There’s a really strong example of customer engagement that noone seems to talk about: the marketplace.
There was a time when, on specific days at least, markets were the centre of the universe. From Persian bazaars to the souks of Arabia and, much later, the English market towns — still marked today such as Market Weighton in Yorkshire, markets have played a prominent role in society since humans began to engage in trade. Over 5,000 years since the first formal markets were documented in the Middle East, market places still exist in a multitude of forms. Today they compete with the retail institutions of both the internet and the high street for our footfall and spending.
When you’re as interested in the relationship between brands and their customers, there’s something incredibly refreshing about visiting a market place — virtual or otherwise. When trying to work out just why this is, I realised it’s all about the dynamics between the seller and the buyer.
I bet the first thing you thought of when I mentioned a marketplace is noise. From the stall owners shouting their wares, to customers haggling over prices, to the noise of friends meeting in the busy street; there is a real buzz where people come together to partake in the ancient tradition of commerce.
Against this backdrop, developing engagement is a vital skill for the marketplace seller when bringing in custom. It may be easy to imagine the stereotypical booming voice of the butcher listing their daily offers and special cuts, but the real trick is standing out against everyone else doing the exact same thing.
In this bedlam, a successful store doesn’t just get by through broadcasting its message (the market place equivalent of traditional advertising). No, they must build up relationships with new customers and retain old loyalists. These human connections must transcend the transaction itself and leave a lasting impression strong enough to keep bringing people back to their space. In short, they rely on engagement.
The learning for business is simple: in our fast-paced world, it can be easy to forget the value of engaging with your users/customers. This should go beyond the moment of sale of your product (or provision of your service).
Your customers are your life blood, and the cultivation of a two way relationship with them is vital to your existence. Note the key here is the “two way” part. The ability to engage with a customer when/where/how they want is as important, in fact more so, than your contacting them at the time that’s right for you.
A market place seller is constantly talking to their customer, from those who come back to ask questions about the goods they’ve bought, to the passer by they happen to know. The personal relationships they build are their way of assuring their future, based on the engagement they run with those around them.
Of course, the idea of a Del-Boy character talking to everyone on the market place, perhaps complete with a “cheers mate” here and an “alright love” there, is all well and good but how does this translate to the enterprise businesses of today?
For the answer, one need only look at one of the world’s largest market places: Amazon.
As one of the biggest retailers on the planet in their own right, it can be forgotten that Amazon also operate a huge market place of sellers, some of who’s income is entirely based on their sales through the site. Competing for traffic on Amazon’s search results alongside major brands for products from headphones to paving stones, these sellers are often aware that engagement is the key differentiator between them and other, often larger, competitors.
A personal anecdote: I recently bought a pair of gym headphones on Amazon and there was an issue with them when they arrived (damaged in transit). So, of course, I prepared to reach out to the seller. Turning on my laptop to do so, I first checked my emails to find a message form the seller.
They were reaching our to let me know they’ve been told the item has been delivered and thanking me for my order — plus (crucially) a set of contact information to use in the event of any problems. I got in touch, and the same day they apologised for the damage in transit (arguably the couriers fault rather than theirs) and a new set of headphones were despatched.
The email which started this engagement was automated — of course it was. But it was engagement, at scale, which prompted a positive experience and ensured I’d go back to them again. In the same manner as the stalls down on Bury market (one of my favourite places to visit when I’m in our North West office), this business engaged me and built a post sale relationship.
Of course the email wasn’t alone in building this relationship: the proactive provision of contact details to follow up gave me an honest sense they wanted to hear my issue. This is the online market place equivalent of the physical seller who tells any customer they can come back and see them at the marketplace any time they need to.
Businesses need to learn from these marketplaces. Today, too many companies take solace in the ivory towers of their websites, behind contact forms and self-help systems which deliberately distance them from their customers and their audiences. They’re the proverbial equivalent of the market seller who puts a wall in front of his store and makes potential customers pass notes through the window to speak to him.
Is that how you’d run your business in that environment?
If not, why do people think it would work elsewhere?
The methods used by market place sellers aren’t secret, and with today’s customer technology companies (including, of course, Gnatta), engagement is no longer the advantage of the MSB but open to everyone, regardless of scale. Not only do we, as businesses, owe it to our customers to provide the engagement they desire; but we as consumers deserve it and should be demanding it from those we transact with.
The world would be a better place for it, just like the marketplace.
