Of Marketing and Murder Mysteries

Ahoy marketers! You should be watching more murder mysteries!

The Locard’s principle in forensic science says that the perpetrator of a crime will bring something into the crime scene and leave with something from it, and that both can be used as forensic evidence. In other words, every contact leaves a trace.

As marketers, there is a very significant insight that can be taken from this principle. Before we go deeper into that, let's simplify the actual process of marketing. Marketing is the sum total of all the things you do to make your target customer aware of your existence and attract them towards your brand. It is not an art. It is a perfectly scientific and analytical process, based on data, interpretation and a dash of creativity.

It always starts with data, which is nothing but in-depth information about the target customers and their buying decisions. Marketers collect data from many sources that include market research, competitor analysis, Google Analytics and so on. Needless to say, all of these come at a substantial cost. However, are we missing something here?

A consumer interacts with a brand at multiple points. For an online store, consumer interaction could start with a click on a banner, or a Facebook ad or maybe an interaction with a paid promotion. The final touchpoint would be the delivery confirmation email. For a physical outlet, the product windows, billing counter, interaction with the sales staff, the customer care department and so on, are the various customer touchpoints.

This is where the Locard’s principle comes into play. At each of these touchpoints, the consumer leaves behind a trace. A trace of a valuable insight into his/her buying behavior. Similarly, he/she also takes back a tiny element of the brand’s value proposition from that touchpoint. This micro-exchange could be a huge resource of data for marketers. In order to tap this resource, we need to understand how it works both ways.

From Consumer to Brand

When a consumer interacts with a brand at each of these points, they reveal a lot about their buying priorities. But it often gets unnoticed. Amit (name changed) is the head of marketing for an upcoming retail brand in the city. Despite having ticked all the boxes in terms of product availability, stock keeping, customer service, a very popular loyalty scheme and competitive pricing, the business was still getting low ratings from customers in online reviews. There was an uptick in the revenue, but with dipping customer reviews, it was only a matter of time before the revenue took a hit.

Multiple research exercises proved futile, until Amit overheard one of the girls who worked at the billing counter casually mentioning to her co-workers - “we need an extra day’s break to digest the customer shouts we get in a day!” This set the alarm bells ringing in his head and upon further investigation, the actual problem was revealed. Customers were very happy shopping at their outlet, but since they had only 4 billing counters, the average wait time per customer was anywhere between 10-20 minutes. The extremely slow billing systems used by the staff added an additional 5-10 minutes and by then, the customers had already lost their cool and there were a lot of people complaining, ranting, and shouting at the billing staff to speed up their work.

The entire problem was resolved in less than a week. An extra billing counter was set up and new computers were installed at the billing counters. The customers were pleasantly surprised and the reviews took a turn towards north within a month’s time.

The important point to note from this case is the importance of observing those traces of insights that customers leave at various touchpoints. If the staff at the billing counter were trained to observe these small elements of customer feedback, this problem could have been handled before it even affected the business. Marketers have to be like that good detective who doesn’t just see what is obvious at the crime scene, but also what is hidden from plain view. Amit’s company only observed the happy customers walking around and buying from their outlet, and going out with loaded shopping bags. They didn’t notice the disgruntled rants that occurred only at the billing counter.

For a marketer, these trace insights are a very valuable resource that can be tapped by being observant at all the customer touchpoints, and keeping a close watch of customer behavior.

From Brand to Consumer

Let us reverse the scales now. Every consumer touch point is also an opportunity for the brand to communicate its values and add to the buying experience. In today’s high-noise market, attention is the currency. If the consumer is even checking our brand out, that is a box ticked. However, are we optimizing our strategy at each consumer touch point? If no, then NOW is the time to do it.

Rehana (name changed) works for a training company in Tamil Nadu that teaches English speaking to students from tier-2 and tier-3 towns. They barely do any mass media promotions or engage commission agents to get new admissions. They are also not the best in the industry. Yet they have been growing at almost 80% y-o-y in terms of revenue at a healthy profitability. They do something very simple yet unique.

Their brand stands for being a friendly, compassionate and competent. ‘Friendly’ always comes first. It is Rehana’s job to ensure that these brand attributes are reflected at every single consumer touch point. So when a student comes with his/her parent, there is always a smiling friendly person at their office to help them fill the forms out. The trainers at their institute have been carefully chosen to ensure that their have the right temperament along with the skills. Even after the program is over for the students, someone from their institute calls up every 3 months to enquire how the student is doing. All in a casual fun tone.

This builds credibility and generates tremendous word-of-mouth referrals for the company. Rehana is like that investigator who understands that the perpetrator would always carry a trace from the crime scene on himself. Similarly, a customer would always carry an impression about the brand from every touch point. She focuses on each of these touch points and ensures that the team is delivering the brand promise consistently.

God lies in the details

Marketing is based on data, interpretation and creativity, starting specifically in that order. This article is all about the data. Because without adequate and accurate data, there is no meaningful interpretation and without that, creativity is nothing but a shot in the dark. In order to apply the Locard’s principle to marketing, we need to have our ears to the ground and observe with intent. These observations have to be collected, collated and analyzed in the right framework. These are the real unfiltered consumer insights that should form the backbone of our marketing strategy.

As marketers, let’s tip our hat to Henry Locard and draw insights from ‘our own crime scenes’. There is a treasure trove of insights waiting to be discovered. It all depends on who goes the extra mile to unearth that. Happy Marketing!