What A Goldfish Can Teach You About Customer Loyalty

There’s a great idea that I read about recently where the Soho Grand – a fancy hotel in New York – provides its guests with a goldfish (for those who want them).

It’s such a wonderful gesture – personal, different, unexpected. And people talk about it (or write about it, like I am here). In an era where people see up to 3,000 messages a day by some estimates, it takes something special to stand out. That’s worth remembering as CMOs and CEOs figure out how much money they’re going to invest in advanced analytics capabilities. As anyone knows who reads my posts here, I’m a big proponent of using advanced analytics to make better and more effective marketing decisions, but it’s worth remembering the little things and the “magic” that defines so many of the best marketing efforts.

My colleague, Fabian Hieronimus, talks about this in his latest article (Can a goldfish show you how to excite your customers?) that takes a high level look at what it takes to excite your customers. He has a list of 10 of the best ways to excite your customers, with some good examples as well. Here are my favorite three:

• Keep it simple. So many good ideas get lost in the implementation where complexity gums up the works. A look at the thickness of the manual that comes with so many products today attests to how ridiculous this has become. Good ideas are simple ones that people intuitively understand how to use.

• Create mystique. Nothing builds interest like tickling a fancy without providing the complete picture. There are clearly plenty of examples where this backfires (supply your own example here) but when it’s done well, it’s magical. Part of the mystique is often creating an aura of exclusivity. Some loyalty programs, for example, provide rewards that aren’t published to the outside world and are invitation only. Gaming companies often do a good job with this (See Is loyalty really working for you?).

• Be authentic. Nothing fails like being fake. Customers are increasingly sophisticated in spotting a fake when it comes to how a brand communicates with them. Robo-calls, spam, jargon-laced communications all undermine your relationship with your customers. In a world when presidents are on Twitter and customers post pictures of their purchases on Facebook, the need to be real is so important.

So, what can a goldfish teach you? What are the best marketing efforts you’ve seen that really excited you as a customer?

Read more about customer experience, loyalty, and other topics on the McKinsey on Marketing & Sales site. Stay in touch by signing up for our newsletter, and follow us on Twitter @McK_MktgSales. And please follow me at @davidedelman.

[Image: abiodork, Flickr]