There’s an incredible story floating around the blogosphere (and now network TV) about how it took over 20 minutes for a customer to cancel an AOL account. Vincent Ferrari taped his call with an AOL service rep who really put him through the paces.
For radio, it’s simply a matter of switching stations or punching a button. No wonder we have to try harder than so many new media outlets. AOL clearly has some customer satisfaction issues (and now it’s all over the Internet). Of course, so do many other companies, from Home Depot to Northwest Airlines (ever wonder why I get a little grouchy sometimes?).
Perhaps you’re heard about Net Promoter, the statistical measure of customer satisfaction. It was developed by a guy named Fred Reicheld for the Harvard Business Review, and it’s a metric/philosophy that companies are using all over the world. In short, it measures the degree to which customers (listeners) will recommend a product (your station) to others – that is, positive buzz.
Some radio broadcasters have included a Net Promoter question in audience surveys, and we have used it in the last two Technology Polls. Look for more on Net Promoter at our upcoming Summit 11 in Dallas this September.
Yes, the music needs to be right, the jocks need to be on-point, and the marketing needs to be strategic. But the real measure of success is whether the audience talks about your stations – positively – to others. Over the years, word-of-mouth marketing has become essential to building great companies. That’s part of the secret behind TiVo, Netflix, Starbucks, and Nordstrom. We’ve addressed this issue in past Summits, specifically with Ben McConnell, the father of Evangelism Marketing. There’s more to come as radio stations need to do much more than compete against the station across the street.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Good points Fred – The AOL incident is also great illustration of how fast information about companies now flows.
Can you imagine even 5 years ago a customer service issue like this making NETWORK TV? (the fact that it didn’t even NEED network TV to spread is another issue)
How will people now percieve AOLs certianly expensive “Branding” efforts with TV commercials that depcit a HUGE staff of people “working for you”? BULLS*&^!
At the very least Millions $$ in ad production costs and ad time wasted because of ONE incident of poor customer interaction.
Jeff, thanks for the comment. It reminds me of that PowerPoint that made the rounds a few years ago – “Yours Is A Bad Hotel” – put together by a couple of business travelers who got the shaft at a Doubletree in Houston. Who knows how many millions of people received it, watched it, and of course, never would consider that hotel again. It doesn’t take much to screw up an image, especially given the hyper-speed of the Internet. Bad news indeed travels fast.