Image Source: http://www.customerattheheart.co.uk/
In a recent British Parliamentary Enquiry into the awarding of rail franchises to private companies, Richard Branson said: “Our customers are at the heart of our business”.
What does this really mean from a practical point of view to the Virgin Group? Well, as an example Virgin Mobile recently asked its Australian customers to nominate themselves to be part of a Virgin Tester Team. The successful Tester Team participants are sent the latest handset to test drive and asked them to review the phone model’s advantages and disadvantages via a two minute video. This is uploaded to Virgin’s YouTube page and the Tester’s own social media channels. Then they get to keep the handset.
This initiative is based on two bits of customer insight:
1) Online consumer reviews are the second most trusted source of product information, only behind referrals received from family and friends.
2) The growing trend on YouTube for users to upload videos of themselves , share them with friends showing the moment of newly purchased technology products.
This is an example of taking customers into the heart of your business based on customer insight and good business sense. By asking real people to review handsets openly potential customers are getting a fair and honest review by everyday people, not just the technology pros. It enables Virgin Mobile to obtain rapid and meaningful feedback from customers that it can use to continually improve the customer experience.
How can you bring customers into the heart of your operations?
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