A relationship with my supermarket? No thanks, I just want some milk.

Relationship marketing has reached something of a saturation point.  Organisations large and small have bought into the idea that they need to develop and manage customer relationships - and CRM (along with a plethora of products and services to support it) has become an integral part of the marketing activities of many companies.  I'd question, however, whether they are really building relationships? Or is this something of a misnomer...a convenient and cuddly word for the mass customisation of marketing communications?

Katy Perry - Married to the Brand.*

As a consumer, I don't want a relationship with many of the organisations I buy from.  I don't want to be part of their gang. I don't feel a personal affinity to their brand.  I just need a product or service that works, that I can afford, and that's in the right place at the right time.  I don't think I'm alone in this.

Don't get me wrong - there are brands and parts of organisations with whom I'm happy to engage on a personal level.  My favourite supermarket cashier, who always has a smile and a quirky comment about my purchases; the owner of the garage I go to who never patronises me (despite the fact that I am clearly female); the people I exchange messages with on Twitter who work for organisations I buy from.  These are human relationships, and they tend to be one-to-one.  What CRM systems attempt to deliver is the one-to-one experience, but this is delivered through a many-to-many system, and however sophisticated that system is, it is still not as real. 

So, does that mean Customer Relationship Management is not important?  No - it just means the 'relationship' part is a bit mixed up.  It's a bit of a bunny boiler of a name really...like the person who thinks they're in a relationship with you because you smiled at them once.  What we need to accept about CRM is that it is not really about building a relationship with our customers, it's about improving our communications and learning more about our customers so we can keep improving everything we do.

Purveyors of CRM 'systems' want marketers to believe they can use them to build these close 'relationships' when in fact we'd all be better off calling a spade a spade and admitting that they simply enable us to personalise marketing messages, find out more about our customers and manage our communications better.  This still has the same benefits, but I'd argue that a change in terminology is less likely to lead the marketer down a false trail in search of the holy grail of brand advocacy in the unlikeliest of places.

The fact is, customers aren't stupid.  They know when they are being sent a mass email/sms/mailing.  They don't think your large corporation has contacted them personally; they know that you've been filtering your database, and they're unlikely to be getting that warm friendly glow because you remembered their birthday.  That doesn't mean it's not worth doing - it just means you need to get it right.  You need to send your customers the information they want and need to make the decision to buy from you.

I receive about twenty emails a day from companies who want to sell me something.  They are all generated by CRM systems.  I open the ones with a subject line that interests me.  I click through to the store when the email contains a product/story/offer that interests me.  At no point do I think, ooh, I love this company.  I think - that content looks useful, interesting, fun; I'll go there.

The take home message here is, use your CM system (I'm removing the 'R') to deliver great content, and your customers will buy, and continue to buy their products and services from you.  As someone once said...content is king.

And no thank you, I still don't want a relationship with you Mr Tesco - I just want a pint of milk...


*Image www.thebestmoviereview.com under creative commons licence.

Is it OK to 'guilt trip' your customers for a good cause?

Yesterday, after a long day at work, I visited a local convenience store to pick up some shopping on my way home.  This store is part of a national chain and prides itself on its ethical approach to business (yes, you know the one).  Dashing in after work I didn't have a bag with me and I as I queued a feeling of dread came over me. I knew what was coming, and found myself seriously considering going somewhere else to avoid the embarrassment of the interrogation from the cashier.

In this particular chain, it seems that part of the standard script for staff at the till is now - 'have you brought your own bags with you?' A phrase that strikes a guilty fear to the heart of some of us hypocrites who try to be good but are simply very forgetful (yes that's my excuse!).  If you answer no to this question the follow up is 'would you like a bag for life for 10p?'  There is only one answer to this question for a decent human being; and this is pressure selling at its best.

So - here's what happens.  The store sells me a bag for life every time I forget my own.  The bag for life goes in the cupboard.  The store makes 10p.  I feel guilty, and begin to dread going there to be publicly  branded as a waster.

But it doesn't end there...

The cashier follows up the stabbing suggestion that you are ruining the planet with your profligacy with a twist of the knife by asking you if you have one of the store's membership cards.  'No, I don't.  I'm not part of the team.  I am a social pariah,' I feel like saying.  More psychological trickery.  I am now guilty of being wasteful and not participating in society.  Clearly I do not belong here.

So, I now have three choices.

1. Play the game, join the club and carry a 'bag for life' at all times (perhaps I could attach it to my car keys...just for ironic effect), and so be able to hold my head high when buying over packaged intensively produced goods from the ethical retailer in question.

2.  Continue to run the gauntlet of derision every time I shop there and just ignore it.

3.  Shop elsewhere.  Somewhere where I can use a self-service checkout for example, or maybe a friendly local grocer.  Somewhere where no one is going to tut me for forgetting my bags.

These are the decisions consumers make every day - and the decisions it's so difficult to identify and watch out for.  Sometimes we make purchase decisions based on rational thoughts, but often it is our emotions that drive us.  Retailers should not underestimate the social and emotional buttons they push - even if they are for the best of reasons.  There are ways of encouraging shoppers to behave more sustainably, but I don't think the hard sell and the guilt trip are the best in the long run.  Customers will just go elsewhere - and there will always be a competitor waiting who will make them feel a little bit better about themselves.

So, what I'd say to my local store is - if your really want to see a change, ditch the script and give away some bags  for life.  Reward customers for using them, don't punish them for not.

Sometimes the carrot is more effective than the stick...