Disclaimer
All individual and brand names will be changed or omitted to protect the guilty....
'Twas the night before Christmas (or so):
It was just before Christmas and I was in a cheerful, buying mood. I was remembering back to how happy I made my wife when I bought her a car for her birthday a couple years back...red bow on the hood, surprised her with it in the parking lot of a restaurant we just had dinner at...the whole thing. Since then, I've had a particular fondness for that brand of car (guilty name omitted) and my wife has said again and again that this is the only kind of car she is ever going to own. This December, the novelty of my awesome-husband-gesture was starting fade amongst the bright lights of the season. I had the hopeful, almost-New-Year positivism that could drive me to buy a car I really shouldn't have. Let's just say I was an incredibly hot prospect.
The mailer (the ultimate offline channel):
So everything was lining up quite nicely for this car brand as I walked out to the mailbox that day. Bunch of Christmas cards. A few letters telling me about everything that happened in the last year from folks I worked with ten years ago. Way too many way too thick catalogs for last minute deals and free shipping. Then, there it was. A concisely written offer on a conveniently sized postcard. I was already due a $10 gift card to an electronics superstore from aforementioned famous car company I'm already fond of. Just go online and register. I can type a URL with the best of 'em (that QR code is nice and all, but I never really bought into them), so let's go online and do this. It's all upside from here, and I can just picture my wife's smile at the thought of this particular customer engagement.
Registering online (um, the Web channel):
OK, URL typed into browser...nice landing page...welcomed me by name (OK, the URL had my name in it, but still...nice). Easy registration form (yeah, it could have been better since I pay on their site. They should know my car model and year. But, I like this brand...cut 'em some slack). Easy form to fill out...bam!...check this out...if I have a chance to swing by the dealership this next Saturday from 1PM to 5PM, I immediately increase my reward to aforementioned electronics superstore to $20. (That's a 100% increase if you're keeping track).
A swing by the dealership (the on-premise channel)
I was pretty sure I was going to rest on my laurels and just cash in my $10. I had paid off the birthday present car already and really didn't want to incur a new debt for such a irrational investment. I didn't want to deal with the typical pressure of a car lot. So I was as surprised as anyone when I veered right last minute to enter the car lot that Saturday. I was in the area doing last minute shopping anyway, and it would be nice to picture my wife's face as the new 2016 model appeared under the tree (I wasn't going to buy anything anyway, so the fantasy could include this impossible present placement).The 10 things that happened at the dealership:
- I walk into a showroom that is absolutely buzzing with activity (wow they must be busy, no one even approached me as I looked at the new models out on the lot).
- First guy I see looks at the promotional print out in my hand, tries to muster a smile, forces a "welcome someone will be right with you", and hurries off to more important matters.
- I see the woman (let's call her Susan) who sold me the aforementioned birthday present a couple years ago....we exchange polite smiles and she hurries to more important matters.
- I am guided to a closet-sized back room where a friendly-enough intern-aged young woman sits staring at a tablet. She welcomes me exactly according to script, hands me my first $10 gift card (I already earned that one), and invites me to sit.
- Without ever really looking up from said tablet (it's a generational thing), she asks me a number of questions: am I happy with my current car, what would it take me to upgrade, what do I look for in a car.
- Survey done, she slides the second $10 gift card my way, thanks me and tells me to go back to the waiting room where a salesperson will see me.
- I ask about the woman who sold me the original birthday present car (a.k.a Susan) and if I could see her specifically. I repeat. I asked to see a specific salesperson who I enjoyed doing business with THE LAST TIME I BOUGHT A CAR FROM THIS DEALERSHIP. Sorry, needed to relay the emphasis.
- I sit in the waiting room....5 minutes....10 minutes....ask again specifically for Susan....15 minutes.
- I leave. Hey, I already have my $20.
- Somewhere back at home my wife's smile turns in the other direction. And she has no idea why.
Here's the crazy thing:
I never heard from the car company on this matter again. No follow up. None. No call from Susan, no email checking in to see if I was able to find something at the electronics superstore....nothing. Not only did they already have my information from my account, they now had the additional data around my intent, my timeframe, my hopes to make my wife so happy again with an upgrade. If I was presented with the right offer that day, I would have driven out of there in that new model, anxious to wrap it up with a bow. But, of course, time kills all deals....and without any follow up, I'm deciding to do the right financial thing this season and opt for the Wok and knife set.
Some summary thoughts about my experience:
The sad thing is, I bet no one at this really great car company knows how easily they lost someone who was so very ready to buy a new car that day. Worse, I bet there is a PowerPoint presentation slide showing the success of the electronics superstore campaign.- The marketing team that developed the mailer and QR code campaign must have been really proud of the response. More people visited the landing page then they predicted.
- I guarantee the Web team and their agency celebrated on New Year's Eve as they congratulated each other on the landing page visits that converted into registration form completions.
- As the folks in the showroom cleaned up confetti and broke down balloons, they hugged and glowed in their job well done. They had THOUSANDS of people through those doors. And they gave away LOTS of gift cards.
An Enormous Opportunity.
It's great when experience meets opportunity. As I started my new year (in my older car), I joined Thunderhead, a company with a product called ONE Engagement Hub that is built with my exact experience in mind.ONE appreciates that I really don't care that my car company has an email campaign team, an online/Web team, various agencies and digital strategists, multiple CRM and call center applications, survey applications and on-premise systems...it knows and that I just want a seamless experience with my brand.
ONE knows that I trust this brand--that I'm willing to pay online, download their app, answer their annoying survey questions in the showroom that day. I want to interact with this brand wherever and whenever I want to, and I don't want to have to re-explain my relationship with them.
ONE could give my car company insights into all my interactions with them, across all of the places I choose to talk to them. With these insights, I guarantee Susan would have been ready for my visit. At the very least, she could have saved the sale with a very informed call soon after my leaving the showroom.
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| The Customer Journey in Thunderhead ONE Engagement Hub |
After all, it's the simple things. I just wanted Susan to be reminded of the time we worked out that great birthday present for my wife and have her put together an informed offer for us to upgrade to an even better Christmas present.
C'mon aforementioned great car company that I'm really fond of. Valentine's Day is right around the corner....
