Why You Should Care About the Product Ownership Experience

Recent data from the CMO Council and LiveTechnology reveals just how many consumers are satisfied with their product ownership experience

Marketers have outdone themselves.

According to Liz Miller, SVP of marketing and programs for the CMO Council, customers have gotten so used to brands personalizing every step of their buyer journey that they now expect to receive that same level of personalization in the post-purchase, product ownership phase of their experience.

“They’re going to start expecting that same level of personalization and engagement you wooed them with to buy,” she says. “They’re going to want that even more so because they’re a customer.”

Miller defines the ownership experience as everything that happens after a transaction takes place, including the delivery, installation, and maintenance. All of these experiences can affect whether an owner becomes a repeat buyer and advocate, but this requires a new way of communicating: Instead of speaking to owners like they’re a ticking time bomb counting down until their next purchase, brands need to communicate value and support this audience based on their existing purchases and data.

Unfortunately, companies haven’t made these ownership experiences a priority.

According to a recent report from the CMO Council and LiveTechnology titled “Product Ownership: Lasting Satisfaction or Painful Distraction”, less than half (47%) of the 2,000 North American consumers surveyed say manufacturers and retailers care for their customers “very well” or “extremely well” post-purchase, particularly when service or maintenance could be involved. While this figure doesn’t call for immediate panic — especially when compared to the significantly lower 21% who say their post-purchase care is not so good or “poor”— an alarm goes off once marketers see how the figure is broken down. Of that 47%, just 17% of respondents say companies care for their customers “extremely well” post purchase, meaning that less than a third (30%) care for them “very well.”

Failing to provide an optimum ownership experience can result in missed opportunities, Miller notes, including the ability to deepen a customer relationship, identify points of friction, and cross-sell and upsell other products. It can also result in lost customers. Consider: A separate study by the CMO Council and SAP Hybris found that 47% of the more than 2,000 North American and European consumers surveyed say they’ll stop doing business with a brand if they continually have frustrating experiences.

So, who’s to blame for this dissatisfaction? Both product manufacturers and retailers should be held accountable. According to the initially referenced report, just 37% of respondents consider manufacturers “extremely good” or “pretty good” at getting to know their customers personally and meeting their post-purchase needs. This number is only slightly higher for retailers and e-commerce sites (39%).

One of the main problems is the breakdown in communication that occurs between manufacturers and retailers due to a lack of shared data. While manufacturers want more data about their end customers, Miller notes, retailers don’t want to share their “secret sauce.” This creates issues when customers have problems with manufacturer-related entities, like warranties, but go back to the retailer (where they bought the product) to fix them. Miller says manufacturers and retailers need to have a “single pane of glass” that sits between the two companies, serves as a central depository for critical data points and analytics, and allows them to share insights back and forth.

read more/source: http://www.dmnews.com/customer-experience/why-you-should-care-about-the-product-ownership-experience/article/675959/