Opening Brands and Starting Conversations with Customers

A conversation with Kelly Mooney, President and CXO, Resource Interactive

The term “Web 2.0” has been so overused the past couple of years that it’s pretty much lost all meaning. However, whether you like the term or not, it represents a shift in how consumers interact with brands online. Web 2.0 has ushered in a new era of commerce where companies engage in dialogues with consumers rather than monologues. Through user-generated content, personalization and simply listening to the voice of the customer, brands have become much more open and responsive to the needs of consumers.

During this year's Shop.org Annual Summit we spoke with Resource Interactive’s Kelly Mooney about how new technologies are impacting how businesses market to their customers. Mooney is President and CXO of Resource Interactive, and has led the company through innovative thought leadership — ensuring that strategic, consumer-centered insights fuel all the work we do. She is responsible for overseeing the company’s studios, client relationships and day-to-day management of the business. Kelly capped over a decade of consumer-based marketing insights with the best-selling book, The Ten Demandments: Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Customer (McGraw-Hill, 2002), which she co-wrote. She also blogs at http://www.mooneythinks.com.

eStara: In your keynote presentation at this year’s Shop.org Summit, The O.P.E.N Brand, you highlighted a few ways that technology has empowered consumers. What does it mean to have an “open” brand?

KM: Brand engagement – not brand management – is the future. Marketers need a fresh strategic direction. Open is a world view, a mindset, a strategy—but it’s also a handy acronym for thinking about your brand’s spot in the social web. An “open” brand ( www.theopenbrand.com ) speaks to the experience brands offer consumers:

On-Demand: Consumers want what they want, right now.

Personal: Consumers expect authenticity, dialogue and service.

Engaging: Brands must share the spotlight with creative consumers!

Networked: A single consumer has exponential influence potential. Brands can tap into it or find themselves at the mercy of it.

Whereas a closed brand targets consumers, an open brand fosters its consumers’ communities. Think dialogue rather than monologue. It’s “pull” marketing rather than “push.” Traditionally brands were created by marketers. But with the rise of the internet-empowered consumer, brands are increasingly co-created with consumers, whether brands are on board or not—so it’s best to begin engaging your consumers and their communities. An open brand has to triangulate its communications—it has to cast itself as a member of a three-way relationship where push comes together with pull tactics, and all three parties—the brand, the consumer, online communities—meet at the shared intersection of passions and products.

eStara: How are retailers adjusting to having conversations with their customers rather than one-dimensional dialogues? Can you list any examples of retailers that are doing things right?

KM: Well, Dan, I don’t know if you have children, but as a parent, Webkinz is front and center in our household. And as a marketer, it’s hard not to be impressed. Webkinz offers an on-demand experience—the entire world unfolds when the secret code is entered. It’s entertaining; it creates interaction. Because Webkinz is marketing to such a young audience, it only allows interaction among friends, whereas an open brand taps the amplification potential of its consumers to reach their followers and communities.

Take Diesel, for example—a brand leveraging icitizens to wield influence by entering the blogoshpere, engaging web celebrities like Ze Frank, and inviting dialogue with its consumers. It has an entire section of its site dedicated to its community, their interests and passions. (http://www.diesel.com/cult ) By being less focused on mass media and more focused on leveraging the social web to build a following, Diesel can encroach on big denim turf, like Gap and Levi’s.

eStara : Last year you blogged about a frustrating experience with a retailer’s live chat service. What could that retailer have done to make your live chat experience a positive one?

KM: The option of live chat exists for customer convenience—it’s an on-demand service that helps the customer further down the purchasing path, ideally feeling confident in her choice and secure in the site experience. What it isn’t (or shouldn’t be) is an opportunity for retailers to try to sell her more, divert her down a different path, or leave her ultimately feeling impatient, annoyed and still full of questions. When a customer participates in live chat with a retailer, it’s to have her questions answered. Right now. As a retailer, it’s an opportunity build brand trust one-on-one. It should be personal. Quick. Relevant. Tempting as it may be to use that interaction for other purposes, retailers should stick to the script. And just as importantly, remember why customers came to chat in the first place and empower retail associates with product information at their fingertips—otherwise, what’s the point?

eStara: When it comes to guiding customers through the online commerce experience, what are some of the most common mistakes you see companies make?

KM: Overcomplicating a simple process. Retailers need to make it easy above all else. Don’t leave potential customers confused and frustrated because they can’t find what they’re looking for. Endless.com does great job of offering an on-demand, simple and intuitive shopping experience by offering guided navigation and visual browsing. Users can select a product feature such as size or color or even set specific price points, and immediately they’re served up a selection that falls inside the parameters they’ve chosen.

Another common mistake retailers make is by speaking to their customers as if they’re one and the same, rather than presenting a personal experience. Consumers want to feel important, appreciated, even celebrated. Even a well-targeted email rewarding her loyalty and acknowledging her preferences can make her feel acknowledged and privileged.

And, let’s not forget the importance of engaging your consumers! Such a big miss for so many retailers. Consumers seek experiences that are characterized by immersion, belonging, inspiration and entertainment. In contrast to “saving time” in the on-demand experience, the engaging experience is about spending time with the brand. Jeep’s Have Fun Out There campaign is a great example of embracing and encouraging brand community. Jeep created a sense of belonging by inviting photo sharing by its brand fans. A heightened sense of belonging comes when this free (keyword: free) content was featured in a NY Times ad!

It’s just not enough for retailers to simply talk product features and benefits—they have to listen to, learn from and join consumers’ conversations. Tap shared passions and leverage the power of the web to open their brands. What do your consumers care about? Once you can answer that question, you’re well on your way.