The Smile Effect.....

There is a hypermarket that I visit quite often for the monthly grocery shopping. The staff is warm and helpful, the items well displayed...and hence a well rounded experience. I was pleasantly surprised when the firm's head of marketing pointed out that at the bottom of the bill was printed the amount the customer had saved on the transaction.

Great feature, but unfortunately during my dozen or so visits prior to my meeting, had'nt ever noticed it. Such a tremendous opportunity that was lost for building customer delight, wherein the cashier could have highlighted the savings and reinforced my conviction that I was in fact saving money vis a vis my local neighbourhood grocer.

And thus goes the fate of several innovations and initiatives across industries, which are not consistently reinforced across the channels. Quite similar is the challenge with loyalty programmes as well. I quite often notice that I am invited into loyalty programmes, asked for my loyalty card, but rarely explained the benefit received in that transaction.

It is quite often believed that loyalty programmes are not working out, for the simple reason that the stakeholders across the organization do not reiterate the benefit to the programme members.

All the advertising in the world is surpassed by a smiling cashier telling me how I benefited.....So the next time you're planning to invest a few million, might be worth your while to see if the customer facing personnel are spreading the word...