Now, More Than Ever, Brands Need To K.I.S.S.
Not long ago I ordered something online and while that in it of itself is not interesting, what happened to me, AKA my experience… well that’s another story. The item I ordered and where I ordered it from is completely irrelevant. However, I will tell you said item was not ordered via Amazon but rather through a brand directly.
Upon receipt I immediately noticed an issue with the item. An issue that would prevent the item from functioning properly. So off I went into the Internet ether to track down customer service. I went to all the usual suspects: social, online form, toll-free and email.
I exhausted all avenues yet resolution was not forthcoming.
The “Other” Four Letter Word Brands Need To Know and In This Case Avoid
So why was resolution so hard to come by? This was a fairly straightforward, dare I say simple matter to address.
- Customer buys XXXX.
- XXXX arrives in the mail.
- Customer learns XXXX does not work.
- Customer wants resolution, restitution; something. Anything.
Stop me if you’ve heard this or lived this scenario before. Of course you have. We all have. The law of consumer averages says it’s so.
Ah but there it was, that four letter word sitting there like the pachyderm that it truly is. Yes this particular elephant in the room goes by the name of SILO. You know silo, yes? Those pesky individual fiefdoms where one department i.e. social, doesn’t communicate with another, i.e. online.
My story is still ongoing but I will spare you the rest and instead focus on the real issue at hand: More than perhaps at any inflection point in history, brands need to truly, honestly KISS: Keep It Super Simple.
Why now? Because in case you didn’t notice the entire world is reopening, literally. And to say we humans want and need things to run very smoothly and with little to no stress and yes, very simplistically would be a massive understatement.
Being cooped up, prisoners in our own homes for as long as we collectively were, our ADD is now at an all-time, historical high for pretty much everything. And ADD’s cousin, impatience, is equally off the charts, too.
Ours Is An Impatient Society
Last July, during the summer that wasn’t thanks to Covid, the result of Ohio University study was released. The title of the press release announcing the findings put it in perfect perspective: “Recently published OHIO study reveals humans are impatient, even down to seconds.”
Here’s more granularity from the findings:
“The research team discussed in their paper how their findings show that people are impatient not only when thinking about whether to wait or not for a larger reward in the abstract, but they are even more impatient when they actually must wait to receive a larger reward. In the study, the amounts and delays were small (in cents and seconds), but even in the small-scale participants demonstrated myopic behavior, as in preferring the smaller payoff sooner.”
Now, put on your own consumer hat and re-read that.
With me?
Now, put on your marketer/advertiser hat and re-read that.
With me?
See where I’m going?
Look, I get it. Consumers have always been well, kind of this little angel when it comes to patience or lack thereof.
And while I understand that brands cannot appease all the Veruca Salts of the world, they still need to try; they need to try and please everyone and one of the best ways to do that is by keeping things simple; to give consumers what they know they want.
Read that again: to give consumers what they know they want.
Yes, brands know what consumers want because they tell them but as we all know far too many brands choose to overcomplicate everything and think they know whats’s best instead of Keeping It Simple and giving the people what they want.
And to those brands who don’t adhere? Who don’t K.I.S.S.?
Well, wait for it… those are the same brands who can KISS their customers goodbye.
