Very interesting results of the survey:
A Social Media Survey conducted on behalf of PRWeek and MS&L by PRWeek and CA Walker found that marketers don’t make changes to their products based on customer feedback, despite monitoring feedback being one of the most common business uses of social media in the first place.
The survey found that 70% of marketers say they’ve never made a change to a product or marketing efforts based on feedback from consumers on social media sites.
I have to second Larry Malloy’s comment.
I believe there’s two reasons for this.First, we are still in the early stages of social media as a marketing tool. I believe as the technology matures, potentials are stretched, metrics are determined, and processes are developed this will change.
Second, there could be a disconnect between marketing and product management (you said the survey polled senior level marketers). As a product manager, I often used social media throughout the product lifecycle, and the executives I reported to often did not know where the new product ideas came from. And, what I learned through social media, I often further tested through more traditional marketing technologies like surveys, customer visits, interviews, etc.
Most Product Management and Marketing executives I have talked to are interested in listening, but have no strategy, processes, methodologies or best practices to act on customer feedback. Most tools available today are not providing particularly actionable data either. I am not sure what would or should come first, but without these elements you cannot produce any ROI. I attempted to come up with a “calculator” to measure an impact of customer feedback on product profitability, but it is just a rudimentary attempt for discussion and anybody who wants a copy can find it here.
The popular book bearing this name written by Barry Schwartz starts with this assertion:
We assume that more choices means better options and greater satisfactions…
and goes on to “prove” that the opposite is the case. The fewer choices makes life more simple, and by extension of his logic, happier life.
After watching the charming presentation of Mr. Schwartz at TED, I only can wish him to test his assumptions and research findings in environment of Soviet Union, where I grew up. Since I don’t know Barry personally, it is hard for me to judge if his believes are result of intellectual laziness, politically motivated dishonesty, or just a financial interest in marketing provocative book.
I do not debate the point that too many products and choices lead to confusion and confusion leads to unhappiness. I would like to suppose that what the book sites as too many choices, in fact amounts to very few ones. That most choices we are facing are not choices at all, but the same stuff in different packaging to create an illusion of choice. The examples are many and range from tires manufactured by the same company from the same materials on the same production lines under different brand names and sold for different prices, to political parties that pursue the same policies but differentiate by ideological rhetoric.
The reason they do this is very simple – the cost of real choice is much higher than the cost of fooling us into believing that we have something to choose from. The investment into innovation and creativity is much riskier than the cost of packaging and “flag waving”. That is why you get “new and improved” labels on the same products every few months, and go to voting polls to elect the same “Change” and “Hope” every few years. As my friend and mentor used to say – “Shit is the same, just flies are changing”.
So what to do? Well, that is a beauty of choice:
a. Join Barry and decide to get confused with with “too many choices”. Stop the angst of decision making and simplify your life by rejecting evil consumption. Let me know if that makes you happier.
b. Don’t get mesmerized by empty labels and promises. Educated, intelligent consumer (and citizen) has very clear vision of what they want and what they will not tolerate. It does require investment in time, but it gets easier with plentiful access to unrestricted information (that does not include useless package labels legislated to educate you), therefore you will choose not to consume as much, but be happier with what you choose to consume.
c. Grab the first piece of crap you can afford and be happy with your choice.
d…. There are million of fabulous choices I can sell you for a fantastic, everyday price, that absolutely guarantee to make you happy.
Let’s keep them honest and accountable, btw that include the book and blog writers.
A blog about experiences, curiosity and the never-ending search for ways to do better things better