Listening to Your Customers Can Cost You

What do you mean a company can get in trouble by listening to their customers?  That doesn't make sense!!


Actually it depends on the question that was asked. So when does it make sense to ask your customers & when does it make sense to watch them?


Phil Terry & Mark Hurst recently wrote about Walmart & I thought I would join in on this discussion because it’s quite relevant in our marketing world of constant testing & surveying customers to see what they like & dislike. 


It’s great these days, we never seem to really go to market with a hunch – we test the hell out of everything before we put it in front of the mass media.  This way we know whether or not something jives with the general public or may fall flat. 


But what are we testing? Who are we testing it with? Do they truly represent the mass population? And lastly, is what they are telling us truly what they want? I thought this cartoon conveyed this the best:

The answer is a tough one. I would venture to say perhaps some early testing just to gage direction would be nice but I would also say that more importantly, many times it’s how you position the concept to the user & how you ask the question in the survey.

So let’s take a look at what Walmart did back in 2009. In a world where everyone loves the simplicity behind the Apple branding, many brands are trying to follow suit and simplify their brand & product. Walmart takes notice and decides that perhaps their customers need a more simplified shopping experience in their stores that is less cluttered & easier to navigate. Makes sense right? Maybe.... Err... Maybe not....

They do what most smart brands do... Survey their customers first to make sure this is what they are looking for & they ask the question “would you like Walmart aisles to be less cluttered?” 


They say YES. 


Great, customers have made it clear that this is what they want. Of course they do. Who wouldn’t?

So Walmart  moves forward, they clean house, cut down the amount of brands they carry.... Sales start dropping, people start complaining.... But what happened? Isn't this what they wanted? Our customers lied!!

No. 


See, the question that was asked was very leading. As Mark points out, Walmart made a common mistake. They asked a question they already felt they had the answer to. The question they should have asked was: What do you like about Walmart? What might improve your shopping experience?

They focused on what the customer said vs. what they actually did. 


Walmart customers thrive on low prices. What drives low prices? Variety & brand competition. When they cut down on the variety, the price fluctuation disappeared. So when you lose the variety, you lose competitive pricing & Walmart customers are suddenly no longer happy campers.

So bottom line – remember that while it is important to hear what your customers are looking for, there is a fine balance between surveying customers & watching what they are actually doing. And if you should ask them a question – make sure you are asking the right question or it could cost you millions. Literally.