Computers in Libraries Conference
OPENING KEYNOTE — Evolving Community Engagement: What Would Amazon & Google Do?
Brent Leary, Partner, CRM Essentials, author of upcoming book The Amazon Effect
Rebecca Jones, Managing Partner, Dysart & Jones Associates
Brent Leary:
We know that the pace of technology in increasing. There are more iphones than there are babies being born, 400,000 apps per minute being downloaded; 2015 7.9 zettabytes of information and has gone up from 1.8 zettabytes(20 zeroes) since last year.
86% of people skip tv ads; 91% unsubscribe to emails
In business, the average person doesn’t have any more attention to give; so to get attention you have to get it from someone else. ESPN created a new site-March Madness on Demand–a whole social community around the game. And it brought their television viewership up, and engaged more participants. I
t’s not just about improving your engagement with the “customer”–it’s about improving their life experience. Examples–Google Glass to give people hands free, Google Now. Trying to make information and tools more consumable and improves people’s experiences using it in their daily lives.
2012 Foreesee E-tail Satisfaction Index data is telling: 1% change in website satisfaction can predict 14% change in revenues. When highly satisfied 64 % of responders more likely to buy from same compnay, 67% to recommend, 65% brand identification.
It’s the “subscription” economy–companies trying to sort out how to provide subscriptions– creative ways to better engage them. By 2015 more than 40% of media/digital companies are trying to use subscription services to provide content. (Wow)
For example, the TIE Society–you create an online closet, they send you the first tie in your closet–like Netflix for ties. You return when done. Companies using technology to make our lives easier or more fun.
Amazon provide virtual experiences w/out you ever talking to a person. 82% of Amazon Prime members buy on Amazon even if the item is less expensive somewhere else. Brand loyalty; speed.
How do you as a company take all the data to turn it into customer insights and then solidify your relationship with them? Empathy important–if you foul up the interaction, the data doesn’t matter. Privacy issues, for example.
Sentensity–a combination of sentiment and intensity. Amazon’s purchase of Good Reads for example has people a little disgruntled. Why did Amazon buy Good Reads? Possibly because Good Reads is a very active reading community and statistics are showing that increasing numbers of buyers are buying based on recommendations of people they know. Also they can see what books are being linked up together, so there’s quite a bit of data there that would allow Amazon to serve better book choices. But will it cross the line of privacy?
Leary–
Applicable to libraries–if you build a community either offline or online, you can create the same sort of brand loyalty Amazon has. Their users buy things from Amazon EVEN when they are more expensive, for example.
Rebecca–If a library is your client, what are the first three things you would ask them to do to include customers?
1. We have a great opportunity to create online areas for book discussion as well as in person book conversations, and this is incredibly important (especially as bookstores go away). This is what people are doing online in sites like GoodReads.
2. Be open to cultural change. Ask What If? to open up the possibilities.
3. It’s about mutual value. If you can create mutual value, it’s a win win. Because the customer adds value to your organization — it is a mutual relationship.
If you are nimble enough to provide good customer service and new services, then customers respond. Hard for older institutions (for example libraries) to do that sometimes. Example of new service UBER–locates you by GPS and sends a car to pick you up, instead of using a taxi, for example.
Rebecca Jones–In session yesterday, talk about that libraries have egos about what they think clients want. How do we breakdown our egos and focus on the customer needs?