3rd
Proof That Listening Is Important To Your Success
A frustrated Gorillapod customer left a comment on a blog one day talking about how his Gorillapod broke…again. The owner of Gorillapod left a comment on the same blog apologizing for the bad experience and told the customer to contact him so they can send a new one, this time the “beefier” model to guarantee it wouldn’t break again.
Jim Noble wrote a review on eBags.com after the zipper on a bag he purchased broke. The review simply noted he liked the bag, but the zipper’s design was weak. Since eBags tracks reviews, they sent Jim a new bag. But they went one step further by writing and thanking Jim for making them aware of the flaw, and notified him that his advise was being passed on to the manufacturers so future bags wouldn’t have weak zippers.
The M.D. Anderson Cancer Treatment Center thought the reason cancer patients chose them was because of their reputation of staying on top of technology and medical advancements. As it turns out, they were wrong. Through an online community where cancer patients could share their stories and support other patients, M.D. Anderson learned a number of valuable insights. One being that patients were consistently waiting one to four hours before at their appointment before they finally saw their doctor. With this and other insights, M.D. Anderson could focus their marketing message on what the customers really valued, not what they thought the customers valued.
I could tell you many more stories just like these, but these three should help you understand why listening to your customers online is valuable to the success of your business and why you need to be listening.
