To what extent should a business attempt to educate its customers?
Historically, many businesses have taken it upon themselves to try
and educate their customers about their products and services. From
pensions to paracetamol, most products come with some form of
impenetrable instruction manual that customers are expected to read in
order to understand what they have purchased.
Attempts to educate customers often stem from a desire to minimise
complaints and bad press by managing their expectations. Sometimes a
business needs to educate customers about why their request might not be
in their best interest – particularly in an increasingly high tech
environment. Those 100-page policy documents might make sense to the
underwriters, but they will mean very little to the customer who needs a
1-page summary in jargon-free language.
But do these attempts to educate customers work in an era where the
customer resorts to an internet search as soon as they have a problem or
query? Prior to the Internet (remember that?), the business was the
trusted source of knowledge. But the speed at which knowledge is now
created and shared makes it increasingly difficult for a business to
manage its knowledge effectively.
The employee responsible for doing the educating may themselves never
have experienced the problem that a customer is facing, leading to a
perceived lack of authenticity. And, rightly or wrongly, the customer
often believes that the best person to ask for advice is another
customer rather than a representative of the company.
The problem of educating customers is just as difficult for B-2-B as
for B-2-C. For example, business A may procure a new product from
business B, but there is a significant danger that the former can
overload the latter with too much training and documentation. However,
if business A holds back on educating business B about the full range of
options afforded by its new purchase, it may be accused of not
delivering value for money.
Changes made by third-parties also cause a headache, as Facebook’s
decision to start auto-playing videos demonstrated. When a large number
of mobile customers found they were suddenly consuming more of their
data allowance, they accused their mobile providers of over-charging
them. And in some cases, it was the customers who first informed the
mobile operators of the problem – the customers were ‘educating’ the
business.
So do businesses have a responsibility to push information to
customers to inform them of such changes? Should customers have to opt
in to or opt out of these ‘helpful’, paternalistic communications?
Who should be educating whom? How? And for what purpose?
In a hyperconnected era, the flow of information between company and
customer is dynamic. Knowledge is no longer the exclusive possession of
the company: the customer can – and should - educate the company just as
much as the company educates the customer.
How? This mutually beneficial relationship can be developed by making
customer communities as integral to a business as the board, the
finance department, and the sales team. Customer communities and forums
are a largely untapped resource, and businesses should be employing more
open business models to co-evolve with their customer communities -
incorporating their feedback and insights into both problem-solving and
product development.
For what purpose? The answer is: to build confidence. We attempt to
educate customers to give them the confidence to make better decisions
about our products and services. Our customers can do the same for us -
their feedback gives the company the confidence that everything is
aligned and working as it should be.
The networked era is changing the role of the organisation from an
‘all-knowing parent’ to a ‘trusted advisor’. Trust and confidence are
increasingly integral to brand value, and there is great value for
organisations in making this transition. But navigating this change
requires businesses to treat customers as adults, and be prepared to
demonstrate greater trust, openness and authenticity.
Our customers can help to educate us and are prepared to do so, but
only if we are prepared to listen and respond with the same objective:
to increase understanding and build confidence.
Source : The QoE discussions November 2016 Written by Tony Reeves
