Will Wine Insiders' Boomer media also reach younger people?

Wine Insider is an old school D2C company.  Founded in 1982, their primary consumers are Baby Boomers.  Their media selections reflect this as they continue to rely on direct mail, ads in Sunday newspapers and discount cards.  It's a trifecta of senior media.

In a nod to the growth of social media, the company now uses Facebook and Instagram as well.  

But they appear to be most excited about their performance on QVC, which they ran with earlier this year.  The segment was hosted by Chris Hoel, a former sommelier at The French Laundry, and was in their words "performing very nicely for us."  It is consistent with their core positioning as wine experts who can advise you on the best choices and get you the best prices, so it is clearly a good fit.

They also note that they get some of their best customers from referrals.  10 referrals gets you some free wine.

Wine Insider does offer subscription services, for those who prefer them, but it isn't a company priority.  (Mahoney, 2019)

While their media selection is perfect for their primary target it doesn't really cover media that reaches Gen Z and Millennials.  But that doesn't mean some of them aren't seeing these efforts and being influenced by them. 

Do you receive direct mail?  Read a Sunday newspaper?  Perhaps you got a coupon is your order from jet.com?  What about QVC?  Are you a fan?  Has YouTube replaced it?  Or something else?  Who do you look to for advice on wine purchases?

Mahoney, S. (2019, October 13) Wine Insiders' Secret?  Older Drinkers, Plenty of Reds, QVC.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved October 16, 2019, from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/341922/wine-insiders-secret-older-drinkers-plenty-of-r.html

Cause marketing costs less than good customer service.

A few years back, someone noted the proliferation of similar products and predicted that as the differences between various alternative options shrunk, companies would be forced to compete by providing superior customer service.  Sadly they couldn't have been more wrong.

These days complaint letters go unanswered - unless they are public tweets, customer service reps give conflicting information, and companies don't care about losing customers until they have already gone.  Apparently aided by software they can now predict your "breakpoint" and are determined to push you right to it. (Terlep, 2019)

How foolish can you be?  Any company seeking a long term relationship with their customers should consider the fact that pissing people off is not a good strategy. 

So which is worse -  endless stupid prompts, or reps from foreign countries who barely speak English?  Hard to say.  But both are better than simply being expected to interact with a poorly designed website.  Especially when the companies don't bother to test them to see if they actually function correctly.

But companies have decided that they don't need to worry about customer service because they can get more customers by aligning with customer values.  And they are probably right.

According to Nike, "Two-thirds of their consumers (66 percent) say it's important for brands to take public stands on social and political issues." (Stillman, 2018)

Wow.  That's impressive.  And clearly acting upon that data and partnering with Colin Kaepernick is a winning move for the company as revenue was up +4% (+10% versus year ago) in the last quarter.

But would it work for Verizon Fios?  According to the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, subscription television services, internet service providers, VOD, fixed-line telephone services and Internet social media are the five worst industries for customer service (Terlep, 2019)

But that may not matter, because all decisions are emotional. So if they could align themselves with a cause their customers care about they might be successful.   

But if I were them, I'd worry more about customer service.  When an interaction leaves you feeling ripped off, it's unlikely that you'll continue to be a customer for much longer, and with cord cutting accelerating, replacement customers could be difficult to find. 

On the other hand I will give a free shout out to two companies that I deal with that have made superior customer service part of their DNA - B&H and Bloomingdales.  Kudos to you both.  It's one of the reasons that I have been a loyal customer for over 40 years.

Such a shame the list is so short.  Perhaps we should start outing the companies who don't do right by their customers on social media.  As I noted in this blog, people do pay attention to online reviews.

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2019/07/why-are-you-taking-advice-from-stranger.html

Terlep, S. (2019, August 3)  Everybody Hates Customer Service. This Is Why. wsj.com.  Retrieved August 7, 2019, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/everyone-hates-customer-service-this-is-why-11564804882

Stillman, J. (2018, September 5)  Here's the Data That Proves Nike's Colin Kaepernick Ad Is Seriously Smart Marketing.  inc.com.  Retrieved August 6, 2019, from

https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/heres-data-that-proves-nikes-colin-kaepernick-ad-is-seriously-smart-marketing.html

Thomas, L. (2019, June 27)  Nike misses on earnings, but beats on revenues as customers buy more sneakers and sports gear.  cnbc.com.  Retrieved August 6, 2019, from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/27/nike-reports-fiscal-4q-2019-earnings.html

Prof. Lehrer's Blog is now being syndicated by Newstex/ACI Information Group

Did you ever think to yourself - Hey, Prof. Lehrer just said something interesting, and I'd like to share it?  Well now you can - legally.

I am pleased to announce that content from Prof. Lehrer's Blog is now available for licensing through Newstex/ACI Information Group.  

https://aci.info/

ACI Information Group is the world’s leading aggregator of editorially selected and curated social media and blog publications.  Their partners include CCC (Copyright Clearance Center), ProQuest, NewsEdge and LexisNexis among others.  

A search through these databases or those of ACI's other partners will allow you to locate content from Prof. Lehrer's blog dating back to its inception in 2009 and license it properly for use in your own websites/communications.

Enjoy!

Some nudges work better than others.

If you have traveled lately you may have seen a sign in your hotel room urging you to reuse your towels.  What you may not know is that the wording of that sign greatly impacts whether or not you will comply. 

In a 2008 article published in The Journal for Consumer Research, three message variations were tested with the following results.

1. Reuse your towels because it is good for the environment = 35% compliance

2. Reuse your towels because other guests in this hotel do = 44% compliance

3. Reuse your towels because other hotel guests who stayed in this room did = 49% compliance

(Goldstein, Cialdini, Griskzvicius, 2008)

Nudging works because it uses what is called ‘social proof” or “consensus” to pressure non-participants into joining the crowd – something that most of us want to do.  And as the research demonstrates that the best result comes from the most specific reference to the individual’s immediate situation.

In The New York Times Visionaries section published on 5/27/18, Nathaniel Stinnett of Environmental Voter Project, was profiled based on his efforts to get the 16 million environmentalists who did not vote in 2014 midterm elections to show up this fall.  His weapon of choice? Nudges.  An example from a sample mailer – “Did you know that last time there was a City Council election, 87% of your block voted and you didn’t?”  Hmm.  That certainly demonstrates an understanding of the importance of matching a person’s immediate situation. (Schlossberg, 2018)

Similarly, when I recently considered booking an airline trip, the following message was added to the question about whether or not I wanted to buy trip insurance – “66,929 American Airlines customers protected their trip in the last 7 days.” 

Interesting, although I couldn’t help wondering how many customers they had in the past 7 days and where they were going.  Perhaps they would have been more persuasive if they had said “75% of the people who booked this trip in the past 6 months bought trip insurance.”  The research certainly suggests it.

Goldstein, N., Cialdini, R., Griskzvicius, V. (2008, October) A Room with a Viewpoint: Using Social Norms to Motivate Environmental Conservation in Hotels. Journal of Consumer Research. Retrieved June 13, 2018, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/586910?seq=6#page_scan_tab_contents

Schlossberg, T. (2018, May 24) Taking On Climate Change. nytimes.com. Retrieved June 11, 2018, from,  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/science/taking-on-climate-change.html