How could the firms induce customers to be willing to reveal their preference and needs?

[chiaying_lin]

This is a good question from Frank
Let's discuss a bit what the companies can do to make the customer be willing to tell them more about their preference and needs??

[Eva_Berends]

I think the barrier to talk about preferences and needs from the viewpoint of customers is quite high. More people just agree with the idea of their information being saved than really tell companies about this same information. There should be some significant rewards, otherwise most people won't do it I believe. Look at surveys, most people I know don't take the time to fill in one..

[chiaying_lin]

okay, i will give it a try...

i think there is a good way to tempt customer by giving something in return.
For example, a car company could offer a car and some money as prize, and all the customers who go trying the car and leave their personal information as well as their opinions and suggestions for the car have a chance to win it.

so in summary, i think offering something in return is a good way for the companies to know more about their customers' preference and needs.

[Jamie_Tang]

Hmm this is a good point to think about, thanks Frank!~ Well, I think that trust/loyalty to a company can help make the customer willing to tell that specific company more about themselves. If a person really likes their product, they would probably be willing to help out the company and give out some of their personal information. Also, incentives is another way to get customers to tell the companies more. Offering a sort of lottery or raffle for submitting surveys seems to be quite popular (I get those all the time), and when people are getting something in return, they'd be more willing to offer whatever information they have. Otherwise, if it was just a normal survey with nothing in it for us, most people wouldn't bother to fill it out.

[Ian Chen]

combine with some hot Facebook web-activities, such as Mafia war, Pet society....blablabla , it's easy to reveal your preference and needs without any awareness. Even more, they just simply collect your Facebook information and through you find your friends' information within only a click from you. Sometimes, customer data can be collected by some psychological guidelines.

so, do not spend too much time on Facebook's app.

[Eva_Berends]

I was also thinking about those hidden kind of information gathering processes Ian. It might work better than all the surveys with rewards together, sadly!

[Jamie_Tang]

It feels like everyone is going to turn very paranoid and never give out any of their personal information ever again xD Yeah, from Facebook, you can always see the ads on the side are related to the places you've been or the things you type. So I guess another way companies can get customers to give out informations is to let them do it without them even realizing they are giving information to the companies.

[camille_girard]

I also think that a good way to attempt customer is by giving something in return. Myself, every month I answer a survey in internet and I get 7 euros (300 NTD).

Another way is to give some samples of the product or a new produt from another company for example to generate interest.

[Ian Chen]

It feels like everyone is going to turn very paranoid and never give out any of their personal information ever again xD Yeah, from Facebook, you can always see the ads on the side are related to the places you've been or the things you type. So I guess another way companies can get customers to give out informations is to let them do it without them even realizing they are giving information to the companies.

conclusion : Get away from Evil Facebook !!!

[Eva_Berends]

I really think rewarding is the only way to get customers to talk about their needs and preferences. When there is no reward or interest towards the product or company, people won't fill out surveys, as it is rather time consuming. There is a typical saying in Holland which means something like this: only the sun rises for free.. 99 % of all people just need something in return, unless they are very loyal to the company or have another reason to do so

[chiaying_lin]

Ian, you mean the one i'm using right now and cannot live without????????
ahahhaa

[Jamie_Tang]

Yes and as far as surveys go, as Eva said, when there is no reward or incentive, only people with strong feelings for that product/company will fill out the survey... they can either be very loyal and absolutely love the product, or they can be very ticked off and hate the product, usually thats the only time when people would voluntarily fill out a survey with nothing in return.

ps... Christine ... ME TOO XDD

[Frank_Ho]

Oh, let me give it a try~ ^^”

The CEO's talk in the first week came to my mind. There are many smart ways for e-marketing. For example, the “shopping list” or “my favorite” of some website could become important information for company such as Books and Yahoo. When there’s a topic many people search for or the kind of books many people want to buy, there would be some needs of customers. And somehow the number of clicks would reveal a lot of information from customers. By ways such like these, firms know customers needs and preference without make them feel uncomfortable.

[Eva_Berends]

True, but customers might not appreciate these kinds of information gathering processes, as discussed in other topics. It is the most effective way though

[Erin_Lo]

Oh, let me give it a try~ ^^”

The CEO's talk in the first week came to my mind. There are many smart ways for e-marketing. For example, the “shopping list” or “my favorite” of some website could become important information for company such as Books and Yahoo. When there’s a topic many people search for or the kind of books many people want to buy, there would be some needs of customers. And somehow the number of clicks would reveal a lot of information from customers. By ways such like these, firms know customers needs and preference without make them feel uncomfortable.

I agree with you. And I think these kinds of "customer needs and preference" information really works a lot. There is no need to know some private information from customers but still can gather infomations about there needs and preferences. Therefore, it is a proper way which won't make our customers feel uncomfortable.

[Eva_Berends]

But maybe it does make people feel uncomfortable, as discussed in other topics in this forum.

[Jamie_Tang]

So you wouldn't consider keeping track of the things we buy, and what we search and those types of things private information though? Because I think some people do also consider that private as well.

[Eva_Berends]

It is all private information in some kind of way. The fact that it is hidden in a funny facebook application or in some other fancy thing doesn't change the nature of the information and the way people feel about it, I believe.

[Jamie_Tang]

So then... why are we okay with giving away/letting go of some of our private information (what you buy, what you search for), when with others (address, phone number, etc) it isn't okay?

[Eva_Berends]

I don't know. Human mind acts strange

[Jamie_Tang]

Haha... well I guess most of the time we don't really take that into account, so we don't realize it.

[Eva_Berends]

No, but the thing is, when it becomes evident, a lot of people suddenly seem to be against it and feel like their privacy is being taken away.

[Nemo_Kuo]

maybe company donot get the feedback of customers directly. For instance, company could hire university lab or other psychological research team to investigate customers' reaction to their prodouct. In the kind of case, customers would not know that companies get their feedback finally.

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