Here’s one way to commit to measurement while honoring your spirit, your customers,
And the big idea: Measure what your customers say about you they’re talking to each other. Some technology vendors call this social–media monitoring (guilty!). That’s a terrible term. You’re not monitoring media, you’re listening to your customers. And what can you find out?
Are your customers more positive about you than they were last month? Are they asking more of the kinds of questions that mean they’re considering purchase? Or switching to a different brand? What other topics do they talk about when they talk about you? Are there abbreviations or slang associated with your brand? And which of those topics do they really care about?
Technology will bring you to the data but you have to drink it, absorb it and do something valuable with it. Give it context. Sentiment data is repeatedly tested and benchmarked against human agreement, but make no mistake, there is no substitute for your own insights. But the big idea isn’t about the difference between 75% and 81% on a sentiment graph. The big idea is about spotting a trend faster than everyone else, and then finding meaning in it.
And when you can see a trend line going up, then look in real time and see the customer conversations that are driving that trend that’s more powerful than raw numbers. It might give you a big idea—or help you sell one you already have.
Show me an idea that has been projected, measured, processed, flowcharted, spread sheeted, analyzed, and stripped of its customer context, and I’ll show you a small idea. You don’t get to skirt sound measurement, but you can ask for a new dimension. A human dimension. Spirit.
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