Conversational Commerce

What is Conversational Commerce?

Conversational commerce refers to the intersection of messaging apps and shopping. Meaning, the trend toward interacting with businesses through messaging and chat apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Talk, and WeChat. Or through voice technology, like Amazon’s Echo product, which interfaces with companies through voice commands.

Consumers can chat with company representatives, get customer support, ask questions, get personalized recommendations, read reviews, and click to purchase all from within messaging apps. With conversational commerce, the consumer engages in this interaction with a human representative, chatbot, or a mix of both.

On the business side, companies can use chatbots to automate customer service messages. It’s how companies are enabling consumers to buy from them without ever leaving the messaging app they are using. Now companies can send order confirmations in Facebook Messenger, as well as shipping and delivery notifications. Using chatbots, businesses can resolve customer service issues, provide recommendations, create wishlists, and interact with buyers in real-time.

The Market Shift

Consumers are increasingly relying on messaging apps for all forms of communication, whether personal, business, or commerce. Increasingly, consumers are using chat to find and select products and services, and to complete the payment process, all without having to call, email, or even visit a brand’s website. Everything is happening within the messaging app.

Research firm Juniper reported that more than 94 trillion digital messages were sent in 2015, with the bulk being through email. However, instant messaging has just about reached its tipping point, with the total number of instant messages sent overtaking emails by mid-2016.

Messaging apps are becoming the preferred means of communication. According to eMarketer, 1.4 billion consumers used messaging apps in 2015, which is up 31.6% from 2014, and that number is expected to hit 2 billion by 2018.

What That Means for Consumers

Chat companies are now partnering with brands to make it simpler for customers to buy from them. Facebook Messenger, for example, has partnered with Uber to make it possible for customers to order an Uber driver without leaving the messaging app – the conversation. Amazon’s Echo – a voice activated tool – has partnered with Capital One so that the bank’s customers can inquire about their balance, make a payment, or check recent transactions, all through Echo.

Not only is conversational commerce simpler for consumers who, thanks to messaging apps, no longer need to toggle back and forth between text conversations and websites to gather information and make purchases, but it’s also a step closer to the attention you might get from a sales associate in the store. When ordering from a website, you can read reviews to get a sense of whether a product will work for you, but using chat you can ask for help comparing your options – more like the advice you would receive in-store.

Reducing the steps required, and the number of information sources consumers need to turn to, shortens the distance between prospect and purchase.

Why Brands Should Opt For Targeted Communication

Brands today actively leverage mobile-friendly channels like Facebook, Instagram and SMS to communicate with customers. They create blogs/vlogs to improve engagement, go for SEO to ensure better reach and maintain a strong presence on social media to grab eyeballs. Many have adopted smart technologies to push newsletter subscriptions to keep people aware of attractive deals and discounts.  

But the problem is that too much data is available on many channels, which may lead to irrelevance and trigger consumer backlash instead of bringing desired results. 

Here’s how we explain it. “Imagine you have bought a pair of sneakers from a brand, did not like them and shared negative feedback with the company. But the very next day, you get an SMS from the brand asking you to check out its new collection. The customer is bound to get annoyed as the marketing communication is not meant for him.”

To counter this issue, brands need to part ways with spray-and-pray marketing tactics, said Borkar. Instead, they should opt for a targeted, personalised approach so that their communication reaches the right audience. 

Interestingly, specific customer data platform (CDP) allows brands to do just that. First, it collects all user data stored across various touchpoints throughout a customer’s buying cycle. The platform then breaks the data silos using big data analytics and obtains actionable insights from the input.

How AI Drives Sales, Converts Prospects 

AI tools like chatbots powered by natural language processing (NLP) and AR/VR have recently gained popularity as they provide a better user experience. Chatbots are especially becoming widely used and accepted. Consider this data from Zendesk’s CX Trends 2022: Around 69% of users say they are willing to interact with a bot for product recommendations and enquiries, a 23% jump from last year. 

“A chatbot is a great tool to engage with customers, on-site or through their preferred communication channel. It personalises the experience and eliminates the need for human intervention when queries are simple and can be easily resolved,” said Borkar.

AI chatbots can transform how businesses manage CX. Its Mobile Service Cloud (MSC) is a unique offering that enables brands to integrate the company’s chatbot with their websites and communication channels. 

While most customer interactions happen through the chatbot, complex queries are sent to a centralised system operated by a human employee. When the employee at the backend resolves the same, it is communicated to consumers via their preferred messaging channels. 

Moreover, to accommodate the new Bharat users who prefer to communicate in vernacular languages, the company helps brands build their chatbots in Indian languages. “Most of our clients in India want to have their chatbots in Hindi (after English). However, we can do that in other languages, too,” said Borkar.

The Tech Stack For CX Success

Today, nearly 80% of shoppers say they are more likely to purchase when brands offer them a personalised and seamless experience. This majority mindset proves how crucial CX is for a brand’s acceptance and sustainable growth.

Companies wishing to succeed in the long run should quickly respond to up-and-coming consumer trends. According to Zendesk, two upcoming trends will shape customer experience in the coming years – AI and automation and conversational customer service. 

The CX SaaS firm’s report has further stated that more than 70% of customers expect conversational experiences when they engage with brands. 

“Customers seek seamless, on-demand experiences with the brands. That’s why conversational commerce is so important in the digital world,” concurred Borkar. 

Businesses in India are pretty optimistic about the future of conversational commerce. According to the CX Maturity Report, 79% of domestic companies think chat and social channels are most used by customers today, and all of them predict that this will remain the case in the future. 

Consumers seem equally confident about AI’s potential to transform experiences. According to Pegasystems, 84% of Indian consumers agree that AI can provide better customer experiences, improve brand reputation, and increase customer loyalty.

The adoption of AI in all spheres of business has also grown significantly since the onset of the pandemic. According to the findings by Brookings, India is among the global top 10 in terms of tech advancements and funding in AI companies. 

Even then, AI/ML adoption across marketing functions globally is a paltry 17%, suggests Gartner. This shows a massive gap between what is expected from brands and what is delivered. 

AI, automation and conversational commerce will continue to play a crucial role in reimagining CX in the coming years, and brands must take note of these trends to future-proof their business. Of course, companies will go a long way if they can adopt, implement and utilise the right tech stack for targeted and sticky CX.  

11 Powerful Email Marketing Tips You Need to Know

11 Powerful Email Marketing Tips You Need to Know

 

Are you struggling to get good returns from your email marketing campaigns?

If you answered that yes, then continue reading to get powerful email marketing tips that you need to know right now.

Allow us to share these tips:

1. Use the Double Opens Strategy

When you use “double opens strategy,” more subscribers will open your emails.

This means a better chance of driving more revenue from these email campaigns.

So: what is double opens strategy exactly? Simply put, it means you should resend the same email to the subscribers who did not open your first email, but with a different subject line.

Why? Because 7 out of 10 people on your email list won’t open your email the first time. By re-sending the same email to these non-openers you can boost your open rates and email marketing ROI.

Before you resend the same emails, pay attention to these things:

·         Create better subject lines that captivate non-openers to open your emails.

·         Optimize your preheader text.

·         Pay attention to your send time.

·         Don’t resend it straight away – wait for some time. Ideally, you should wait for 3-5 days before you resend the same email to non-openers.

 

2. Use a Cliffhanger in Your Subject Line

What is the best way to get more people to open your emails? The most obvious way is by engaging them, which is true. But there’s more.

You can hook your email subscribers with your subject lines and make them curious by using a cliffhanger.

How?

Used as an old-school copywriting technique, cliffhangers holds something back from the readers which ultimately will drive them to know more.

Here are two real-life examples to show you how to use this in your subject lines.

I received this subject line from Orbitz, a travel fare aggregator website:

 “Wake up like this…”

This one is from The Trip Tribe.

 “The secret to a great vacation…”

 Because both these subject lines are incomplete and an ellipsis follows them, it compelled me to open the emails.

Caution: Don’t overuse this technique as this can annoy your subscribers.

 

3. Pay Preheader the Same Attention You Give to Your Subject Lines

Preheader text is super important. The more enticing your preheader text, the better your open rates.

I’d say utilizing the preheader space effectively is one of the easiest way to increase engagement. But the most common mistakes that marketers make: they neglect this space.

It’s not that they don’t craft a preview text, but they rarely use it to complement or supplement the subject lines. And they don’t pay it the same attention as they give to their subject lines.

So, learn to optimize both your preheader text and subject lines.

In the following example, Pottery Barn does a great job with its preheader space by utilizing it to supplement the subject line:

Remember – your preheader is just as important as the subject line itself.

 

 

4. Make Your CTA Buttons Contextual

As a marketer, you work hard to craft an eye-catching subject line and write compelling email copy.

But if you aren’t crafting CTAs that encourage subscribers to click on your messages, your campaigns could fall short.  Instead of using something generic like “shop now” or “buy now’’, come up with something that hooks your readers interest a little bit more. Also, when crafting CTA ask these questions to yourself:

Is it descriptive?

Is it easy to act on?

Is it hard to miss?

In the following example, Blue Nile does a great job with its CTA – the button is creating a strong sense of urgency that can help in driving action. The CTA button also gels well with the subject line and copy of the email.

Contextual Call-to-action

 

5. Make Engagement a Priority

 

Most marketers approach email marketing with a short term goal in mind – to boost sales.

That’s a natural thing to do; after all, the primary goal of your marketing email is to increase sales.

But it’s actually the opposite of what you should be doing. You should keep the focus on building a relationship with your subscribers.

People join your email list because they want to know more about your business, not because they want to buy products from you.

Remember engagement is the key to driving good returns from your email campaigns in the long run.

 

6. Keep the Subject Line Concise to Standout in Mobile

Want to increase your email open rates? Trim your subject lines!

Do you know 51% of emails are opened on mobile devices these days?

You don’t have much space to draw in your readers, so try to keep your subject lines concise and compelling that will make readers want to know more.

Now you must be thinking how to keep your subject lines short, enticing, and captivating all at the same time? Here’s how:

·         Use numbers, symbols or emojis.

·         Use creativity.

·         Here are a few examples to show you how:

·         Clear and concise subject line

·         Short and enticing subject line

·         Personalized subject line

 

7. Use Frequency Capping

We all know that no matter the channel over messaging can lead to frustrated customers and email marketing is no exception.

Every subscriber has their limit when it comes to how many messages they receive, and if you cross that limit there are consequences.

Nearly 46% of subscribers will mark your email as spam or unsubscribe from your email list:

Why subscribers mark you spam?

Now the question is how to avoid over emailing your subscribers? Well, you can use frequency capping!

Frequency capping is a feature that allows you to limit the number of mailers your subscribers will receive during a particular time. You can set the value to the desired number to avoid the hazards of over emailing.

While this may be a common sense tip, it isn’t a common practice, especially for B2C companies.

As a subscriber, we all have received a promotional mailer, a cart-recovery mailer, and a welcome mailer from a brand in a day. By capping your email frequency, you can prevent that from happening to your subscribers.

 

8. A/B Test Your Email Copy Frequently

Regular split testing is one of the best ways to improve your email campaigns.

The more you test, the more patterns you’ll start to spot, and the better you’ll be able to adjust your email strategy.

But when doing A/B testing do not pay much attention to your opinion as your gut instinct can be surprisingly far off the mark when it comes to what will work in email marketing.

So it’s incredibly important to base your decisions on data rather than guesswork or intuition.

What elements of the email should you split test?

·         From line

·         Subject line

·         Preview text

·         Email copy

·         Call to action

·         Test only one element at a time (either subject line or preheader text) for the most accurate results.

·         Use A/B testing, not your guesswork to pick what’s right.

 

 

9. Maintain Your Email Lists

 To get good results from email marketing, you need to remove the bad addresses that affect your reputation as well as your overall deliverability.

 

It’s not an email marketing tip that gets written about, but it’s as critical.

Too many marketers keep the focus on growing their email list, but they forget that there is no benefit of having more people on the list if you won’t reach the inboxes of your subscribers.

Don’t spend all your energy trying to get more people on your list; direct some of your energy toward reaching the inboxes of your subscribers, too.

 

10. Keep It Short

I have noticed that shorter emails are more likely to land in the Primary tab.

Is that a coincidence? This is a topic of much debate. And there is no conclusive evidence.

If you don’t believe that the length of the email plays a role to land into the Primary tab, then you can conduct an A/B test.

 

11. Stay Updated

Email marketing has changed significantly, and it is continually evolving. What has worked in the past may not work now or in the near future. And we all know that.

That’s why most email marketers think the only path to success is by learning more. But they forget that unlearning what is not working is also essential.

When marketers fall victim to some email marketing myths and misconceptions, their conversion from this channel falls.

Be aware of what’s not working and avoid those mistakes at all costs – if you want to convert your subscribers into customers.

To Sum Up

Email marketing has been around for years, but only a few marketers have mastered it.

If you want to master this channel quickly, this is this important thing you need to know:

Make sure your emails focus on what your audience wants to hear and not necessarily what you want to tell them.

Keep that in mind, and you’ll be on your way to maximizing success via this channel.

 

 

 

Also, don’t forget to pay attention to these important email marketing tips.

 

The power of a phone call is greater than the power of a mouse click!

Battle lines have been redrawn as a very big online platform have joined forces with the biggest liner shipping company to provide one of the best electronic booking service. Chinese exporters who are customers of Alibaba’s One touch service  wishing to move LCL shipments can lock a freight rate on Maersk by paying a deposit online. And this will be with the same ease of booking an airline ticket!

What is in it for the biggies? Alibaba stands to benefit in the big battle of the big internet trading platforms as they now occupy the territory called as logistics.. leaving Amazon far behind! For Maersk – well they do not need Chinese forwarders anymore!

A coin has two sides! Perspectives differ:  Look from the eyes of a liner or vessel owner : forwarders do not own anything. So why should they pocket a margin for nothing.. or just answering some telecalls? Now look from the eyes of a forwarder: Shipper whip lashes him for everything from the best freight to the best service including container pick up  arrangement at any odd hour,  shipment related information, bill of lading release – everything on time and to answer the unending queries 24x7!

In the logistics business, the small & smart guys know that the big guys are out to exploit their size to the maximum extent possible. The small guys stay in business by making sure that they do not allow big guys to do this !

The point is that the collective brain power of the small guys is huge compared to the brain power of the big guys! Reminds me of the story of Lion and Mouse – hopefully we can expect both help each other and not the other way!

The power of a phone call is greater than the power of a mouse click! The customer is fully empowered when he knows that amidst his busy schedule of manufacturing, trading or export or import, he can call a forwarder or Logistics Service Provider who will in turn respond with the best freight quote fully backed by the best service with credit!  The power to lock in a freight rate with a mouse click is not really such an advance on the power to lock in a freight rate by picking up the telephone! Besides that customers want comparison of rates like the prices of flight ticket comparison on makemytrip.com or yatra.com... for that we have the likes of freightos

There has been a declaration of a war and a great number of sales people will be wondering how things will unfold? We will have to wait and watch!

Buy One Get One - Oh really!

"Buy one, get one free", "Buy one, get one", "two for the price of one", "two for one" or "2 for 1" is a common form of sales promotion. First used by economists Joseph Calderone and John Van Liew while running their highly profitable business, Paco's Tacos, in Central, NJ. While not always presented to customers in acronym form, this marketing technique is universally known in the marketing industry by the acronyms BOGO, BOGOF, and BOGOHO (Buy one get one half off).

Economist Alex Tabarrok has argued that the success of this promotion lies in the fact that the price actually takes into account the fact that two items are being sold. The price of "one" is somewhat nominal and is typically raised when used as part of a buy one get one free deal. Whilst the cost per item is proportionately cheaper than if bought on its own, it is not actually half price

Marketing technique Behind BOGO

Buy one, get one free is a marketing technique which is used by retailers to boost their sales. This is used very effectively. For example, many times customers will not need a certain item but after seeing buy one, get one free deals they will decide to purchase it because they believe it is good value. This way customers end up purchasing products which they did not need or have the intention of buying in the first place.[3]

Also this technique is very good due to the physiological aspect of it. Everyone likes free things and rarely will somebody turn down the offer when something is given to them for free. Businesses should consider what the consumers want/need. Also then they know that retailers are trying to cater to their needs which makes them more likely to purchase products on offer like Buy one, Get one free items.[4]

Customers are very appealed to buy one, get one free deals because they are getting something for free and they decide to snap it up because it is free. This is effective for retailers because more of their products get sold. This is done a lot when certain products are not selling at full price or there is a lot of stock. Many times customers are misguided and led to believe that it is a very good deal when in fact it is not. Originally the item will be priced quite high and then when the offer is put on it will seem like a good buy, when really it isn’t because competitors could be selling it at the discounted price anyway. This is a psychological trick which makes it seem very good. But also on many occasions the customer is getting a good value for money because the price per unit at different retailers will still be higher than the cost per unit for when the customer uses the Buy one, get one free offer. Often this deal is set out differently. The item which is free has to be cheaper than the original one. So the buy one, get one free deal works on the basis of ‘the cheapest item free’

BOGO - NOT GOOD FOR THE CUSTOMER

Buy one, get one free promotions received some negative publicity in the UK, in 2014, and many retailers were told to scrap their ‘Buy one, get one free’ promotions. The rationale: it has been reported that every year 15 million tonnes of food are wasted in the UK alone, and supermarkets and retailers are being blamed for this because they are convincing customers to purchase buy one, get one free products. They lure customers in by offering them something which they don’t necessarily need, and as a result of this food is wasted. Because many buy one, get one free foods have short shelf lives, customers do not get around to consuming the products before their ‘consume by date’.[6][7][8]

Supermarkets were also being blamed for contributing to the increase in obesity through buy one, get one free promotions.

University of East Anglia’s Norwich Business School conducted research into products which are used in the buy one, get one free deals, and the results show a trend: buy one, get one free promotions are aimed towards unhealthy products, such as chocolate, sweets, soft drinks, etc

BOGO IS GOOD FOR THE RETAILER

The growing use of buy-one-get-one-free promotions, or BOGOs, as they’re called in the industry….Shoppers don’t understand why retailers offer this kind of promotion when it’s no better for customers and no more profitable for stores than a half-price sale.

On the contrary, BOGOs can be much more profitable for stores than a half-price sale. To see why, assume that you value your first pizza of the night at $15.01 and the second at $5.01 and let’s say it costs the store $2 to make each pizza. If the pizza store has a buy-one-get-one-free offer at $20 then you will buy two pizzas and the store will have profits of $16 ($20-$2-$2). But if the store sells pizzas for half price, $10 each, you will buy just one pizza and the store will have profits of just $8 ($10-$2). The BOGO doubles the store’s profits!

GOO

Carefully designed BOGOs increase profits because they let the firm price more flexibly, what economists unfortunately call “price discrimination.” At $20, the BOGO is equivalent to charging $15 for the first pizza and $5 for the second. Notice that these prices are ideal for the firm since they are the maximum the consumer will pay – any more and the consumer won’t buy.

Although BOGOs may make consumers worse off they generally increase total welfare because the price on the last unit sold is pushed closer to marginal cost and because of this output expands. Even if the efficiency gain from price discrimination goes mostly to firms don’t forget that firms are owned by people too!

More info on: http://www.dummies.com/education/economics/how-to-use-managerial-economics-to-influence-consumer-choice/

OLA VERSUS UBER - INDIA'S TAXI WARS

On August 1, Uber announced the decision to merge its China operations with the dominant ride-hailing service of the country, Didi Chuxing. As part of this deal Uber will pick up a 20% stake in a combined entity with Didi Chuxing that is likely to be valued at $36 billion. Its founder Travis Kalanick will join Didi’s board, while Didi founder Cheng Wei is stated to join Uber’s board. Prior to this deal, Didi had formed a global anti-Uber alliance, which consisted of Uber’s competitors from different countries. As the ring leader of this alliance, it had invested $100 million in America’s Lyft and $20 million in India’s leading app aggregator service – Ola.

These investments were meant to prevent Uber’s total dominance of the markets. Ironically the merger with Didi provides Uber fuel to compete in the remaining markets while ending its attempt to establish an independent foothold in China. It not only makes Uber an indirect shareholder through Didi in its leading competitors Ola and Lyft; but also as part of a non-compete agreement for international market, prevents Didi from providing further funding to Uber’s competitors in various markets around the world. Kartik Hosanagar, a professor at The Wharton School, said that Uber will now be a more important part of Didi’s global strategy than India’s Ola. According to him – “That will mean a lot of strategic information being traded among the two and therefore will require Didi distancing itself from Ola and others.”

As the most valuable startup, Uber possesses a fearsome reputation of taking on competitors in every market it has entered. After spending nearly $1 billion in China, it hopes to recover its reputation by becoming a market leader in the second-most populated nation in the world. But India until now is turning out to be a different ballgame. In India, one of the markets that the anti-Uber alliance was supposed to protect, Uber currently covers 26 cities with 250,000 drivers on its platform. The market leader Ola, however, does more rides per day than any other player in the country, while providing services in 102 cities and possessing close to 450,000 drivers. Launched in 2011, two years before Uber entered India, Ola has been able to gather knowledge of the domestic market, enabling it to ramp up fast. Figuratively, Ola has a 15-20% lead on Uber in the world’s third-biggest market for ride hailing app and has steadily grown to become a unicorn, India’s third-most valuable startup after Flipkart and Snapdeal

In India, the competitors have almost similar offerings. They have cars of different sizes offering various slabs of fares. For example, the cheapest rides on Ola Mini and Uber Go (hatchbacks) cost Rs 5 to Rs 8 per km. Both retain a 20% commission and have also matched each other in innovations. On March 3, Uber started a new category of services under bike taxis and Ola announced the same within 24 hours. While Ola has its own wallet, Ola Money and also accepts cards and cash; besides digital wallets Paytm and Airtel, Uber uses cash and cards—debit & credit, to help commuters pay for rides.

Recommended by Forbes

CUSTOMER DEDICATION & CUSTOMER LOYALTY

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.

He is not dependent on us.

We are dependent on him.

He is not an interruption on our work.

He is the purpose of it.

He is not an outsider on our business.

He is a part of it.

We are not doing him a favor by serving him.

He is doing us a favor

by giving us an opportunity to do so.

Why Customer dedication?

Customers are the lifeline of any organisation! The very organisation in which we work exists only because of our customers.

Remember : No Customers – No Organisations – No employees

Building customer loyalty isn't easy, but it's worth the effort.

Service to our customers should always be our foremost and top priority.  We need to do our very best to provide the highest quality products and services at a fair price to customers. We appreciate your business and we encourage you to let us know how we can better serve you.

As part of dedication to customer service, it is important to:

1.    Make sure that all our phones are always answered by a live person during our business hours.

2.    Communicate whenever there is an issue or delay (such as unavailable product/service or holiday schedules that would affect order shipments.)

3.    Respond to inquiries, questions about orders, and other communications in a timely manner.

4.    Maintain a healthy and happy work environment for employees so they can be prepared to serve our customers in the best possible manner.

5.    Ensure the quality of our products and services through our highest standards and 100% compliance of all practices for product purchasing, post sales service, and safety.

6.    Listen to the customer’s experiences and take their suggestions for improvements on our products/services, and ideas for new products.

7.    Personal touch

Are you customers satisfied? That’s good, right? Well, yes for the short term.  But in the long term, it’s not necessarily enough.

Why Customer Loyalty Matters for Today's Businesses

On average, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase.

Is great customer service really worth the effort?

It might seem like a no-brainer, but many entrepreneurs struggle with this question. It’s not as clear-cut as simply looking at a sales chart to see if your service quality is in the black. To answer this question, we’ll analyze data (not hunches) from both ends of the spectrum. Specifically, we need to look at:

1. What are the rewards for providing great service?

2. What are the costs and punishments for providing bad service?

In the following section and throughout the rest of this post, we will utilize academic studies, consumer reports and proven statistics to shed light on the pros and cons of running a customer-centric business.

The rewards of great service

A variety of research shows that today’s customers place a priority on receiving great service.

A 2011 report published by American express revealed that 3 out of 5 customers were willing to give up a former favorite brand in order to have a better service experience.

Even more telling are the results of the 2010 RightNow Customer Experience Impact report, which revealed that 9 in 10 Americans are willing to spend more with companies they believe provide excellent customer service.

Eighty percent of respondents shared the belief that smaller companies place a greater emphasis on service than larger companies, meaning ...small business success is highly dependent on the satisfied customer.

The way that small business owners can beat out big-box stores isn’t to compete with them on the things they are good at (e.g., low prices, logistics, etc.); it’s far more important to out-support your competition by providing a level of service that they just can’t match.

A great service is the bedrock for creating customer loyalty, and it can come back to haunt you if your business isn’t making it a priority.

The high cost of bad service

News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service experience.

Will bad service really scare customers away from your business? The data presents a strong case for a resounding “yes.”

Consumer Reports surveys have shown that nearly 91 percent of customers will not do business with you a second time if you botch the first encounter. It was even uncovered that two-thirds of customers have walked out of a store when they felt the service was subpar.

The amount of customers willing to immediately abandon a business reached nearly 70 percent when it came to poor service on the phone, conclusively showing that customers are willing to shut you out if you don’t provide the quality of service they expect.

The worst part: You may not know how much of an impact your poor quality of service is having before it’s too late.

The White House Office of Consumer Affairs revealed a startling statistic on how service can silently affect your bottom line: For every customer who bothers to complain, nearly 26 others remain silent.

BOTTOM LINE : If you continue to provide subpar service, you may start losing customers without warning.

What this means for your business

By now you’ve seen that building loyalty among your customer base is more important than ever before.

Your sales team will continue to have less control in informing and guiding customers through a sales purchase. Given the “always on” nature of the web, product information, reviews, and even access to your competitors are all just clicks away from a prospective customer’s fingertips.

Top-notch companies see this as an opportunity, not a dilemma. Recent consumer data from a Peppers & Rogers study showcases how leading business are also leading the charge for great service: 81% of companies with strong capabilities and competencies for delivering an excellent customer experience are outperforming their competition.

Will you be among them?

Marketing rules & lessons from Thalaiva’s Kabali

July 22, 2016: It took me an additional half an hour to reach my office on MG Road as I happened to cross one of the numerous theatres where Kabali was released.  This set me thinking on the hype, buzz and records created as part of the marketing of Kabali !

Kabali has not only created buzz & new records in the last few weeks, new marketing rules were applied that can be learnt. Kabali has built a new style of unprecedented branding and promoting without any special tricks the moviemakers. It should be noted that there was neither an audio release nor a press conference before the movie, and yet Kabali collected INR 250 crore on the first day!  Kabali has grossed INR 400 crores within first ten days in theatres across India and abroad. The overseas collection of Kabali in the opening weekend was around INR 90 crores. INR 30 crores was the collection from USA where it was one of the top ten films watched  in the country (despite the US presidential elections, the Kabali juggernaut was just too lucrative to ignore! )

Perhaps, Rajinikanth is the only star who steadfastly had refused to endorse any label after the first and last one he did at the beginning of his career for a regional cola brand, forty years ago !

Marketing rules have been re-written this time, with companies in metro cities booking theatres for employees and also declaring holidays!

Just Do It  -  differently !

Kabali’s only promotion from movie makers was an announcement of the movie with the release date and a 30-second teaser on social media which received 25 million views on YouTube. Kabali became the first Asian movie to have achieved those numbers. When you have Rajini Sir by your side, who needs all the other promotions like going to reality show or on a promotional tour?

Advertise - differently!

Avoid following the same old stereotyped marketing tricks!

Position your brand and product and do things differently. Show elusiveness while endorsing brands

Rajinikanth's demand as a brand endorser has risen even if he has been refusing to play into the game of endorsement. Rajini stays out of public eyes, does not endorse brands, politicians or even social causes. Brands such as Pepsi, Hindustan Unilever, India cements, ITC and Asian paints were a part of earlier Rajini movies.   

For this movie Kabali,  brands such as Muthoot, Foodpanda, Ola, Uber, Mobikwik, Air Asia, Cadbury 5 Star, Amazon, Shop CJ, Airtel  came on board and many are intending to keep their association going even after the movie goes off the screen. And it is not out of any charity but the brand Rajini has delivered value to them. While these reputed brands got associated with the movie, nowhere did the protagonist endorse these brands. In all these cases, the companies introduced new ways of associating themselves with the movie.  

Air Asia India – the official airline partner of Rajinikanth starrer Tamil film Kabali had launched a special re branded aircraft dedicated to Thalaiva Rajinikanth’s Kabali and his fans. The aircraft is bearing large posters of Rajinikanth. According to airline, the special aircraft is a sign of respect to superstar for his contribution in Indian cinema.

Air Asia Dedicated a Special Plane to Thalaiva Rajinikanth Kabali

The aircraft is painted and stickered with the Rajinikanth images and the plane has been used in few scenes in this film too. As the airline is a partner for Kabali, so it planned a special fight from Bengaluru to Chennai for Fans of 65 years old actor to watch Kabali’s first day first show.

Muthoot Fincorp joined the Kabali mania and introduced special Kabali silver coins, which has the face image of Rajinikanth embossed on the coins and pendants. The coins were made available in five, 10 and 20 grams from the date of release of Kabali - July 22.            Within a week's time from release of movie, 102 kg worth of coins were sold raking in close to INR 75 lakhs of rupees for the company.  

Special Kabali coins by Muthoot Fincorp

The eagerness of the brands to associate with a much awaited movie by Thalaiva is quite understandable but with these unique marketing strategies, the companies along with their promotions have clearly leveraged the superstar’s image which is essential right before the release of a movie.

Brand endorsements always grabs eyeballs, so next time you partner with a brand or even a movie, an event or a launch, think on how this brand endorsement can add real value to your brands and retain the elusiveness.

Unlike other Indian movie stars, Rajini Sir has never lent his name to products and campaigns. It is believed that this reclusive nature and status of Rajini makes it the unique selling point of actor Rajinikanth that delivers to his producers in the box office and thus making the companies leverage the power of his brand. Added to this is the super human status of the actor and his genuineness which are rare commodities in the world of glamour. 

Take on social media – differently!

Needless to say, social media has become an integral part of marketing these days, no matter what the product is. But Kabali has shown some real crazy use of these social media platforms.

One of the memes that did rounds in the social media!

We all know about Rajini Sir ’s jokes and memes, and these work for the product while creating awareness about the pros and cons of a product. It should not necessarily conceal the flaws as it further builds the trust on the brand and company as well as strengthens a long-term relationship with the consumer, which is essential in today’s marketing.

Producer Kalaipuli Thanu and Director Pa Ranjith only tweeted the date of release and social media, print and the electronic media did the rest, he pointed out. Kabali was a movie that was entirely driven by online marketing and social media. The marketing cost to gross sales may be the lowest for this film which could turn out to be Rajini’s biggest grosser.

The movie has set a new benchmark on what can be achieved in terms of ability to sell a movie. New styles of marketing gimmicks are unveiled every other day, but Kabali has shown certain unprecedented marketing craze. Kabali has also shown on how things are taken when you have a legendary icon by your side and then winning will be obvious!