Article

Putting your best customers to work for you

The best retailers don't just serve their customers — they put them to work, on behalf of the organization.

February 21, 2009

How engaged are your customers with your brand? Gallup researchers John Fleming and Jim Asplund found that fully engaged customers represent a 23 percent premium over average customers in share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth. Actively disengaged customers on the other hand, represent a 13 percent discount from the average on these same measures. We have found that one way to engage customers, particularly your best ones, is to put them to work on behalf of your organization, to make them "owners."

Owners are customers who don't just say they are willing to refer other potential customers; they do it. They are employees who go the extra mile to recommend friends and others as potential colleagues. They are customers and employees who suggest ways of improving products, services, processes, and relationships. Why is this important? Our research has suggested that not only is an "owner" worth more than a hundred customers with whom your organization has a more casual relationship but that he or she is more willing to be asked to go to work for its benefit. That's why organizations like Wegmans Food Markets, Baptist Health Care, ING Direct and Harrah's Entertainment nurture them while putting them to work in the service of their businesses.

Here are four tips on how to do it.

1. Identify the work that customers perform best:

Increasingly, customers have begun to take charge of transporting and assembling the products they buy, with an enthusiasm some call the "IKEA effect." IKEA customers, subscribing to its "global cult brand" of home furnishings, have for years carted their purchases home and assembled them themselves, thus greatly reducing costs for some of the most vexing and costly steps in selling and distributing home furnishings. IKEA's stores have large, attractive display spaces so that customers can envision how their purchases might look at home. Just as important, the items on display have to be designed for easy shipment in a disassembled form. To facilitate the do-it-yourself delivery process, IKEA maintains greater-than-normal inventories, so increased warehouse space is a must. It also is careful to provide clear assembly instructions and the right tools to enable customers to do their work.

2. Make the value meaningful and design the experience for them to succeed

Customers understand that IKEA's lower prices do not reflect poorer quality of design or materials. Instead, they believe that their own contribution to the process helps save money—so by transporting and assembling their new furniture, they are helping to create their own value. At the same time, they may be adding meaning to the overall customer experience: assembling an end table herself may create an extra sense of value for an IKEA customer. Other companies have emulated.At Build-A-Bear Workshop, for example, young customers work with Bear Builders to create and name their own teddy bears, then customize the bears' birth certificates with detailed personal information. Beyond absorbing some of the operating costs, these customers help create experiences that they and their loved ones treasure. 

3. Minimize negative customer work

At Build-A-Bear, lines of customers building their stuffed animals can become long. Contingency tactics are put into place that turn waiting into fun with several "line management plays" such as Line Lotto, Bear Conga, or an all-time favorite of sports fans, the Line Wave. That's why Bear Builder associates are hired in part for their ability to entertain. 

4. Choose the right customers, give them jobs and train (or re-train) them:

Once trained, even the most loyal customers may be difficult to retrain. For example, Southwest recently introduced a procedure for customers to reserve a place in the boarding lines, either online or at the check-in counter. Media reports suggested that the new process would eliminate the open-seating tradition. To dispel the confusion, the airline established an on-line "Boarding School" to retrain passengers and outline how to take advantage of the new features. Its FAQ page poses the question, "Does this mean I have an assigned seat?" and responds with: "No. At Southwest Airlines, we believe the best way for you to like where you sit, is to sit where you like. Once onboard, simply choose any available seat ... and relax." Each "graduation certificate" the Boarding School issues signifies another customer retrained.

Putting customers to work may very well be the best path to increasing your own company's customer engagement that leads to true customer ownership. One thing is for sure, once you have started down this path, customers will help you keep moving forward.

About the Authors
Joe Wheeler co-authored Managing the Customer Experience, Turning Customers into Advocateswith Shaun Smith. He is the Executive Director of the Service Profit Chain Institute, a consulting firm that helps organizations achieve dramatic business results by implementing service-profit chain concepts.