By Gabor George Burt
THERE is no such thing as a permanently satisfied customer. By nature, customers continuously yearn for things they don’t yet possess.
Therefore, you should strive to infatuate them—over and over again. Customers may become infatuated by a new offering, seduced by its perceived benefits and blinded to its shortcomings. However, as the infatuation wears off, customers no longer feel privileged, but instead, fully entitled to the offering’s benefits.
This shift in attitude represents a transition to the entitlement period, in which customers express their opinions about how the offering could improve. If you let your customers linger in the entitlement period without heeding their suggestions or demands, they will become increasingly critical and, at some point, turn away from your offering altogether.
So companies must continuously refresh the customer experience, introducing new dimensions at just the right time to sustain infatuation.
Not so long ago, airlines launched personal entertainment systems in economy-class cabins on intercontinental flights. The system provided each passenger with a television screen and a handheld remote along with access to movies, television shows, games and music. Passengers were delighted. But after a while, critical chatter—then outright complaints—crept in: “Why can’t the movie selections be changed more frequently? Why aren’t the earphones better?”
It’s crucial to stretch the infatuation interval as long as possible by creating new features. Analyze customer feedback to learn what to introduce. You might collect feedback from early adopters who have already transitioned to the entitlement period. Or, more powerfully, you can anticipate latent desires that customers themselves are yet unable to express.To understand the impact and progression of each interval, look to social media—an unprecedented forum for customer sentiment.
Gabor George Burt is the creator of the Slingshot Platform.