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

TWO-FOR-ONE SPECIAL

Most companies are still trying to both effectively harness word of mouth and separately deliver against customer retention, loyalty, and customer experience. But what if you could do both at the same time? That’s what happens with peer-to-peer or many-to-many conversations where customers are involved. And the truly sublime insight is that by doing one part particularly well (a renewed focus on retention and customer experience), you’ll get the networked benefits of social media and word of mouth at negligible to no cost. That’s just another way of conceptualizing the flipped funnel as part of a logical, systematic, and ordered process.

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A one-two conversational punch is exactly why we need to make sure that we can handle and expertly address customer conversations as they happen. And it’s not just about responsiveness, it’s as much about quality of response as well.

Take the folks over at Target. In 2008 Amy Jussel, founder and executive director of Shaping Youth (a nonprofit consortium of media and marketing professionals concerned about harmful media messages to children) felt that a Times Square billboard from cheap chic discount retailer Target contained a little too much sexual innuendo for comfort. If you’d like to see the “offensive” billboard in question, please visit the “enhanced content” section of the web site for the link.

Jussel sent a letter to Target, and this is what she got back in return:

Good Morning Amy, Thank ...