Page 52 - MYM 2015

others on the brand selections. They are afraid to be disappointed. Many purchase decisions are therefore social. In such market environments, anything less than a ‘WOW!’ will not suf ce to trigger positive advocacy.
In essence, ‘WOW!’ is an expression that comes out when customers are so pleasantly surprised by a brand that they feel compelled to launch positive advocacy.
‘WOW!’ is surprising. It emerges when one expects certain level of treatment by a brand but gets something unexpected instead. ‘WOW!’ is also personal. It is triggered by speci c situation to one’s speci c desires. ‘WOW!’ is contagious. Someone experiencing ‘WOW!’ will share their stories to others and hence, advocacy.
‘WOW!’ is actually the highest level in a spectrum of customer expression. At the lowest end, the spectrum starts with ‘Boo’ which is an expression of furious customer, which re ects negative advocacy. The spectrum continues with ‘Argh’ which is an expression of frustration from a disappointed customer. It doesn’t trigger negative advocacy but it is still a negative evaluation of a brand. When a customer is casually satis ed with a brand, it invokes neither positive nor negative bias. They will express their ‘OK’. When a customer is impressed with a brand, it creates a sense of personal delight and triggers an ‘AHA’. But ultimately, company should always aim for a ‘WOW!’ (Exhibit 6).
features. To get to the ultimate ‘WOW!’, a brand must engage with customer personally. The brand must provide a life-transforming personalization on top
of customer experience that addresses individual customer’s anxieties and desires (Exhibit 7). In a competitive market, company will have to aim for ‘WOW!’ and not anything less. In this aligned with the spirit of Marketing 3.0 (Kotler, Kartajaya, & Setiawan, 2010).
Exhibit 7: Appraising Competitiveness Level of Brands
E
E2
E
Marketing 3.0
Designing life-transforming
personalization on top of customer experience that addresses individual customer’s anxieties and desires
Marketing 2.0
Delivering customer experience on top of products and services that creates positive perceptions beyond expectations
Marketing 1.0
Developing products and services that meet the needs and wants of customers
Competition practice
Offer custom product
recommendation
Customize customer WOW experience to each
individual customer
Improve customer
interaction with service
blueprint AHA Design differentiated in-
store and digital experience
3
1
LEVEL 3 ENGAGEMENT
LEVEL 2 EXPERIENCE
LEVEL 1 ENJOYMENT
Build superior product and service quality Communicate unique product and service features
Possible Company Actions
OK
Key Customer Expression
Note: Possible Company Actions list is not exhaustive
Exhibit 6: Decoding Customer Impression Toward Brands with Customer Expression
What Does Your WOW Index Mean?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
BOO
ARGH
OK
AHA
WOW
Customers are so furious about your brand that they launch negative advocacy
Customers are disappointed with your brand, creating a sense of personal frustration
Customers are casually satisfied with your brand, invoking neither positive nor negative bias
Customers are impressed with your brand, creating a sense of personal delight
Customers are so pleasantly surprised by your brand that they feel compelled to launch positive advocacy
Creating ‘WOW!’ requires new, rede ned marketing approach. A brand focusing on product and service features will likely get an ‘OK’ approval from customers. But to get to ‘AHA’, the brand must deliver appealing customer experience on top of the product and service
References
• Reichheld, F. (2006). The ultimate question: driving good pro ts and true growth. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.
• Cisco visual networking index: global mobile data traf c forecast update, 2014–2019. (2015). San Jose, CA: Cisco.
• Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H., and Setiawan, I. (2010). Marketing 3.0: from products to customers to the human spirit. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Authors: Philip Kotler – marketing Guru; is the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. He is the author of more than 55 books in the eld of marketing management, including Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control (Prentice Hall, now in its fourteenth edition), the most widely used marketing book in graduate business schools worldwide.
Hermawan Kartajaya is the founder and CEO of MarkPlus, Inc. and
is one of the “50 Gurus Who Have Shaped the Future of Marketing” according to the Chartered Institute of Marketing, United Kingdom. He is currently the President of the World Marketing Federation.
Iwan Setiawan is the Chief Knowledge Of cer of MarkPlus, Inc. and the co-author of Marketing 3.0, which is translated into 23 languages globally, with Philip Kotler and Hermawan Kartajaya. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
52 I October 2015