I was perusing through my husband's copy of the Harvard Business Review on the week-end. The old fashioned way... sitting in the sun in my backyard, reading a magazine in print (just to point out, there's still a place for that...), and I was particularly interested in an article "To Keep Your Customers, Keep It Simple" by Patrick Spenner and Karen Freeman. You can preview the article online, but you'll have to purchase the whole thing in order to get the full scoop.
It's about one of those obvious, really interesting premises that we talk a lot about here at SMG, particularly in the context of content online. How do we develop content, or a customer experience that is relevant, adds value and spurs activity? We know that when you digest a great piece of value add content, it's very satisfying to do something with it afterwards- share it (social sharing or email for older folks), save it, or better yet, use the information to actually help make a decision. People want content that is in a way, actionable.
This article shines some light on this phenomena, and cites a study from the IBM Institute for Business Value, which says that, if asked, 61% of consumers say they will interact with companies via social sites in order to get a discount. That's it. A full 55% want to purchase something, and 53% want to access product reviews.
The study goes on to say that 61% of businesses think that their customers want to be part of a community. But simply being part of community is an insufficient value exchange for most consumers. Most people just want a deal. Despite the altruistic visions of some brands, simply starting a community isn't enough. Only 22% of consumers cite "wanting to be part of a community" as a compelling reason to interact with a company via social media. Crazy.
The chart below is pretty interesting one to examine.
Check out the article. For all of us doing content in this field, it's food for thought.