Customer Perceptions, Love Them or Hate Them?

Posted by m4bmarketing under Marketing
From http://www.m4bmarketing.com 4996 days ago
Made Hot by: tuckerleroy on March 22, 2011 6:40 pm

Have you ever tried to sway a customer to the facts of something and nothing you saw or do will get them to change their minds? The reason is they can stop listening is they have their own perceptions and will keep to them as they regard them as facts. These situations can actually be opportunities.

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Comments

Written by Adam_Gottlieb
4996 days ago

Great article, Susan.

"It is very difficult to change perception unless the person is open to discussion." This is such a vital point, yet it often takes a significant amount of time before the company or the marketer "gets it."

There are so many factors that go into what determines a customer's perception, and these factors may change given different demographics and nationalities. This is why it is *so* important to conduct market research both before launching a product as well as when a product is already being sold and marketed.

Adam

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Written by m4bmarketing
4996 days ago

Hi Adam,

You are right and I spent most of my marketing career repositioning brands because companies didn't do the research and stay in touch with consumer perceptions.

Customer attitudes and behaviour change and that is one thing we need to be aware of in our small businesses. Regardless of what we think it is their perceptions that can make all the difference. I do agree with you about research and one point I would make is it is often the interpretation of the information that makes the difference.

Thanks for your comment.

Susan

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Written by yoni67
4996 days ago

Susan,

Great job with the analgesic analogy! I never thought that something less expensive and more effective could be perceived as being weaker, but you proved me wrong. Great example and great advice!

Yoni

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Written by m4bmarketing
4996 days ago

Yoni,

When you see this and I have marketed brands with similar claims it can be because customers wanted or desired improvements to the product's performance.

Companies or at least the ones I worked for always looked at improving the product and experience for customers. There is nothing wrong with the old product just that the improved one is better because of new ingredients, packaging or technology etc.

That said the claims should be able to be backed up with data to show that there was an actual improvement and new was only able to be used for 6 months.

Susan

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Written by yoni67
4996 days ago

Susan,

I also wanted to add this: many times you see a "new and improved" product coming out from a company. It may seem great to some. But I always ask, "So what was wrong with the old formula I've been wasting my money on until now?"

Yoni

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Written by m4bmarketing
4996 days ago

Hi Yoni,

Unfortunately it is true, although it did have a happy ending thankfully once we understood their perceptions.

Susan

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