fallon brainfood: how customer service will save luxury
Post on 19-Sep-2014
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Luxury brands have long been the gold standard for customer service. In recent years, shifting consumer attitudes, a tight economy, and the massification of luxury have forced luxury leaders to up their game, establishing new ways to attract, connect, and retain customers. Fallon planners Savanah Brihn and Jeanine Lilke will explore how affluent consumers are placing a higher expectation on the value demanded from luxury brands as well as how luxury leaders are directly responding. Through trend analysis, case studies, and expert interviews, they will demonstrate the values and approaches that will lead luxury (and mass brands) forward. Listeners will take away new approaches to maintain the standards of luxury customer service in a way that fits the values, expectations, and behaviors of today's affluent consumer.TRANSCRIPT
we are fallon
Fallon Brainfood: Trends, ideas, opportunities, and thought leadership for our brands.
Brainfood is: Agency food for thought
Past Brainfood topics: The Social 10 // Being Digital // Virtuality // Design for All // Fall0nylitics 2.1 // Mobile 10 // China Rising // and more
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Previous Brainfoods: Go to http://www.slideshare.net/group/we-are-fallon
Why customer service will save luxury.
March 8, 2011
Meet Savanah and Jeanine.
Savanah Brihn Jeanine Lilke
And, you’ll also see two other faces via Skype.
Peter Rose Senior Vice
President
Mark Guarino Senior Auto and Entertainment Analyst
Agenda
Three Stages of Luxury
Shifts in Consumer and Brand Behavior
Examples of Modern Luxury Customer Service
What if I don’t work on one of those fancy-schmancy luxury brands?
Customer service is becoming increasingly important for all brands.
And historically, mass brands adopt the behaviors of luxury brands forcing luxury to continue to raise the bar.
So this is your time to learn from the masters and plunder.
Luxury customer service is no longer confined to one-on-one interactions with sales people
Social Media Mobile
In-Store Online Experiential
Act I: The Boom
Few were invited to partake.
It was truly a lifestyle with its own social cachet.
The best money could buy.
Made by artisans, not assembly lines.
Sold by experts.
With personalized and attentive service.
Not for Everyone
Personalized Service
Part of a Larger Story
Made and Sold by Experts
Exquisitely Crafted
A Social Experience
At its core, luxury was…
Act II: The Fall
Consider your status when traveling.
“The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.”
— Charlie Chaplin
And that is exactly what we did.
When luxury went corporate, the primary objective changed.
Creating the finest things money could buy.
Making money, lots of money.
From: To:
Consumers overextended their credit.
Offered entry-level products to reach aspirational customers.
Reduced the quality to turn average profit margins into luxury margins.
No longer hired experts.
Traded individualism for homogenization.
Began to expect luxury-style service in non-luxury environments.
Holiday Inn
Began to expect luxury-style service in non-luxury environments.
This triple threat brought luxury to its knees.
1. Big conglomerates homogenized brands to increase profits.
2. Consumers expected a piece of the luxury life.
3. Mass brands incorporated luxury services.
And the recent economic recession certainly didn’t help luxury retain its appeal.
38% of consumers reported they reduced the amount of their luxury purchases in the past year
Source: Mintel, Consumer Attitudes Toward Luxury Goods, U.S., March 2010.
In the first half of 2009, worldwide sales of luxury goods fell
20%
Source: Bain & Co. Consulting, May 2009.
And the recent economic recession certainly didn’t help luxury retain its appeal.
Act III: The Comeback
Not for Everyone
Personalized
Part of a Larger Story
Made and Sold by Experts
Exquisitely Crafted
A Social Experience
In other words, they needed to return to this…
In a way that isn’t this…
The only way to modernize luxury is through customer service
and customer service is bigger than you think it is.
Affluent consumers view customer service as an essential part of luxury.
57% of high-income shoppers
identify superior customer service as a defining quality of luxury goods.
Source: Luxury Institute, September 2010.
Yet, that’s where luxury falls apart.
50% of high-income shoppers
have noticed a marked decline in the customer experience.
Source: Luxury Institute, September 2010.
Here are some impactful ways to draw on the classic codes of luxury in a modern style.
Burberry: Teamed up with Facebook to create a social networking fashion blog that revolves around the famed Burberry trench.
FROM: Brand validates customers TO: Customers validate brand
Burberry: Teamed up with Facebook to create a social networking fashion blog that revolves around the famed Burberry trench.
FROM: Brand validates customers TO: Customers validate brand
Ritz-Carlton: Through collaborations with like-minded partners, Ritz-Carlton awards the best customers with exclusive experiences.
FROM: Inaccessible to most TO: Accessible to many, but truly rewarding the best
Bloomingdale’s—Engaged shoppers with an interactive and individualized experience.
FROM: Personalized one-on-one services TO: Use technology to personalize all service touchpoints
Bloomingdale’s: Engaged shoppers with an interactive and individualized experience.
BMW—Transformed the traditional dealership experience to create a more welcoming environment.
FROM: Guided discovery TO: Self-directed discovery
BMW: Transformed the traditional dealership experience to create a more welcoming environment.
FROM: Guided discovery TO: Self-directed discovery
MINI Cooper: Extended the campaign into new markets by offering distinct experiences in the public space.
FROM: Product experts TO: Lifestyle experts
Lululemon athletica: Community Ambassadors lead classes and experiences unique to the lululemon lifestyle.
Tiffany & Co.—Engagement ring app effortlessly connects mobile to in-store.
FROM: Singular customer interactions TO: Seamless customer interactions
Tiffany & Co.: Engagement ring app effortlessly connects mobile to in-store.
Inaccessible to most
Brand validates customers
Personalized one-on-one service
Guided discovery
Product experts
Singular customer interactions
Customer validates brand
Accessible to many, but truly rewarding the best
Use technology to personalize all service touch points
Self-directed discovery
Lifestyle experts
Seamless customer interactions
FROM: TO:
Three things we want you to remember about luxury customer service.
1. The old ways of luxury laid the foundation for the modern luxury market.
2. To stand out today, luxury brands must use customer service to reinvent their identity.
3. In order for continued success, luxury needs to out-behave, not just outperform, the competition.
Thank you.