Inside the Customer Experience

 

There are many ways social media and technology in general have affected us – it looks like our collective attention span is the latest victim.

 

I came across an article from a social media summit out of Dubai that indicates that users spend 8 seconds on a piece of content. 8 seconds! Out of curiosity, I did some searching of my own to support that statistic, and found this interesting chart from Statistic Brain:

 

 

Goldfish have an attention span of 9 seconds; this study reveals that our attention span is 8 seconds, down 4 seconds in the last 13 years. While there are some other fun statistics (the fact that 7% forget their birthdays from time to time), there are some interesting implications for business:

 

1. You have 8 seconds to grab a potential customers’s attention: Count to 8 and you’ll realize that’s not a lot of time at all. Short and sweet is the way to devise a home page. Customers should immediately know what you’re about, where to click to find what they’re looking for, and be given a reason to stay on your site. Images can be powerful, as can video. Consider the above image – it states that 17% of page views last less than 4 seconds, yet the average length of time a video is watched is about two and a half minutes. We know images are powerful, but maybe it’s time to consider video as a way to capture a customer’s attention and keep them on your site longer. It’s not possible for all websites of course, but it may be something to consider as customers’ attention spans shrink.

 

2. Images are powerful, and too many words are distracting: this is my one downfall – I love words. I know I can be too “wordy” and this is something I need to be mindful of. The statistics above show that when a webpage has around 111 words, almost half of the content is read. Conversely, on a more wordy page (approximately 593 words), only 28% of the content is read. This is likely due to the fact that a user will see a lot of words and not even want to begin to spend the time to read. Keep it short and to the point.

 

3. When you get them to stay, keep them engaged: Make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for, and ways to complete the task they set out to do. In as few words and clicks possible, make them see why they should buy from you and how to make the purchase.

 

With decreasing attention spans and increased competition, companies need to take a look at their websites and see where changes can be made. Accommodating a customer’s short attention span will gain traction to your site, give customers an efficient experience, and increase customer satisfaction.

 

 

You’ve seen many images and studies linking to a state’s image or reputation, but now a study has been done to try to pinpoint the most searched for brands on Google, one state at a time.

 

The folks over at Direct Capital researched the top brands searched in each state to find the most well searched brand on Google. The company looked at a list of 200 big brands and used Google Trends, specifically the keyword search popularity, to find out if there were any patterns.

 

Take a look at the image below – are there any surprises for your state?

 

 

The images below show the second and third place brand searches by state. While some are random across the top three spots (Idaho’s top three, in order, are HP, Paramount, and Taco Bell), others are more predictable based on one’s knowledge of a state and it’s reputation (think Wisconsin – beer, beer, cheese).

 

 

 

 

 

This is a fun visual for marketers to learn more about what people are searching for online by geography. There may be some valuable information in the map, depending on your industry and geographical presence. Otherwise, it’s another fun graphic to see how each state’s residents use the internet.

 

 

 

Two big names have hit the news waves lately, and not in a positive way. Both McDonald’s and Olive Garden have been front and center in discussion of falling sales and dire situations. Olive Garden’s parent company, Darden, reported a loss of $19.3 million loss in continued operations, while McDonald’s posted its worst same store sales decline since 2003.

 

So, how are each of the restaurants working toward increasing sales and getting back on track? Each decided to take a different approach, and it will take some time to find out the success of the potential changes.

 

Olive Garden’s Partnering and Promotions: Olive Garden has worked to increase foot traffic by offering two new promotions. The first involved a partnership with Red Box, the movie rental company. This promotion included Olive Garden’s popular “Buy One, Take One” deal coupled with a free movie Rental from Red Box, under the guise of “enjoy a meal at the restaurant, then rent a movie and enjoy another meal at home.”

 

More recently, they attempted another promotion, this time more bold. Olive Garden’s Pasta Pass was an interesting concept – for $100, guests would be entitled to 7 weeks of unlimited pasta. This built on their popular “never ending pasta” promotion that has been successful before, and they thought expanding it would work well for guests.

 

Unfortunately, this latest promotion didn’t go very well. Not anticipating the popularity of the promotion, the site crashed and passes were sold out very quickly, causing customers to gripe online. Add to that the fact that some took their passes and turned to Ebay to make a profit from the passes, it was quite the fiasco. Some Ebay purchases paid way too much for passes that were basically unusable, since they were non-transferrable. Olive Garden attempted to make this right with guests though.

 

Maybe Olive Garden should take a look online for suggestions on improvement. Business Week posted an article on 10 ways the company can improve, including increasing alcohol sales, cutting back on the expensive carry out containers, and step it up with food quality. Employees would also like to share their input, as evidenced by a petition filed, which is entitled “Darden: We want a seat at the table,” signed by over 7,000 who claim to be employed by the chain.

 

McDonald’s: Trying to be like others & riding Apple’s coattails: McDonald’s is taking a bit of a different approach then Olive Garden. In realizing that speed may no longer sell, they are testing a new concept (again) in an attempt to give the customer more of what they want, and following the lead of their more successful competitors. They are testing a “build your own burger” kiosk at a handful of locations in California. These kiosks allow full customization of a burger, with over 20 different toppings and two types of bread selection, coupled with tableside delivery. Depending on how the test goes, the company may roll it out to other markets.

 

They have also released news that they will be one of the first to adopt Apple Pay, which will allow customers to pay with their iPhone. They took advantage of the release of the iPhone 6 to head to Apple stores, handing out apple slices and apple pies to build excitement and awareness.
There is speculation online that McDonald’s is offering a more customized burger experience for a couple of reasons – obviously to increase foot traffic and resulting sales, but also perhaps to be able to manage a minimum wage increase, if that should happen. Businessweek suggests that perhaps the concept is less about giving customers options and more about trying to pinpoint the “next big thing” in burgers based on customer selections of combinations over time.

 

Whatever the case, McDonald’s realizes it needs to evolve to stay competitive, but one thing it is known for is speed of service – as a recent article suggests, one of the difficulties it faces is maintaining speed of service while expanding its more complex offerings. Changing menu items too drastically or making too many changes at one can be a potential disaster in service levels, so McDonald’s needs to tread carefully. Pinpointing challenges at the test stores is the best route as the company considers expanding their offerings.

 

While the two restaurants are trying different approaches to saving sales, there are some commonalities that can be found, ones that can help determine where deficiencies are and make changes that will be beneficial and successful for the company:.

 

1. Look at the competitors, but don’t strive to be exactly like them: your business has been successful because of its unique qualities. While change is enivtable, make sure the changes enhance what you’re doing but keep true to the nature of the company.

 

2. Take a look at the extras and cut costs where possible: in the case of Olive Garden, nixing the high end to go containers will potentially save money and can be a move to cut costs, but cutting back on breadsticks? That may border on company suicide. Look carefully at the reality and the overall impact of cutting costs and where it will be most cost efficient with the least amount of impact on customer satisfaction.

 

3. Talk to your customers AND employees: they are both on the front end of your business and have great insight into your business. Instead of throwing out a myriad of options to see what “sticks,” talk to your customers to find out why they aren’t happy, and what they would like to see. In the case of McDonald’s, it may not be the lack of higher end offerings – but they won’t know unless they ask.

 

Employees handle the day to day operations and see firsthand what challenges there are, also known as sales interference. What complaints do they hear the most? What is keeping employees from being successful in terms of customer satisfaction?

 

4. Think outside the box: Olive Garden did a great job with this when they promoted their deal with Redbox. Considering partnerships with complementary companies can go along way, rather inexpensively, to gain additional sales. Similarly, focus on geography with a nationwide company. There may be changes needed in specific territories to be successful across the board. What works in Chicago, for example, may not work as well in Birmingham.

 

The fate of the two restaurants is unknown at this time, but continued loss of sales and foot traffic necessitate changes. Hopefully the two can find a good pace to improve their reputation and post an increase in sales in the upcoming quarter.