How to get started with Open Marketing
Step 3. Gathering strength - Part 5

Hello everyone. I am Hayashi, the representative of Monosus.

As an effort to get core customers together four times so far,
Step 3: We talk about "gathering strength."

Last time

• If you collect prospects from the market with little or no filtering, they will contain very few potential core customers.
• On the other hand, having a large number of potential customers means that they are unable to provide individual support and are left to rely on customers to deliver the core experience.
• Even among those who have the potential to become core customers, only a very limited number are able to reach the core experience on their own.
• It is important to reduce the number of potential customers to a level where you can respond to them individually, rather than wasting resources on 1,000 people.

I told him that.

Today I want to explain what you can do to help reach that core experience and give you a better understanding of why it's necessary.

Support the first-time experience

Relationships with companies and products are built slowly,
It is also true that whether or not you reach the core experience depends heavily on the first experience.

And this is why you need to target your prospects and respond to them individually.
Last time, we talked about how in order to reach the core experience, not only is it necessary for values to be shared, but there also needs to be an awareness of the values (literacy) regarding the product or service. However, even if values can be shared, for customers with low literacy, the provider of the product or service needs to support the customer.

In other words, narrow down your potential customers and make it possible to respond to them individually,
It's important to support your customers' first-time experience.

And when can you provide proper support to your customers?
As we've said before , it's mostly limited to the time between your first purchase and your first usage experience.

When providing support to customers with low literacy,
There are a number of important points, but the one I particularly value is
In the "Five points common to regular customers - Part 1"
This means that customers are seeing the value of your products and services .

The timing of reaching the core experience varies depending on the industry and business model.
It depends on the customer's situation, so it is difficult to generalize.
There's no doubt that the first-time experience plays a huge role.

The reason why you need to narrow down the number of potential customers to a level where you can respond one-to-one is
As I mentioned earlier, the first-time experience is important.
First of all, I think many companies don't really understand what the first-time experience is.

In general, do you underestimate the first-time experience?
The reality is that most companies don't have any interest in the first-time user experience.

For example, it is rare for a retailer to use a card for the first time on the spot where it was purchased.
For high-priced items, the time periods between application, contract, and delivery may be one to several months apart.

In this case, most companies aren't even involved in the customer's first-time experience.

Whether it's selling in a store, visiting customers, or online,
When selling "things", many companies place importance on
It's about how to get customers to buy .
In other words, when it comes to timing, we place great importance on the timing of orders/contracts .

However, in businesses that involve physical products, the timing of the order/contract and the first use experience is not aligned, so by the time the customer has their first use experience, the company has already lost interest in the customer.
You're chasing the next customer.

This doesn't support a good first-time experience for your customers.

In addition, in the service industry, where materials are not involved or the ratio is low,
I think that in many cases, services are provided face-to-face.
A customer's first experience isn't completed right away; it actually happens over time.

For example, in the case of chiropractic or massage, even if the patient feels "good" at the time,
If you experience a sore throat the next day or the stiffness or pain returns, it is not a good first experience.
Also, in the case of going to a hair salon, even if you like your new hairstyle when you leave the salon,
The first experience isn't complete until the next day, when you put it on yourself, match it with your clothes, and meet different people.
What's more, your entire daily experience until your next haircut is included in your first-time experience.

In other words, companies should not take customers' words such as "Today was great, thank you" at face value.
Even if the customer thinks so at the time, unless they think it was a good thing later,
This does not mean that your first experience was truly "good."

As such, it seems that many companies are not paying much attention to their customers’ first-time experience.

So, to make your customers' first experience a good one,
What should companies do?

Have them experience it as a physical sensation.

As mentioned in the "Five points common to regular customers - Part 1" article,
Again, I would like to discuss some steps companies can take to support the first-time user experience.

The important thing about the first-time experience is that it allows customers to experience the value of your company's products and services.
In other words, it is about having them experience it as a physical sensation .
After many years in marketing, I have learned that
This means that logic does not make customers loyal .
It's no good relying on people to make a choice based on their head.
However, it is not good to choose something just because it is chosen.

So what should we do? As I mentioned earlier, we need to allow people to experience the value as a physical sensation.
When we think of bodily sensations, we may think of the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
But that's not all.
Although this is not an example of a product or service, here is an easy-to-understand example of a physical sensation:
When you receive a call on your mobile phone, you probably see a message on the screen telling you who is calling.
When you see the names displayed at that time, there may be some that make your stomach churn and others that make your heart lighten.
The sensations of your stomach hurting and your heart feeling lighter are actually physical sensations.

We have interviewed various core customers so far, and when it comes to products and services that have undergone a core experience, core customers say that they feel, more or less, lighter, more excited, more comfortable, etc.
Although there are differences depending on the industry and business type,
It is an expression that involves physical sensations.

To make people feel the value through their physical senses,
There are two points:

1. Help them recognize sensory focus points

The human five senses experience things in completely different ways depending on where and how you focus your senses.
For example, if you are engrossed in watching TV, you may not notice someone talking to you.
What you notice clearly changes depending on whether you focus your attention outside of yourself or inward.
Products and services are experienced through the five senses.
Unless you tell them what, where and how they need to focus their senses,
There is a risk that customers will end up consuming the product or service without realizing its value.

2. Have them express their feelings

How customers feel after experiencing the product or service
We ask customers to provide output on how value was delivered to them.
Value is perceived differently by different people.
Even if you explain things to a certain extent beforehand, words cannot fully express the five senses of a person.
Since perceptions vary from person to person and the way value is expressed varies depending on the product or service, customers may get a different impression from what you have previously communicated through words.
We check it carefully, share what touches the customer's senses,
Is what the customer expressed the result of the value being realized? If not, try to get them to experience it again in a different way.
We check whether our values match the customer's experience.

In addition, for customers who are unable to realize the value of the service,
Unfortunately, I have to say that the chances of you becoming a core customer are extremely low.

In the end, in order to have customers become regulars,
In addition to sharing values, literacy regarding products and services is also necessary.
Furthermore, if improving literacy is left up to the customers, only a limited number of them will become regular customers, so support from the company is necessary.

However, the reality is that, with the exception of a few industries and business conditions, it is quite difficult for companies to continue supporting the improvement of their customers' literacy over an extended period of time.
Therefore, by providing the best possible first-time experience,
Help customers realize the true value of your products and services.
You have to plant the seeds of motivation to continue to engage.

Businesses with a high level of hobbyism that require repeat business,
Even in high-value businesses, I feel like too many companies aren't involved in the first-time experience for their customers.

Companies can attract a large number of potential customers,
Instead of wasting energy trying to get people to buy it,
For customers who are interested in our products and services,
Companies should focus their efforts on ensuring that customers can experience their company's products and services properly.

Thank you for reading to the end this month as well.