Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

Today's lead article in 1to1 Weekly highlights some of the topics of discussion at the conference: voice of the customer, acting on customer insight, and using new tools to connect with customers. At dinner the topics were very similar.

All three executives shared some details about their mobile strategy. The common lesson was that for mobile applications to be adopted by consumers, they have to be easy and should not try to mimick the online experience. Pick a few tasks -- checking balance or transferring funds in the case of the bank -- and focus on providing a simple way to do that. If you try to do too much, it just gets confusing and customers won't bother with it.

Everyone also agreed that it's important to recognize valuable customers. The retail executive I dined with was heading to her company's 10-year anniversary party later in the week, and said that she invited a few customers who had been with the company for 10 years to join in the festivities. It didn't take much on the part of the company, but it made a big difference for the customers to be recognized and celebrated for helping the company succeed.

All three discussed some aspects of their social media strategy as well. I found that at dinner and the larger conference, people were hungry to learn what people were doing in this arena, and wanted to learn what sort of things worked and what didn't. The retail executive said that employees each use Twitter to build relationships online and create a personal connection; the wireless executive said he's just beginning his social media strategy to gain more customer data and act on insight quickly. The financial services executive added that it's important to try many different things, and see what works. For example, he says that in general many online communities have run their course with customers, and it's critical to be constantly adapting to changing needs and uses of social media online.

It was a fun, insightful, and tasty dinner for me, and I hope my guests got something out of it too. We at 1to1 hope to do more dinners with our "friends", and discover some new friends as well.