Flip the Funnel: How to Use Existing Customers to Gain New Ones

THAT ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM IS YOUR CUSTOMER

Although they may not segment loyalty per se, most businesses today (sadly) do divide their customers into three very distinct categories, all of which exist within the animal kingdom: Lemmings (the hapless victims to mass-media hype and pop-culture indoctrination), Dogs (playful and loyal to a fault), and Goldfish (inherently forgetful). In reality, customers today are more like Chameleons (adaptive, unpredictable, ever changing, and contextually original), Dolphins (highly intelligent), and Elephants (terrific memory!). Besides their reputation for possessing incredible memory, elephants are also known as highly social animals who engage in greeting ceremonies, complex communication, courtship, teaching, and communal care.¹⁵ They’re also an endangered species—hunted and targeted as they simultaneously fight to adapt to shifting terrains and landscapes. Sounds kind of like how we treat and what we do with our customers, right?

Figure 6.4 Loyalty Programs and Loyalty Are Not One and the Same

Source: Forrester Research Inc.

If we want to show our customers that their purchase is just the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial exchange, then we need to think of them more as dynamic chameleons, engaged dolphins and mighty elephants. Look up to them. Acknowledge their presence. Stroke their egos. Feed them. Nourish them. Cool them ...