Over the course of a career as a merchant (at retailers Crate & Barrel and Macy*s—Executive Training Program class of Fall 1989) and consultant to retailers and brands, I have come to know a great deal about consumer behavior. How and why we buy has always been fascinating. As a kid, helping out my father in his corner store here in Columbus, Ohio, I learned the fundamentals of service and operations. See my post Channeling Mom & Pop.
I have been fortunate to work with very smart, talented clients, fellow strategists and designers from every discipline. Throughout this body of work, I have seen patterns and core ideas that I have distilled into “The Principles of Consumer Centricity”. They act as our guiding principles as we work with our clients.
At ConsumerX (cX) we apply them to retailers and consumer brand marketers, but the principles apply to most endeavors that involve people and money. A wise woman—my wife—once said, “Everything is retail, isn’t it?”
Take a look and let us know what you think. Look for posts about each one and the rules and tools we use at ConsumerX.
The Principles of Consumer-Centricity
The Prime Directive: Create SHARED RESPONSIBILITY with the consumer.
INTERNAL
Principle No. 1: Know Your BEST Customers. Fire the bad ones.Build business around consumer segments not around products or operations.
Principle No. 2: Keep it FRESH
Link offerings with strategic partners to add value and maintain an ongoing conversation
Principle No. 3: Align everything around the IDEAL EXPERIENCE Connect internal processes to focus on consumer experience
Principle No. 4: COLLABORATE across functional areas
Always ask how new ideas and opportunities benefit the consumer
Principle No. 5: Create DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY to consumers for all staff
Motivate and reward based on consumer behavior
EXTERNAL
Principle No. 6: Know THEIR story
Develop customer relationships based on DEEP INSIGHTS into their needs and lifetime value.
Principle No. 7: Know YOUR story
Speak to, listen and respond in CONSUMER LANGUAGE (informed by brand stance)
Principle No. 8: Tell THE story
Create consistency across all consumer touch points.
Principle No. 9: Let them IN on the story
Respect & learn from their intelligence: make actions TRANSPARENT and VISIBLE to consumers
Principle No. 10: Write the SHARED story together
Be where they are: Let your customer CHOOSE how to converse with the brand
Allow experience (with the brand) to be personalized and customized to develop emotional connections
©2010 Consumer Experience Design. All rights reserved.
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