Winning the Mind at Decision Time - Research by Rapide Communication

Addressing Fundamental Human Truths at the Right Moment can Turn Customers Into Lifelong Fans

COVENTRY, England, December 17 - Rapide has launched a research effort to explore a series of marketing
concepts from unusual angles. The first such "Thought Bubble" is in progress
- here's a taste.

Summary

Two interesting concepts familiar to marketers - "Fundamental Human
Truths" and "Moments of Truth" - are rarely used in concert. But putting them
together can demonstrate which parts of your customer experience are capable
of keeping a customer forever - by turning concepts from psychology into
quantifiable opportunities.

FHTs and MOTs

Fundamental Human Truths (FHT's) are universally accepted ideas like
"Dreams are worth chasing" or "I deserve respect as an individual". Many
marketers and psychologists have tried categorising them - most notably
Maslow and his hierarchy of needs, which puts conditions for basic survival
(food, shelter, warmth) on the bottom and self actualisation (ambition,
dreams) at the top.

A Moment of Truth (MOT) is simpler: it's a discrete experience (often
quite small) that has a disproportionate effect on the customer's opinion of
you. For example, how long the wait for the lift is, or the facial expression
of your receptionist.

Your business may have hundreds of MOTs, but how many of them coincide
with FHTs? - In other words, which MOTs pack the biggest punch with customer
experience? That's what we're researching.

Our 'Thought Bubble' is: Find the MOTs that also speak to FHTs, and you
know all the critical touch points of your business. Some examples:

Fred Lee's book "If Disney ran your Hospital" gives the example of a
woman who graded her clinical experience very negatively … because the
nurse assigned to her room kept entering without knocking. The patient's
major surgical procedure had been completed successfully, yet what mattered
most to her was a tiny aspect of staff behaviour.

Why? Because the nurse's actions (at a Moment of Truth) had bumped up
against a Fundamental Human Truth: people have a right to privacy.

A 64-year old woman wanted a spare pushchair for her baby grandson, so
her working daughter could drop off the baby for the day without needing to
ferry equipment around. The store she visited only sold models that faced the
baby forwards, explaining that "This lets the child interact with its
surroundings." Big mistake. That MOT was in conflict with another Fundamental
Human Truth: Children deserve their family's attention. To the grandmother,
this meant a chair with the child facing her.

In the UK, first-class railway passengers were invited to text their
impressions of the service to a mobile number in the train carriage. A
surprising proportion of the responses were about apparently minor matters:
discarded newspapers, noisy people, a broken kettle in the bar car. In other
words, the moments of experience that rubbed up against FHTs: comfort,
dignity, thirst.

At Moments of Truth like these, customers make big decisions in the blink
of an eye. These decisions can reduce their lifetime value to zero … or
raise it to hundreds of thousands of pounds. So if you can easily and quickly
spot these decision shaping experiences, and focus on giving a lot more
people the most positive outcome imaginable when they experience them, the
value-add to your business can be colossal. Because you've pushed the right
button at precisely the right moment, gaining immense emotional traction.

Fortunately, there's a way to listen in to those conversations and put
the resulting mass of data to use.

The Rapide Sentiment Challenge

At Rapide, we run a Sentiment Challenge for companies wanting to uncover
the customer experiences that really matter… and it's already working for
companies including Premier Inn, Honda, Audi, Virgin Active and Burger King.
The results are an easy to manage and award winning service delivering
unparalleled analysis…FAST.

To take part in the Sentiment Challenge call Matthew Lakey or Yiannis
Maos on +44(0)2476-011-911 or go to:

www.rapide.co.uk/the_sentiment_challenge.html

To find out more about Rapide go to www.rapide.co.uk

To take part in the Sentiment Challenge call Matthew Lakey or Yiannis Maos on +44(0)2476-011-911