Remember the phrase, "If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if not, it was never meant to be." Words of wisdom from good ol' mom. I was reminded of this phrase while reading Chris Lawer's post on Reverse Market Customer Experiences where he lists three companies that are taking risks and providing competitive information to their customers:
In 2002, General Motors launched a trusted advisor internet site called AutoChoiceAdvisor. It helps customers to select the motor vehicles best suited to their personal needs... Critically, this list includes vehicles from manufacturers other than GM.Citibank... now provides a free online financial account aggregation service through its Myciti.com web portal. The site provides a full range of Citigroup consumer products and services, including credit and charge cards, banking services, investments, mortgages, loans and insurance... By enabling customers to access a consolidated view of all their online passwords and financial and loyalty accounts regardless of supplier, Citibank is creating powerful new opportunities for customer differentiation and service in a highly competitive, consolidating and commoditised market.
U.S. auto insurer Progressive... offer(s) a reverse market price comparison service on its web site. Previously, U.S. customers’ ability to compare rates across insurance companies was both time-consuming and complex. Now, by entering their personal information, driving history, vehicle details and other data on the Progressive web site, the company enables its customers to undertake a simple and direct market comparison. Although it sometimes loses out to its lower-priced competitors, Progressive’s customers often remain loyal simply because the service reinforces their trust in the business...
It's time for companies to learn how to let go of the need to "own" a customer. What would happen if we tried to "own" our significant others? Or "retain" them? They'd probably walk out on principle. The key in relationships -- whether personal or business -- is to earn trust and respect and affection. Customers are not objects to be acquired; they are free entities who make choices. Give value, make their lives easier, and even risk losing them to the competition by providing comparisons. Chances are, they'll love the open, honest communication and stay with you even if it costs them a bit more. So set them free.
I can't believe it, my co-worker just bought a car for $45474. Isn't that crazy!
Posted by: Betsy Markum | November 16, 2005 at 05:36 PM
Great post Jennifer. Who feels good about being "owned"?
I wonder if THE business of the future is facilitating the right choice that suits the person? Imagine the financial institution that only found what you need. The University that helped you find what you wanted to do and so on.
Posted by: Robert Paterson | May 04, 2004 at 03:16 PM
amen! I was having this conversation with one of my partners the other day. in web-designer world, we call it lock in: trying to create a site where the user doesn't have to leave.
Our specific argument was whether to include a message box functionality in our event promotion/social networking site...or to simply route messages between users to people's email inboxes and IM clients.
From a user's perspective it is simpler to route the message. This way they don't have to go to the site from their email, login and then read it. Instead, they can respond directly from their normal email client or IM client. However, we lose an opportunity to serve an ad to them.
My argument was that people would prefer to use the communication tools they have instead of another inbox. They'll use our service as opposed to another one that forces them to take that extra step and visit the site.
AOL is the king of lock-in. Yahoo isn't much better. But google isn't concerned with locking in customers. They are concerned only with creating products that are the best. Then, customers will come.
I think this is the way forward.
Posted by: Peter Caputa | May 03, 2004 at 12:05 PM
Jennifer, great post. I commented on the OurHouse blog, but wanted to do so here as well. I am very much in agreement with you. Management guru Peter Drucker says that the purpose of a business is to "create a customer." Create... almost as if giving birth. Which means the business owner has a tremendous responsibility in the care and feeding of that customer. Respect and affection are certainly a big part of that!
Posted by: Michele Miller | May 03, 2004 at 07:29 AM