This document discusses how businesses can uncover the "truth" about their customers to improve customer experience. It notes that customer value is now defined by mental energy rather than just currency, and that personalization should be based on "tribal allegiances" rather than just individual profiles. The document presents a framework for discovering the mutual resonance between what matters to brands and what matters to audiences. It emphasizes the importance of contextual data and design approaches that solve higher-order problems to create emotional customer experiences.
2. • Key trends that have changed the way the truth is defined
• The truth customers think you need to know about them
• A practical framework & example to get to the truth
• Key takeaways
2
3. “There are three sides
to every story: your
side, my side, and the
truth. And no one is
lying. Memories
shared serve each
differently”
3
- Robert Evans
(2002) The Kid Stays in thePicture
[Documentary]. Highway Films.
10. Q. Most brands that we buy from or work with today are very
focused on trying to understand the 'truth' behind who their
customers are and what they care about so they can better
serve them. Please take a photograph that best describes the
'truth' that you think businesses need to know about you to
give you an awesome customer experience & explain why.
11. Respect my time
“Don't waste my time I'll never get it
back again use the time to tell me
exactly what I need to know about
your product and why should use it”
“This is my truth : busy mom. I
need products that help me be
more efficient and organized,
so I can "automate" certain
aspects of life.”
12. Recognize my individuality….
“Every single person is a
complicated individual that
cannot be defined by
demographics alone”
“Everyone is different and not one
person/customer will be the same. Ask
customers what they like and
personalize your priorities to theirs.”
13. …and don’t make me feel like a burden
“Businesses follow the letter of the law, but rarely the
spirit, with regard to making it accessible to all. I feel
like a burden to them.”
14. Be fun. Be creative.
“Fun and creativity need to
be included”
“I'm very creative. I think out of the box. A
company needs to do the same. This is a
coconut I painted. Simple, yet un-original.”
15. Family comes first (no matter how unconventional)
“I am family oriented. My life revolves around my family and
their well being. I need products that are going to benefit
them and our home.”
20. “We are not meant to know everything,
Mae. Did you ever think that perhaps our
minds are delicately calibrated between the
known and the unknown? That our souls
need the mysteries of night and the clarity
of day? Young people are creating ever-
present daylight, and I think it will burn us
all alive. There will be no time to reflect, to
sleep to cool.”
Novel by Dave Eggers
20
22. 22
Less than 5% of
social conversations
mention a product
or a brand
23. Analysis needs to
start at the top of
the funnel to be
contextually
relevant
Levelofcontextualresonancetothecustomer.
Top of funnel thinking
Resonant customer experiences
Passion areas & needs
Lifestyle & cultural factors
Attitude to the category
Brand & product
perceptions
Engagement
24. The drivers of mutual resonance: The 3 C’s
Customer Content Context
36. Design approaches based on
the outcomes not the outputs
of insights requirements
Think about the higher order
problem you’re solving for that
will create emotional moments
Remember you’re speaking to the
tribe, not just an individual
Ensure the data you collect is
contextual & reflects how the
audience expresses their
perspectives
Integrate the actual language of the
customer into your insight
architecture to explore what’s
meaningful
Think ‘mutual truth’ and focus
on the fair exchange of value
Key epiphanies about the content environment
Editor's Notes
We need to make sure that we’re not like the blind men in the fable of the elephant…..not blinded by what we see in front of us & what we choose to believe.
The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not because they may have different perspective which we may not agree too
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today." They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant. "Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first man who touched his leg. "Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail. "Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant. "It is like a big hand fan" said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant. "It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant. "It is like a solid pipe," Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant. They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?" They said, "We cannot agree to what the elephant is like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, "All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features what you all said." "Oh!" everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right. The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not because they may have different perspective which we may not agree too. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, we should say, "Maybe you have your reasons." This way we don’t get in arguments.
Blind Men and the Elephant – A Poem by John Godfrey SaxeHere is John Godfrey Saxe’s (1816-1887) version of Blind Men and the Elephant:It was six men of Indostan,To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant(Though all of them were blind), That each by observationMight satisfy his mind. The First approach'd the Elephant, And happening to fallAgainst his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl: "God bless me! but the ElephantIs very like a wall!" The Second, feeling of the tusk, Cried, -"Ho! what have we hereSo very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear, This wonder of an ElephantIs very like a spear!" The Third approach'd the animal, And happening to takeThe squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake: "I see," -quoth he- "the ElephantIs very like a snake!" The Fourth reached out an eager hand, And felt about the knee: "What most this wondrous beast is likeIs mighty plain," -quoth he,- "'Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!" The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said- "E'en the blindest manCan tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can, This marvel of an ElephantIs very like a fan!" The Sixth no sooner had begunAbout the beast to grope, Then, seizing on the swinging tailThat fell within his scope, "I see," -quoth he,- "the ElephantIs very like a rope!" And so these men of IndostanDisputed loud and long, Each in his own opinionExceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong! MORAL, So, oft in theologic wars The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean; And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen!
It should be easy to address all those customer priorities, right? We can measure EVERYTHING & ultimately become data driven about everything we do….(in real time)….
RIGHT?
WRONG….
Being data ‘driven’ implies the data is in charge….. with the best will in the world, data is open to interpretation (think the fable of the elephant again…) One could argue they were being data ‘driven’ but they weren’t being ‘data smart’.
Think about how data can make your business smarter and don’t delegate the responsibility. Being data smart requires a smart data strategy – how well does your data reflect your customers’ ecosystem?
It’s as important to recognize what is NOT there as well as what IS? The absence of something is as important and meaningful as the presence of something.
We have found that less than 5% of social conversations mention a product or a brand
We need to make sure we’re not like the blind men….but we express insight in the way customers reflect it across the 3 Cs to reflect the customer reality and to inspire us to act. There are a few rules of thumb we use to help us understand the mix of the 3 to use:
What if we built for the next generation of customers now? Designing new products/services for the next gen of luxury travelers. Our client is an expert in luxury travel. Inside and out. They know what is interesting to this man. (picture boomer) What they told us they didn’t know anything about is the next generation of travelers. The emerging affluent. We all agreed it would be imperative to build our new offering and brand so that it could scale to this traveler. Once again, we started with baseline interviews. This time with travel specialists – classically trained agents, experts who had owned their own companies, museum exploration leaders and of course bloggers. Excited about our learning we turned to social data to explore the findings in more detail…..
Nothing. Crickets. And that’s why it’s so important to understand the customer context….rather than thinking ‘the data isn’t there’ was asked ourselves the question…, “Maybe they’re speaking another language…” Which is exactly what happened. As often is the case with affluents, we found them rarely writing about their vacation experiences via social media. When they do chat, they are obtuse or keep their pages highly private. So, how to get around it?
We’ve talked a lot in the past about monitoring facebook/twitter and the problems inherent in that. This is an interesting case of how Facebook can actually help us find people: o First, the team targeted Facebook and Twitter followers of extreme luxury travel brands (for example, the Elite Traveler Magazine’s social sites) o Then, they conducted personal profile analysis and hash tag identification on thousands of profiles o They manually combed major picture sites – namely Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr Blogs. This audience is HIGHLY involved – taking brag-worthy experiences to the next level – by actually showing everyone in pictures what they are missing.
By searching for relevant hashtags we could zoom in on the correct audience and get into the topic in great depth. #exotic #bejealous #grateful #livingthedream o And the answers began to stream in So, what did we learn once we’d found them? We’ve all talked about the recession generated currency of experience but this category really brings that to life. And both boomers and millennials learned one key thing from the recession - material goods can be gone in a flash. But what you experience in life is priceless.