March 2015 – The Business of Social Games and Casino

Don’t say it, do it

I recently read an article in Harvard Business Review, “Don’t Spin a Better Story. Be a Better Company,” that highlights the value in fixing your company as opposed to trying to use PR experts to change customer opinion. Companies hire or use internal PR to sway people into thinking they are a great company. As the article says, “I know what doesn’t work: thinking you can tell a better story without becoming a better company.”

Look at what you do well and double down

First, you should identify what your company is already doing that you are proud of. In the article, it comments on Walmart’s response to Hurricane Katrina, when the company provided meals, supplies and money to hurricane victims. While Walmart had (and still has) many detractors, the company not only realized it should publicize these activities but that it should also increase the frequency of this type of corporate activity.

The key is not simply to find something good your company is doing and publicize it, but to also build off of it. If you encourage your employees to help disadvantaged children, take steps to have more employees participate, pay for the employees to have tools that improve their effectiveness when giving help, give employees more time off to help the kids, etc.

In the Walmart situation, it started when the CEO asked “What would it take to be at our best all the time [not just when responding to Katrina]?” Walmart then made a strategic decision to go where those questions led. It identified areas where being better would have the biggest impact. Continue reading “Don’t say it, do it”

Alaska Airlines employee buys ticket for stranded Delta passenger

A perfect example of great customer service and awful customer service by two competitors

Don’t treat employees like you do your fantasy league

One of the things that bothers me to no end is when managers treat employees the same way they treat their fantasy team. When you have a fantasy football or baseball (or soccer) team, you trade players, you move them around on your roster, you release players and sign free agents, etc. You may have to deal with a salary cap or other roster limitations.

Although many people, myself included, take it very seriously, it is not the real world. You are not actually putting Jay Cutler on the field or releasing Tom Brady (as some fantasy league owners did early last year). Your moves have absolutely no impact on their success in real life.

Fantasy leagues are fun and a great social experience but they do not represent management training. What leads to fantasy league success, regularly changing your roster to leverage match-ups and hot new players, is not the way to build your team or company. Unfortunately, I have seen many cases where managers and companies treat their employees as if they are in a fantasy league. Interestingly, some of the best leaders I have worked with have fallen into this trap.

Playing “Fantasy League Company”

I sometimes see managers trading employees. One manager may need someone with a particular skill set, another manager may need to cut their head count and they agree to “trade” the first employee for a lower-cost employee.

Sometimes managers play fantasy league within their own organization. They will move people into different positions because it improves their chances to “win.” It will not be based on the employee’s performance or career path but there is a short-term opportunity to solve an issue by taking a person from one role to a potentially completely unrelated role.

Another problem arises when a company closes a division or unit. While planning the closure, management often decides where members of the team will end up. Although it is great that the team members are not losing their jobs, they are often moved to positions inconsistent with their existing position, working on products they do not believe in or forced to work with people they do not want to work with. Continue reading “Don’t treat employees like you do your fantasy league”

The power of the podcast

One channel largely neglected in social media marketing conversations is the growing importance of podcasts. While not as sexy as SnapChat or Secret, this relatively old channel is becoming a critical component of effective social media marketing. Podcasts were originally built for the iPod (hence the name) but are now listened to not only via iTunes but also multiple IOS and Android apps and even via the good old Internet.

Why podcasts now?

Looking at the numbers, the growth of consumer interests in podcasts is clear. A Washington Post story reported that podcast subscriptions on iTunes reached 1 billion. An Edison Research report shows that over 39 million people listen to a podcast last monthly and that 20 percent of podcast users consumer six or more podcasts weekly.

The accessibility of podcasts has led to their growth. As the Washington Post writes, “despite some early enthusiasm, podcasts faded in popularity in the early 2000s, partly because of the many steps required to download them and play them in a vehicle. The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 changed that, making podcasts as convenient to access as a Netflix show. It’s easier to play them in cars, too, as automakers build wireless media functions into more and more models. And faster WiFi and mobile data speeds have made podcasts a snap to stream.”

Podcasting increase retention

There are multiple benefits for integrating podcasting into your social media marketing mix. First, they increase engagement. Rather than a few seconds to share a message with your customer or player, you have minutes or more to share your narrative. Rather than a superficial message, you can go in-depth on the value your product has to the user, how to get the most out of your product, the background of how it was made, etc. These messages can have a strong impact on users, if they get more value out of the features they are more likely to keep using it. Continue reading “The power of the podcast”

Why free stuff or lower prices don’t keep customers happy

One lazy and ineffective way to keep customers happy is to lower prices or give them more things for free. Companies that do not know their customers well, or do not want to, often respond to the question of how to increase customer satisfaction or retention by lowering prices. In free-to-play products, this tactic involves giving users more virtual currency.

The lazy answer

This response is often a knee-jerk reaction to the question of “How do we improve our customer relationships?” It demonstrates that the person/company does not want to address the true dynamics of the relationships. Everybody would rather pay less for a product or get bigger free bonuses and rewards. It does not reflect any understanding of your users, their motivations or why they use your product.

The reality of customer satisfaction

The reality is that users and players are motivated by many factors and rarely is cost the primary reason they use a product. The exception is companies that are focused solely on being a low cost provider, the Walmarts and Aldis, and for them price is the greatest lever to increase user satisfaction. In other cases people are driven by unique features or experiences that builds a bond with the product.

Does not create competitive advantage

The biggest mistake in throwing free stuff at users or players (or lowering prices) is that it does not create competitive advantage. Your competitors can easily match or beat what you are doing. If you are giving away five dollars worth of product daily and they want to steal your customers, they can give away $10. You end up with a race to the bottom in terms of pricing, and when you reach the bottom nobody has a particularly good business other than the companies built to compete on price (again, the Walmarts and Aldis).

Determining what creates satisfaction for your users

The first step is understanding what about your product or game motivates people to use it. There are several ways to build this understanding (listed in my order of preference): Continue reading “Why free stuff or lower prices don’t keep customers happy”

Why a Chief Advocacy Officer is a bad idea

I have been reading many articles about customer delight and how great customer experiences improve a company’s profitability and growth. I recently came across a trendy concept in business: having a Chief Advocacy Officer (CAO). A CAO is a senior (C-Level) executive who represents the customers interests. While initially appealing and backed by some of the best thinkers in the customer experience universe, the idea of having a C-level position to advocate on behalf of the customers’ interests is flawed.

The fundamental flaw in establishing a CAO position is that it implicitly allows everyone else in the organization not to think about the customer. If a company is going to consistently exceed customer expectations, everybody in the organization must focus on the customer. When there is a CAO, others in the organization feel that since the CAO is serving as the representative of the customer, they do not have to think about the user.

An additional flaw is that a CAO often becomes an adversary to other functions. Finance sees the CAO as somebody who is going to make demands that impact revenue. Design sees the CAO as somebody who is going to conflict with their vision. Marketing tries to avoid the CAO. While all of these functions would benefit from being customer driven, the insertion of a CAO creates a dynamic where the customer becomes an internal competitor.

The key to building a successful business is not putting one person in the role of customer advocate, but making everyone across all functions think as customer advocates. That is when you will truly delight your users and generate great loyalty and retention.

Key takeaways

While the idea of creating a Chief Advocacy Officer is appealing, it is a flawed concept that prevents a company from truly becoming customer driven.
Rather than having one person or a team represent your customers’ interests, everyone in your organization should be building and marketing products to delight customers.
A Chief Advocacy Officer also can create tensions between functional areas because they see the the role as a competing interest and not part of their success.

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Look at what you do well and double down

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Playing “Fantasy League Company”

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Why podcasts now?

Podcasting increase retention

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Solution

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The lazy answer

The reality of customer satisfaction

Does not create competitive advantage

Determining what creates satisfaction for your users

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Midlevel officers make the difference

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Key takeaways

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