Stories as Emotional Drivers

Our upcoming chapter in the book Memorable Customer Experiences (Gower Press) called "Balancing Act" looks at the balance between rational and emotional customer experiences. Wachtman & Johnson's article in Jan/Feb 2009 Marketing Management offers an interesting perspective on the emotional side of a customer experience, in terms of the use of story as a means of communicating the emotional side of a brand. The connection here is trying to blend a customer's personal story with the company's story. We've been investigating this in one project in terms of the customer's desired "lifestyle" as the root source of customer's emotional needs.

Social Norming Feedback

Here is a link to an NPR Marketplace piece on 1/6/09 discussing a pilot by Puget Sound Energy on providing feedback comparing your energy usage with your neighbors. Essentially, peer pressure. No results published yet, but an interesting increase in complaints to the call center about the program -- all of which were negative. Yet in the end, only 19 people opted out (which is the right thing to offer customers -- that choice thing).

Customer Performance in a Ford Fusion Hybrid

Recent article in the WSJ, 1/6/09, p. D6 discusses customer performance issues with the Ford Fusion Hybrid. Essence of the article is that the reporter, test driving the car, couldn't achieve the MPG claims made by Ford. The reporter writes, "But Ford's biggest challenge will be educating consumers how to get the most value from their high tech cars." Ultimately, the reporter got a personal tutorial from the Fusion Hybrid program leader, who showed him all the tricks on how to drive the car to achieve the promised mileage.