Kirsten Aranda
Raul Gonzalez
Steve Winckler
October 24, 2015
Capstone A, Group 3, 9.1 Summary Analysis
(Data Sets Provided on Excel Workbook)
Customer relationships in any business are vital. As Hoodini comes to market understanding
our customers and how to build, sustain and grow those relationships will be key to our
viability. Beneficial insight was gained through Guru’s, Users and Buyers to help us intentionally and
effectively focus on customer relationships. Social media again was confirmed as a key method to
engage with our users and buyers and will build relationships and loyalty. Users and buyers shared their
willingness to engage in showing how they use Hoodini and provide reviews for discounts or contests for
free Hoodini’s. Surprisingly we learned that Ads in social media or print are likely to provide minimal
effectiveness and could also be an irritant. Guru’s confirmed with 100% positive response the need to
introduce new models, designs or product enhancements to drive repeat Hoodini customers. Hoodini
gained very helpful feedback in regards to customer service with feedback that email, chat options were
most vital and that ‘live’ customer service would be needed in very few circumstances.
This week the Guru’s continue to provide great insight on how customer’s relationships will be created,
established and sustained.
Key hypothesis were confirmed by Guru’s:
Social Media and customer relationship Social Media continues to produce positive results as a means to engage customers and for customers
to learn about Hoodini, as evidenced by results of Guru Q13/Q14 with 83% positive responses.
However, as an advertising means to get new customers there is some contradictions. Gurus
responding somewhat favorably to social media as a cost effective advertising means (3 positive, 3
neutral/negative). However, customers were overwhelming negative towards social media
advertisements (Q12) with 69% of customers indicating that social media advertising would not
influence their purchase decision, with some providing comments such as "adds are meaningless",
"social media lacks credibility" and "adds are annoying."
Addressing customer issues quickly and effectively will translate to customer loyalty; 100% positive
response by Guru’s. 67% of Guru’s confirmed that lack of customer service will impact future
recommendations of Hoodini
Ensuring customers have easy to find, accessible customer service will be key to build and sustain
customer relationships. 100% of Guru’s confirmed the website must be easy to find support options.
We also learned that having ‘live’ customers support is not as key as originally thought. Only 17% of
Guru’s felt we must have live support. They confirmed email , chat and FAQ options should resolve
customer options; 67% of Guru’s confirmed, 33% were neutral.
Advertising Advertising is an area that provided very intriguing results, with customers providing a 65%
neutral and negative response across all advertising questions combined, covering Social Media, Search
Engine and print media (Q11Q13). Additionally, no one means was resoundingly strong as a preferred
means to hear about the product, though Social Media was the most negative of the three. However,
customers did respond favorably (69% positive) that a "product showcase" in a magazine would
influence their purchase. For example, an outdoors magazine with a brief highlight of a new product
such as Hoodini. The lukewarm feedback on the main means of advertising directly to the customers
underscores the importance of a retail presence as we learned last week. Suggesting that traditional
stores who already have the ears of customers or larger advertising channels will benefit Hoodini.
Social media was confirmed as a key resource to build and sustain customers relationships: 100% of
Guru’s said customer recommendations will build relationships. Also seeing ‘hoodni’ in action posted
from users in exchange for discounts were viewed positively; 83% by Guru’s.
To develop strong customer relationships, Hoodini requires a multidimensional model. This
model will involve customer discounts, social media adverts, and creation of networks with various
stakeholders including manufacturers. Hoodini would not have huge customer base if it only adopts on
approach. The main obj
ective is developing customer relationships by networking with the stakeholders
and then use social media sites to advance the customer relationships. The responses of both the
customers and Gurus were all positive on the need for social media and discounts to develop customer
relationships. This model was selected due to the responses of both the experts in the fashion industry
as well as the users and buyers of the product.
Customer Engagement Questions around building customer relationships through engagement showed favorable
responses. 75% of customers responded positive or neutral to the notion that they would feel
engaged with Hoodini if they were solicited for ideas on features/design of the "next" Hoodini
(CustQ2).
Additionally, 75% of customers (Q6) and 83% of gurus (Q12) agreed that they would participate
in "Hoodini in Action" testimonial contests with several providing comments to the effect
of "that would be fun". I fact, 100% of gurus and customers were positive or neutral on this
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question, with no negative responses.
Customers also felt that online demonstration or Hoodini in use videos would be helpful with
a 77% positive response (Q15
83% of customers (Q17) indicated positively that they would likely "opt in" at the time of
purchase to receive updates on future products from Hoodini though gurus (Q1) were more
mixed (50% positive, 50% neutral) that customers would want frequent product updates, noting
that there needs to be balance to frequency, content and timing or customers will disregard it.
75% positive response that Hoodini should host online “Hoodin in Action” bulletin board
contests for discounted or free hoodin; 25% were neutral
100% positive response that Hoodini will build customer relationships through customer
recommendations on social media; 100% positive response that hoodin must reward loyal
customers through discounts to generate repeat purchases
100% positive response that customer issues resolved translates to brand loyalty for the
Hoodini.
83% of users were neutral that hoodin product reviews on 3rd party shopping sites would drive
me to purchase the product; 17 % were positive.
62% of users said that seeing it mentioned on social media would drive a purchase
I terms of our customer surveys from the customers and the Guru’s, it was important to note
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the need of the multidimensional model. Since, the use of one approach would not be useful in
improving the customer relationships. Based on this, we have received strong recommendations from
the Guru’s who argues that the use of discount contests and free hoodin will be useful in developing the
customer relationships.
Warranty of product was also an area of curiosity. We learned through our Guru’s a ‘no
question’ asked replacement of Hoodini wasn’t necessary to maintain customer relationships; only 17%
felt this was necessary tactic. We also learned that customers will value quality of the Hoodini over the
website or social media experience; 67% of Guru’s positive feedback to focus on quality was key.
To get the customers to the sales channels, the company offering Hoodini will consider various
sales ways. Referrals to the ecommerce sites will account for 24 per cent of the entire sales. Referrals
apply the effective word of mouth power, which leads to the marketing of the Hoodini to the targeted
markets. Online marketing campaigns such as twitter samples and rebates for facebook followers would
help in creating connections to the Hoodini sales channels. I order to keep the customers, the company
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will use various customer retention approaches including getting to know the customers better. The
opportunity to know the customers better helps in creating strong bonds and relationships with the
customers.
I addition, the business will have a feedback program, which allows the customers provide
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their queries and complaints on the Hoodini. Thus, the feedback system is useful in offering great
insights on the expectations of the clients. The company will also plan for the customer expectations in
advance to ensure the needs of the customers are met earlier. These strategies would help in keeping
the customers to the company. Based on the strategies, the business would have a negative attrition
and churn due to the ability of the company to maintain the customers in the company. The company
will be able to grow additional revenue from the customers over time through various ways. I the
f
company develops Hoodini of high quality, the customers will be willing to pay more for the Hoodini due
to the quality and its value.
Apart from rising prices, the company can start producing additional volumes of the Hoodini to
sell to the additional market share to be gained. Huge output of the Hoodini will increase the overall
revenues from customers over time. The lifetime value of the customers examines the overall value of
the customers to the company. The estimated lifetime value of the Hoodini customer is $5,489 due to
the short period of time the product has been on the market. The cost of customer acquisition implies
the price paid to acquire new and additional customers to the product. The CAC of the Hoodini stands at
$2,400. To optimize cost of customer acquisition, the company should improve its onsite conversion,
messaging within the campaigns and the targeting model used during the marketing campaigns.
The hypothesis relating to the customer relationships includes that the discounts, free Hoodini,
and social media accounts for the large percentage of the influencers of the customer relations. For
example, responses were 100 per cent positive that social media assists in establishing customer
relationships. All users and buyers of Hoodini also recommended the need for social media ads and
contests of providing discounts as they enhances the ability of the company to form customer
relationships. Based on the results, we determined that social media and resolving of customer
complaints were also crucial to the supporting customer relations.
The customer survey was also important in obtaining important insights on the development of
customer relationships based on the responses of the customers and experts in the industry.
Buyers:
Ensuring Hoodini is easy to find, access and buy will be key in building customer
relationships. 100% of buyers confirmed.
Buyers confirmed demonstration videos and seeing Hoodini in action will drive purchase with a
77% and 75% response rate respectively.
Warranty approaches and addressing concerns is important to buyers as a way to sustain
customer relationships. 67% positive on quickly addressing issues, 50% no questions asked
replacement warranty is important. Conversely having access to ‘live’ in person customer
support was primary option received a 0% positive response rate.
Our Key H ypothesis w as:
Referral discounts were key in creating strong and broader customer relationships.
Quality and the ability of the hoodin to meet the needs of the customers was necessary in
allowing the customers to recommend it to new customers.
Social media is also necessary in the building of customer relationships.
The building of network of suppliers, business contacts, and manufacturers helped in the
developing of customer relationships for hoodin.
After a careful indepth investigation on the segment hypothesis, Ican still determine that no
maj changes can be done to the customer relationships hypothesis. The value proposition is able to
or
determine the ways of forming loyal customer relationships. The customer relationships were carefully
analyzes in the final marketing plan of hoodin. However, it is important to note that a customer would
not purchase multiple hoodin to cater for his or her different purposes. As a result, the customer
relationships were still valid to understand the needs of the target market.
Our analysis and assignment this week focused on reviewing the customer relationships and the
specific market segment. We were able to obtain good comments from the Guru the previous on the
viability of the hoodin which indicated that the uniqueness of the product and the quality of the hoodin
helped to capture much attention in the market. For instance, the ability of the hoodin to meet needs of
a specific market segment such as the sporting market would crucial. I spite of all, a Guru
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recommended that we should consider affordable pricing to make the product affordable to a wider
market of the target market, which includes older college students and teenagers. Thus, we are working
on determining the appropriate ways of developing customer relationships to achieve the Guru’s
recommendation.
The data and views collected from the interviews did not affect by thoughts and reflection on
the customer relationship. For instance, the interviews indicated that 100% positive responses on the
need to offer discounts to generate repeat purchases. I
nitially, Ihad a strong conviction that the
rewarding of loyal customers creates a high likelihood of them becoming repeat customers. I addition,
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the interviews indicated the responses were 100% positive on the importance of the creation of a
network of suppliers, business contacts and manufacturers towards creating customer relationships.
However, the customer responses on the impact of print media advertising were unexpected as
only 67% were positive responses. This implies that the rest 33 per cent were neutral and negative
responses on the ability of print media to influence the purchase of hoodin. Moreover, Iexpected that
all print media including magazines and newspapers would have 100% positive responses. This indicates
the inability of the print media adverts to support the creation of customer relationships fully. Finally,
we learned that offering discounts to customers, resolving customer complaints, as well as the
recommendations via social media would be influential in the creation of significant customer
relationships for the purchase of the Hoodini.
Overall Summary:
Engaging Social Media through current user recommendations, seeing Hoodini in action and
customer feedback will drive customer relationships and brand loyalty.
D irect Ads may not be a preferred or viable way to build customer relationships
D irect email and discount incentives may keep customers connected to the product, new
offerings and future customers if not overused.
Using contests/give aways for recommendations and show casing expanding product features
will entice users to share their experiences.
Repeat customers will be gained through new product features, offerings or updates.
Some customers will prefer to have a different Hoodini for each back pack they utilize. I
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addition, some customers (50%) will want to a new Hoodini each time they purchase a new
backpack
Customer service access via email and chat is required. Customer Service via a live person is less
critical but should be available for extreme cases.
