Best Experiences
Let’s imagine how a world with VRM would look like for Best Customers.
- Amazon completely customises its home page and app for me. I just see the world of books.
- Mint offers an exclusive monthly interaction with their editorial team to discuss the economy and key trends
- The new Disney movie is releasing on the weekend. Inox reserves three tickets for me and sends me an email offering to hold the seats for the next two hours while I decide
- Samsung offers me an early use of their new smartphone. I can use it for a month and then decide if I want to pay for it.
- Sony sends me an email with a special number I can call for any problems that I may face going forward.
- Kotak Securities offers me a periodic assessment of my portfolio and a 30-minute consultation with their investment team
- Myntra opens up a chat window with a customer service representative when my wife visits their site. They also offer not just free shipping but also the ability to have any three dresses sent home for trial each month and my wife can pay later for only those that she keeps
- Nykaa would send my wife a “what to buy next” recommendation every week – with a lowest price guarantee
- Kellogg’s would offer to get me my favourite cereals (which they don’t sell in India)
- Amazon offers me insights from any book that I browse in the form of a 7-day micron series
The list can go on. All it requires marketers to do is to walk in the shoes of their Best Customer – and envision the royalty experience that would ensure a monopoly of their spends with the brand. In a world where everything is a click away, this is the extreme loyalty that brands must strive for.
2020 has forever changed the way our lives as customers. In this digital world, marketers must now recognise that they can know individually about every one of their customers, understand that customer lifetime value follows a power law where a small number of customers are very valuable, and start crafting experiences that are distinctive and differentiated to maximise loyalty and spend from these Best Customers. Winners in tomorrow’s world will be defined not only by their products but also the experiences. And at the heart of these experiences is the secret sauce of VRM as the accelerant for the data and profits flywheel.
