wanted, or limit playing those songs to CDs or other physical media they were packaged in. NetFlix originally eliminated late fees, allowing customers to keep the DVDs they took out as long as they wanted. Later, it introduced streaming, so you could watch whatever you wanted (in its library) at any time from anywhere. No longer were you limited to a couple DVDs (again, the limits of physical media), or TV channel schedules. Whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted it — that was the promise of NetFlix. And people love it. NetFlix is now a synonym for watching long periods of TV at home, and "NetFlix and chill" has come to mean a date night you definitely are not going out for. Customer Delight > Marketing These services all delighted customers. That's how they won. Delighting customers — making sure they get what they want the way they want it — creates a kind of goodwill marketing money can't buy. “In 2018, delighted customers are better at marketing for you than your own marketing department,” said Halligan. And he's right. Perhaps the best example is Amazon. Jeff Bezos believes in the flywheel strategy: Offer what customers want at the lowest prices possible and optimize for the customer experience — which for Amazon means making sure the the site interface, delivery and customer service aspects are all top-notch. Do those things, and your customers will be delighted. then they'll talk about how delighted they are, and that attracts other customers — and the flywheel just keeps expanding and expanding. They say one of Bezos's favorite expressions is, "Your margin in my opportunity." But make no mistake, the opportunity he sees is a chance to delight your customers in a way you aren't. If that feels personal ... well, a little bit, it is. Marketing in 2018 is not monolithic. It's not broadcast. It's not talking at customers who will have to work with you in the end. Every aspects of the customer experience is personal to the customer, and they will judge you based on that experience and very publicly discuss how it made them feel. If you can make them feel delighted, that market is yours.

Customer Acquisition

Customer Delight Is Better Than Marketing

New Service Systems = Disruption

Thorin McGee

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New Service Systems = Disruption

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Thorin McGee