As I noted in my previous customer experience report on Amazon Go, removing friction from the shopping process is a strategy that has driven much of Amazon’s online innovation (1-Click ordering, etc.).  And lately they have been innovating around making in-store shopping more convenient.

In February, they expanded to eight locations in Seattle, in preparation to expand more broadly in the months ahead.

According to their announcement,

“Amazon One is a fast, convenient, contactless way for people to use their palm to make everyday activities like paying at a store, presenting a loyalty card, entering a location like a stadium, or badging into work more effortless. The service is designed to be highly secure and uses custom-built algorithms and hardware to create a person’s unique palm signature.”

I happened to be shopping at Whole Foods, and saw the Amazon One sign on the way out (yes, wrong place!).  But I was sufficiently intrigued to interrupt my journey to the car and investigate.

Amazon One at Whole Foods

I like conducting experiential research.  It helps me understand the customer journey more holistically.  And it uncovers opportunities for improvement across the end-to-end experience.  What follows is my experience, complete with inner monologue.

Setting up Amazon One is as Easy as One-Two — Oh, We’re Done

Unlike Amazon Go, where you first had to download Amazon Go to your smartphone and learn the app, Amazon One signup was as simple as it gets.

Tap the POS to get started.  Follow on-screen sign-up instructions.

The POS asks me to insert my credit card.  I do.  It congratulates me – good use of psychology.  I can go to their website or scan a QR code to see which cards are accepted.  No need.

Scan my right palm.  Scan the left.  I wonder why they might need both.  That minor moment of friction gives me pause.  As a mystery writer who is always scheming how best to commit crimes, I realize they now have the ability to identify me should I ever shoplift at Whole Foods using my non-dominant hand.

Using Amazon One

Of course, now I have to go back into the store to try this new technology out.  I think about what I can get that I didn’t get on my original visit just minutes before.  I consider going for produce but that needs to be weighed. And I decide in advance that Amazon One probably can’t handle that. So I opt for prepackaged goat cheese.

Since I only have one item I go to the self-serve line, which has a sign saying they can only take credit cards – no cash.  I try to use my palm, and a helpful employee tells me I need to go through the full service checkout line.  So my palm is not a credit card.

I go through the regular checkout line where I explain I am a first timer and the helpful cashier shows my how to hover my hand over the checkout sensor.  It takes just a second to get the distance right.

Then, zap.  Money comes out of my hand. I have superpowers.

This is quite exciting.

So what is the benefit of Amazon One?

I guess for in-store shopping this is handy if I am juggling groceries or children and can’t spare two hands to dig through my handbag or pocket to extract my credit card.  Of if I have impulsively wandered in off the street without my wallet or smartphone, and would otherwise have no way to pay.  I don’t know anyone who goes anywhere without their smartphones.

For retailers it will get customers through the line faster, which improves the experience for everyone in line behind them.

But the real benefit of this technology, I believe, is to Amazon.  The name gives it away.  Amazon wants Amazon One to become the one way to identify people everywhere they go.

“… we believe Amazon One has broad applicability beyond our retail stores, so we also plan to offer the service to third parties like retailers, stadiums, and office buildings so that more people can benefit from this ease and convenience in more places.”

Careful, Your Biometric Data is Showing

When I think about all the ways Amazon “sees” what we are doing, they already have a really good idea of what we are up to.  They:

• Can hear what we say at home (Alexa allegedly recorded a murder in Florida)
• Can see who comes and goes from our homes (Ring)
• Know our entertainment habits and preferences (Prime Video)
• Know our spending patterns on their site
• And, for those with an Amazon card they have visibility into what we spend everywhere else

I know I traded away my privacy for convenience a long time ago.  My smartphone knows where I am at all times.  And closed circuit cameras monitor my behavior on the streets.

But I have now just given away my biometric data, That feels more personal.  If Amazon One does become a ubiquitous form of identification, with the rise in cybercrime it feels like I am just one hacker away from having my biometric data stolen.

Searching for the Elusive “Unenroll”

Fortunately, Amazon offers me the option to delete my data if I choose.  Let’s see how that goes. 

I Google Amazon One and look for their Q&A, which addresses privacy concerns and explains there are two ways to “unenroll” – in store at the device itself (which requires me to return to the store), or via the online customer portal at one.amazon.com (no link supplied).  After typing in the URL I am taken to a page that introduces the product.  I navigate to the Help section, select Managing My Amazon One ID and scroll down to the last option, How Do I Cancel my Amazon One ID. There, I find a very unhelpful message which directs, but does not take, me to another site.

I go to the main Amazon.com site, search for my Amazon One ID and get a message that there isn’t one associated with me.  That can’t be true.

So I click on Help and am returned to the same menu I started with. I next go to the troubleshooting section, where it is #1 on the list.  Ah-ha.  First I have to link my data to Amazon One, then cancel.

Troubleshooting Amazon One

So I search on my phone for the Welcome text, where I find a link to view my history and manage my Amazon One ID.  I click to see a landing page that asks me to sign in with my Amazon account, which I have long forgotten.  After signing in, I see the notice “the link is no longer active.”  Grrrr.  Amazon wants me to have them resend the welcome message.  To do this I must use the help menu on, wait for it, the Amazon One device to get a new link.

Funny how Amazon wants to make the buying experience seamless but has built in an incredible amount of friction into the cancellation process.  Not so consumer-centric after all.  And even though I used the same credit card for Amazon One as I do for my regular Amazon purchases, they can’t seem to find me in their system.

At this point I decide I might as well go to Whole Foods.  It’s a good thing I love grocery stores.

Back to the Scene of the Crime

On entering the store I go to the Amazon One device.  It takes me a little time to find the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of the screen.  Selecting the option to unsubscribe, I get a cute little pouting emoji saying “We’re sad to see you go.”  I also feel a little sad that I have cut myself off from the opportunity to use my palm for powerful purposes (and I am right in the store where the temptation to use my superpower is high).

But then, as I leave Whole Foods, I get an email from my credit card company notifying me “your card has been removed from Amazon One.”  And I realize I have seen nothing from Amazon to confirm my successful unsubscribe and reassure me that my palm prints have been deleted.  This is a miss on Amazon’s part, because now I am wondering what has happened to my biometric data.

So, for me, the jury is out.  I am not sure the thrill of using my palm as a superpower will be worth the increased risk of my palm print data getting into the wrong hands (pun intended).

Be interested to hear what you think!

Their top customization trends for June 2018 lists 25 of the most popular products now being customized – everything from haircare systems targeting your personal hair goals to “alphabet” eyewear you can use to communicate messages from the comfort of your (raised?) eyebrows.  One of my favorites:  Woolly, out of Portland, got Kickstarter funding to build an interface that enables people to customize their wallets by choosing leather colors, stitching, pattern and inscription.  284 backers pledged $25,116 to help bring this project to life.

Source:  Woolly

Why is customization so popular?

Customization taps into deeper Trend Hunter–identified mega trends of personalization, co-creation, and curation.

Customization is also important because Millennials see customization as a form of luxury.  According to a MindSwarm study, Millennials perceive luxury differently than previous generations.  They recognize “True luxury” – think ultra-expensive Rolex watches – still exists but is not yet attainable.  But they also demand “My luxury,” where they can curate everyday experiences and products to make them their own.

So if Millennials are important to your business, customization could be an innovation opportunity.

Customization as an innovation opportunity

A client of mine, Knack, is disrupting the gift industry by enabling customers to create custom gift sets for just about any occasion:  employee appreciation programs, corporate events, thanking clients for their business, birthdays, wedding party gifts, college care packages, housiversaries (really, this is starting to become a thing in real estate) and even bad breakups.

When Knack looked at the market, it seemed saturated with gift baskets, florists, and “slap your corporate logo on this coffee mug” companies.  But nothing struck them as particularly innovative or fresh.  They researched giving from a number of different angles and learned, among other things, that when it comes to gifts, employees and customers really don’t want company swag, and that a lot of people care about where exactly their gifts come from.  Knack developed an ecommerce site that enables gift givers to custom tailor gifts by occasion, recipient, interest / product category, and ethos (local, handmade, sustainable, women entrepreneurs, < 10 employees).

They have been in business since 2014 and are getting great traction.

One of the most exciting parts about scaling a business is there are a lot of strategic choices to make.  That leads to a number of questions that Knack continues to revisit.

7 questions to ask when inviting your customers to design their own products:

• Are Millennials important to your business, either as direct purchasers or influencers? If so, how satisfied are they with existing solutions in your industry?
• What target segments are most important to prioritize, when it comes to customization?
• Who in your industry – or adjacent to your industry – is offering customization? What lessons can you learn from them?
• What dimensions should you customize on? Consider product features, how made, where made, and by whom.  What else?
• How much choice should you offer? Where’s the sweet spot?
• Will customers need help making a selection? What customer service is required?
• What technology is needed to make the user experience seamless and enjoyable?

I think regardless of industry, customization will continue to be an enduring trend.  I would love to hear about your experiences and share best practices.

Let me know!

This post was originally published by the American Marketing Executive Circle.

Removing friction from the shopping process is a strategy that has driven much of Amazon’s online innovation (1-Click ordering, etc.).  And now they are innovating around making in-store shopping more convenient.

For those interested in the technology that enables Amazon Go to track and bill purchases without requiring customers to check out, check out GeekWire’s article which looks into the patents Amazon filed.

The opening of the store to the public followed a lengthy beta test conducted with Amazon employees.

I wanted to see how their experiment was going.  (Plus I wanted to see if it felt like shoplifting.)

As with any new innovation, there are areas for improvement, but overall it’s pretty exciting.

Here’s my shop-along experience, complete with inner monologue.  I find conducting experiential research like this helpful.  It’s a way to think about the customer journey more holistically and identify opportunities for improvement across the end-to-end experience.

If you have already visited in person feel free to scroll directly to the sections on what I’d do to improve Amazon Go, and how Amazon Go opens up possibilities for further innovation from Amazon.

Setting up the app is not friction-free

Source:  Amazon 

First you have to download Amazon Go to your smartphone.  At first I was irritated at this prospect, as I hate being asked to download anything these days.  But the actual downloading was almost instant.  Pain over.  I did wonder why they don’t just automatically include this as an upgrade to the regular Amazon app.  They have all my info.

Once you open the Go app, there is a mini tutorial.  Mental sigh.  Most intro tutorials insist on telling you more than you need or want to know.  History of the company?  No thank you.  But the Amazon Go tutorial is quite efficient.  The tutorial shows you how to use your app to enter the store.  You can replay the instruction or swipe to continue.  The tutorial then takes you through the shopping experience, covering only the most likely scenarios – shopping with someone else – what happens if you decide you don’t want the product – a reminder not to carry other peoples’ shopping carts because your account will be charged.  One question they didn’t address is whether you have to return your discarded item to the same location or whether you can leave it near the exit.  I will have to experiment with a low-cost item.  Something about this excites me.

Once I have swiped and seen their intro, I press “Got it, Let’s Shop,”  then am presented with a Sign In page.  I am slightly taken aback.  I was expecting to go shopping but now they need more information so I am NOT going shopping.

After grumbling at having to enter a password, as I am so done with passwords, I look up my password (an annoying extra step), enter my email and password, and am presented with payment card options from my regular Amazon account.  I select my preferred  card.  I get a message they can’t verify it and ask me to update the card.  Grr.  I know that card works.  I press update card and check “Edit”.  My card is perfectly fine.  Thought so.  I go back to the earlier screen and now the card I selected for Amazon Go seems to be working.  I press “Update Card” and get the same error message.  So I check “Edit”, then check the address.  Aha.  They want me to select a billing address.  Don’t they know my billing address?  Hrumpf.  I select my address from the list of addresses I have previously used to send items to – why did they do that, they should know my billing address  –  and press “Use this Address.”  Save.  Return to earlier screen.  For the third time I press “Set as default card.”  Same error message.  I am officially unimpressed.

I try a different card.  That seems to work.  I am not happy about having to use this card instead of my original selection.

Amazon now wants to know if I would like to get alerts, sounds or badges.  After that experience, NO.

At last, I get a screen with my QR code and a cute little Apple-like message:  Hello, Lisa.  I realize I am now a QR code to Amazon.  But I am a cute little human QR code.

The screen shows a banner across the top telling me the address and today’s open hours which is just what I want to know.  The icons along the bottom cover the areas I care about and address my main questions.

• Key: gets me in
• Discover: I think this is going to address my biggest question, what do they actually sell there, and it turns out they lead with timely offers which is even better – I’d forgotten about Valentine’s Day.  The app shows appetizing photos of the main categories –  they sell beer and wine which requires a valid ID – will I have to show that at checkout?  Will that slow me down?  It’s nice to be able to parse through Discover and see what I might want to get on my visit.  It’s like looking at a restaurant’s menu.  This ability to pre-plan means I’ll be able to whisk through the store even faster.
• Receipts: did you charge me extra?
• About: gives a short paragraph on how Go actually works, which is pretty cool – now I feel I am in the know about Just Walk Out Technology and I am excited to learn they have chef-designed Amazon Meal Kits.

The app shows links to the map in several places which I found handy.  The CTA is clear:  VISIT.

From the food featured, I am guessing that the target audience for this store is tech-enabled 20 or 30 year olds who value the ability to find extra precious seconds of time in their work-oriented lives.   But they still want to eat healthy, and might be even willing to prepare a semi home cooked meal on occasion.

Sounds a lot like the Amazon employee – a good target for this location (next to Amazon HQ) and a good target for the neighborhood.

Getting to Amazon Go

Source: Lisa Fernow

Not being an Amazon employee, I can’t just pop out of my office and walk.  So I drive.  The streets around 7th and Blanchard are under construction, and I don’t see any obvious place to park.  I circle the block and eventually spot a sign for a parking garage.  It says it’s full but there are still spots for retail shoppers.  That would be me.  Relief.  The elevator helpfully tells which floor to get off on.

I step outside and see what appears to be a line to get in.  How ironic.

It turns out it’s a group of tourists taking selfies.  Once I pass them I see crowd control stanchions, fortunately with no people in line, with signs making it clear you need to download the app before entering.  This feels pretty friction-full.

A friendly greeter offers me a shopping bag.  I feel welcomed and mildly like an insider:  I have just been given Amazon swag.

I have a little trouble scanning my key.  I want to swipe.  The turnstile wants me to hold my phone still.  Same friendly greeter helps me and manages not to make me feel like an idiot.

It’s not shopping.  It’s not shoplifting.  It’s a sortie!

Source: Wikipedia

Once inside I immediately see a section called “Eat Now”.  It’s perfectly laid out for grab-and-go.

The offerings are inspired by cuisines from all over the world.  The sandwiches are from local bakeries and sandwich shops.  They have an enormous yogurt selection.  Not just yogurt – the point of sale says Icelandic yogurt.  Really appetizing options.  I wonder how well they are optimizing their shelf space.  Hope someone from Whole Foods is advising them.

It’s after lunch and they are out of stock in many items.  Disappointing.  I was hoping to try one of the middle eastern inspired sandwiches but all that’s left seems to be various nationalities of chicken.  I eventually select a burrata caprese sandwich with roasted red peppers on ciabatta roll which turns out to be delicious.

There are no bananas or other individual fruits for sale.  Guess Amazon technology can’t handle that.

I see a sign indicating the “Eat Later” section and wander in to see what’s there.

There is a freezer section of meals, including Beecher’s Mac and Cheese which is a go-to dinner when I am feeling in need of comfort food, and a small shelf of staples in case I happen to be out.  I wonder who in the target audience is actually cooking meals from scratch.

I find the wine section and am pleased to see a decent selection.  I pick out a bottle of Airfield Estates Chardonnay, a local winery.  The wine area is guarded by a polite employee who cards me.  Ah ha.  That’s how they get around the legal age question.  I ask him if he can help me switch to my preferred credit card.  He refers me to another employee who in turn suggests I contact customer support.

On my departure I am thanked for coming.  Nice touch.

As I exit the parking garage I think, I wish Amazon Go could automatically charge my parking fee.  My experience at Amazon Go has already subtly changed my expectations about paying for things.  When the gate arm lifts it turns out I have not parked long enough to be charged.  Woo hoo!

Later I get a notification app that shows what I bought, along with pictures and prices, and tells me my trip time was only 05m 16s including the wandering.  Nice reinforcement of the time savings benefit.

Amazon Go is not really a supermarket.  I’d say Amazon Go is closer to a mini-mart or c-store, or even a walk-in vending machine.  It’s all about convenience.  I was expecting to feel a little bit naughty, or triumphant, at having come out of a store without paying.  Or dazzled by the technology.  Instead I felt … nothing.

But for the convenience seeker, that’s how it should be.  In and out.  As easy and as unobtrusive as breathing.  That’s what it feels like when an experience is without friction.

What I might do to improve the current experience

Amazon got a lot right, and it’s only a few weeks into the public launch.  But even the launch of a conventional store requires a shaking down period, and Amazon is testing an entirely new concept.

There is still plenty of perceived and actual friction to overcome before the full end-to-end experience becomes truly seamless.

If the idea is to serve office workers and reduce the time and mental effort it takes for them to get their eat-now or eat-later food here are some things I might test.

The app:

• On downloading the app tell people to sign in to connect the app to their Amazon account and preferred credit card before telling them to go shopping
• Enable customers to sort by cuisine they’re in the mood for
• Enable people to pre-order items and pick them up from the store – or better yet, deliver them. This way customers don’t worry their selection will be taken – mental friction – and Amazon can better manage demand
• Stream a live feed to show how crowded the store is, so people can time their visits
• Show what’s in- and out- of stock in real time
• Include nearby parking lot locations and available parking spaces – ideally sync up with a parking app to reserve a space (not relevant for people in nearby offices but helpful if Amazon wants to attract other shoppers)

The store:

• Provide a place in the entryway, out of the rain, for people to sign up for the Amazon Go app in comfort
• Find a way to sell individual pieces of fruit and other lunch or snack foods that are generally sold by weight. Amazon bananas!
• Optimize merchandise mix and out of stocks – leverage Whole Foods expertise. Perhaps include a few more non-food items office workers might urgently need:  phone chargers?  Flowers?
• Sell (or give away) Amazon Go thermal bags so people can buy dinner items at lunch and keep them cold
• Train store employees to assist with technical support (credit cards, etc.)

What’s next?  What else Amazon could experiment with based on their Amazon Go learnings

From a customer experience perspective I don’t see Amazon Go technology being installed at Whole Foods in its current state, unless they create a self-contained store-within-a-store with a separate entrance, for a few reasons.

• Not every Whole Foods shopper may want to sign up for the Go app.
• There are important categories – bulk foods, fruits and vegetables, pharmacy – that the Just Walk Out technology probably can’t accommodate.
• For pantry-loading shopping occasions, reducing the checkout line won’t significantly reduce total shopping time.
• And part of what some people get from going to a conventional grocery store is the social interaction with store employees. Convenience is not for everyone.  In a fascinating NYT article, The Tyranny of Convenience, Tim Wu makes the case that convenience has a dark side:  “With its promise of smooth, effortless efficiency, it threatens to erase the sort of struggles and challenges that help give meaning to life.”

But I can easily see Amazon Go mini-marts work in other office buildings.  This could be a way for Amazon / Whole Foods to expand their retail footprint to capture occasions currently unavailable to them.

Other things Amazon might try:

• Integrate Amazon Go, Amazon.com, Amazon Books and Whole Foods back end systems and loyalty programs.
• Make it easier for customers to sign up for, shop and manage their account across all retail channels, on an opt-in basis.
• Allow customers to see their total Amazon and Whole Food shopping history in one place.
• Allow Amazon to suggest items to get from Whole Foods or order from Amazon.com based on their Amazon Go lunch preferences.

Long term, as customers adopt checkout free shopping, Amazon might consider licensing their technology to other retailers.

The possibilities are exciting, and I will look forward to seeing what innovations Amazon experiments with next.

All systems Go!

This post was originally published by the American Marketing Executive Circle.

Amazon has been in the news a lot lately, and rightly so. It’s fascinating to be sitting in their back yard where I get to see some of these innovations for myself.

In early 2017 they announced an experiment with Amazon Go, a cashier-less store of the future which hasn’t opened yet due to technical issues.

(Source: Recode.net)

They are also experimenting with formats that allow customers to buy their items online, schedule time slots to pick them up, and drive to the pickup location where employees will deliver orders to their cars.

(Source: Seattle Times)

And in June Amazon introduced their Dash Wand with Alexa which lets you scan the bar codes for the items in your fridge, or just call them out – mushrooms! – to save to your shopping cart. It even helps you figure out what to do with the food you already have.

And when Amazon announced they would acquire Whole Foods for nearly $14B it sparked a whole lotta news.

Amazon’s latest acquisition of Whole Foods: a few industry perspectives

Local high tech publisher GeekWire’s story by Todd Bishop speaks to how the Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods grocery chain dramatically expands their physical retail footprint.

Felix Richter’s article in Statista speaks to the opportunity for Amazon to use Whole Foods’ distribution and procurement network to boost its online grocery offerings, to further penetrate the U.S. online grocery market – currently the ecommerce market for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales in the U.S. is only 1.4%, compared with 16.6% for South Korea.

A recent NYT article by Claire Cain Miller speaks to the acquisition signaling the end of the line for many cashiers.

And the Harvard Business Review article by Bill Taylor on Amazon, Whole Foods, and the Future of the (Old) New Economy offers a very thoughtful look at what the deal says about the future of an approach to business, branding, and organizational culture that Whole Foods and Amazon have come to represent.

I think all of these perspectives are valuable, but so far I have not seen anyone comment on what all of this means for the customer experience. As marketers I imagine we are all thinking about this question. So here is my take, and I welcome your thoughts:

4 marketing strategies Amazon seems to be following: a consumer perspective

The Amazon mission statement makes it clear what drives them – it’s serving consumers:

“Our vision is to be earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”

I’m seeing this mission statement brought to life in a few ways:

1. Making Prime more valuable so more people sign up

Just as Gillette once priced their razors low so they could make money on razorblades, Amazon is looking to drive penetration of Prime membership so they can make money on what customers order. Part of the way Amazon markets Prime is by making this membership simple to get. But they are also working to make Prime more valuable, for example, if you sign up for Prime you’re the first group to get access to just about every new device or service they offer.

This includes getting Whole Foods products delivered to your doorstep.

Grocery is not in itself an attractive category – the margins are terrible. But offering grocery as a new category for home delivery increases delivery frequency, and once customers are ordering groceries regularly they’re also throwing in other products, which is attractive.

2. Lowering costs to consumers

When Amazon got into the e-book business they dropped the price to such a low level it put at least one publisher out of business.

Some analysts are already talking about the possibility of Amazon doing this for Whole Foods products.

3. Eliminating friction from the buying process

Consider everything Amazon has pioneered or pursued to make it as easy as possible to buy something from them online: low prices, one-click shopping, easy checkout, easy returns, free shipping.

In store they are experimenting with skipping the cash register entirely. With the Amazon Go app you’ll no longer need your wallet.

With the Dash Wand with Alexa you don’t need to write down your shopping list.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Amazon closes deals with smart refrigerators using Internet of Things (IOT) to automatically reorder your groceries for you, through Amazon of course.

What this eventually all adds up to …

4. Eliminating thinking altogether?

Every marketer works hard to build top of mind awareness and strives to get into the considered set. Amazon is working hard to become the only company you think of when you buy anything.

As a Prime Member, I now default to Amazon when it comes to buying online. After all, I have already paid my $99 for “free” shipping. No matter that this is a sunk cost: psychologically, I’m still trying to get more return from that investment. Amazon is happy because I’m finding new things to buy. I once used my Prime Membership to buy potting soil.

Yes, Amazon sent me dirt.

If you’re not at the table, you’re on the table 

So what does this mean for marketers? Here are 3 resources to help you understand Amazon and what it might mean for your business:

1. John Rossman’s blog is a great place to get a former insider’s perspective on Amazon’s strategy. In talking to him my sense is that he still has a great finger on the pulse of how this company thinks.
2. To stay on top of what Amazon is doing, a great resource is GeekWire.
3. To see what Amazon is about to do, a great resource is CB Insights, which uses their patents search engine to track Amazon’s intellectual property efforts.

While every situation is different, here are 3 strategies to consider if your company lies in the path of Amazon:

1. Hunker down. Prepare for the long haul. Right now Nordstrom, after taking a beating from Amazon, is talking about going private. My guess is, they expect a battle and don’t want to be distracted by pressure to make their quarterly numbers.
2. Double down. Amazon can sell a lot of things to a lot of people, but they can’t sell everything to everyone, much as they would like to. What is it your company does better than anyone else, for a particular audience? How can you become the top of mind choice for this group?
3. Reconsider your options. What business are you really in? Look at this not from the perspective of what you’re selling (buggy whips: product – oriented) but from the perspective what people are buying (transportation: customer – oriented). Ted Levitt’s famous Marketing Myopia article is even more relevant today.

I look forward to hearing how you will be responding!

This post was originally published by the American Marketing Executive Circle.

(Main photo source: Geekwire)

If you work at a large organization you may have anthropologists on staff, or you may engage outside firms to conduct ethnographic research, as in this excellent Atlantic article. And if you can observe these experts in action, that’s ideal.

But there’s also value in doing it yourself, practicing on “friends and family” who use your product or service. The better you understand your customers’ problems and aspirations, not only on an analytical level but on a gut level, the better your innovations will be.

Come on in, the water’s warm

I’m the first to admit, it’s hard to clear my calendar to actually spend quality time with customers.

But every time I do I learn something I never expected. And I come back inspired with fresh inspirations.

The idea is to observe, listen and understand as much as possible. Avoid the temptation to “help” (at least not initially). Take notes and ask open-ended questions to understand customers’ jobs, pains and gains.

3 DIY immersion Ideas

Here are 3 simple DIY immersion ideas to consider.

1. Go to where your consumers live (literally).

In the case of fashion, you might ask people to show you their closets to better understand how you could meet more of their wardrobe needs.

Examples of questions: What are their go-to outfits, and why? What haven’t they worn in five years, and why are they keeping it? What’s missing from their closet, and why?

In the case of food, you might ask people to show you their kitchens to understand the role various products play in their lives. What’s in their pantries and their refrigerators? How did it get there? What occasion is it for? Who prepares this? Who eats this? Why is this out of date item still here?

2. “Shop along” with your consumers.

It’s fascinating to go shopping with your customers to understand what makes their shopping experience enjoyable and productive (or not).

If you’re a retailer, for example, you might investigate questions like: Where in your store do your customers go? What path do they follow? What do they pick up or avoid? How long do they spend in the store? What do they buy, or not buy? You can also ask them to give voice to their inner monologue as they shop.

If you’re a manufacturer, you might investigate questions like: Did they actually see your product on the shelf? Did they consider your product or not? What else did they consider? How did they decide?

3. Ask your customers to show you exactly how they use your product or service.

If you’re selling auto accessories, you might ride along with your customers for a day.

If you’re selling software as a service, you might join them at their mobile phone, tablet or computer to watch them go about their business using your service.

For online shopping sites you can conduct “surfalongs.”

What tasks do they need to accomplish? Where do they run into problems? What do they gain by completing their task? What solutions do they use today and how well do they work? How can you help?

When to conduct customer immersions

If your quality or satisfaction ratings are slipping, you sense your customer experience isn’t resonating, or your customer base is changing, or you just want to refresh your understanding, these are ideal times to use a DIY customer immersion (and perhaps engage an outside expert).

Inquiries can also be undertaken when you want to refocus your team on the consumer. If you are in a business that regularly refreshes its products or services, you can time this activity to fit your product development process. You can also integrate this practice into your annual planning.

I can’t wait to hear what fresh innovations this inspires.

This post was originally published by the American Marketing Executive Circle.

(Main photo source: http://acquandastanford.com/anthropology/)

In 1916, enterprising businessman Clarence Saunders founded the first self-service grocery store in Memphis, Tennessee.  Called Piggly Wiggly (for reasons Saunders would never explain), the grocery store featured open shelves where shoppers could actually select the goods they wanted, place them in a basket and take them to the checkout stand. The US Patent Office awarded Saunders a patent for a “self-serving store” in 1917.

(Source: ITIF)

Self service is not a new concept. Coin operated cafeterias like the Automat first opened in the US in 1902. Today we have direct dial telephones, elevators without human operators, self-service gasoline pumps, ATMs, grocery self checkout, airline kiosks, vending machines, E-learning, E-commerce, you name it.

You’d think there was nothing left to reinvent.

And yet web self-service has snuck up on us

A few years ago I had such a tragically funny online customer experience that I captured the live chat transcript in a screen grab:

Poor customer service rep. All I wanted was to find out where I could download my end of year statement.

(Source: Amazon.com)

In the best-selling book, The Effortless Experience, authors Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman and Rick Delisi of CEB lay out the case for making customer experiences effortless and document the rise of web self service. They surveyed consumers and business customers about their support channel preferences and discovered that these groups see just as much value in self service as they do in phone interactions.  In one 2013 study, only 29% of customers said they primarily relied on the phone for service, a 38-point drop in just five years. Yet only 16% of service leaders surveyed realize the shift to web self service has occurred. And a whopping 34% think it’s more than five years out.

What’s going on?

From the service leaders’ point of view, call volume hasn’t actually declined much, so it is natural to assume people are calling because they want to.  After all they have a choice.  But it turns out nearly 58% of phone callers started on the web.  Of those, a significant percent couldn’t find the answer they needed, or the answer was unclear.  They called because they had to.

And when companies measure individual support interactions, it looks like they’re doing a good job.  But when the authors considered the experience from the point of view of the companies’ customers they found customers were frustrated at having to channel switch from web to phone to solve their problems.

In the authors’ conversations with service leaders they also encountered several “hardwired” assumptions that proved to be false:

1. Customers only want to self-serve for easy issues
2. Only the millennial generation prefers self-service
3. It costs a lot of money to improve self-service

So web self service has snuck up on us. The opportunity now is for us to make it as easy as possible.

This year I had the pleasure of consulting for AnswerDash, whose technology empowers website visitors to self-serve answers to questions without leaving the page or typing in a search term so they can quickly get on with whatever job they came online to accomplish.  AnswerDash’s dynamic Q&A engine presents the most popular and relevant Q&A, and even uncovers new questions companies should be answering.

The benefit to consumers is a more efficient, less frustrating web self service experience. The benefit to companies is they save a lot of money on customer support while actually enhancing customer loyalty.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation predicts the impact of self service will be profound.

“Over at least the next decade, self-service technology has the potential to be a major force for growth in productivity and improvements in quality of life.” 

So whatever your industry, look for opportunities to improve self service, and web self service in particular.

I can’t wait for my bank to get the memo.

3 innovation lessons from looking at the self-service trend:

• Look outside your industry, and back in time, to see the really big macro trends
• Challenge your assumptions, repeatedly, to avoid being blindsided
• Ask your customers about their end-to-end experience to uncover opportunities that would otherwise go unnoticed

What innovations have inspired you lately?

This post was originally published by the Marketing Executive Network Group.

A full 2 liter bottle of boiling hot water, thoughtfully wrapped in several layers of paper towels. I used it to make my drink, and the rest – as you can see – made a perfectly fine hot water bottle. That’s improvisation, and great customer service, from an empowered Alaska Air employee.  Gotta love that.