Connie Hill, Vera Centra, Inc.
Company executive leadership needs to wake up and support their customer marketing teams!
It’s no secret to marketers that today’s customers expect more from the companies they interact with. The explosion of social media and rapid growth of new communication channels illustrates how customers expect to be deeply involved in both the company and community dialogue that shapes the products and services they use. They expect their voices to be heard before their dollars are received.
Yet, despite all the evidence that customer behaviors have dramatically changed throughout the decade, companies remain woefully unfocused on cultivating customers. In the 2009 Pointer Media Network report Losing Loyalty: The Consumer Defection Dilemma, sponsored by the CMO Council, the individual buying patterns of more than 32 million consumers in 2007 and 2008, across 685 leading CPG brands revealed:
- 52% of highly loyal consumers in 2007 either reduced loyalty or completely defected from the brand in 2008
- Only four out of ten brands retained 50% or more of their highly loyal customers from year to year
And according to an article published in March 2010 by Harvard Business Review:
- “Boards and C suites still mostly pay lip service to customer relationships while focusing intently on selling goods and services.”