“Boy, they sure threw up on that one,” one of the team members declared.
“Yes, they did. But remember the passion it aroused. Usually, consumers who don’t like a tagline are just ho-hum about it. With this one, the reaction was virulent. Let’s think about how we can turn it around into a phrase that will evoke the same passion, only in a positive direction.”
The research and management team, together with representatives from the ad agency, were all gathered in the same focus group room where we had just observed a drubbing of one of the taglines we were testing. Several had scored well with consumers, but only the tagline suggesting that the company cared about consumers had raised howls (either positive or negative).
“Okay,” said the team leader. “What else rung the bell?”
“Well, the respondents seemed to really like the stories about our customer service reps helping members, going the extra mile and all that. And a couple have echoed these sentiments with their own stores of extraordinary treatment by the reps. Maybe there is a thread we can use from that discussion.”
A few other suggestions surfaced from several other team members and then……silence. The team seemed stuck for an answer.
“I want to revisit the essence of the reaction to the customer service stories. Alright, telling consumers that this shows we care doesn’t work. We got that in spades. But is that really the essence of what those stories represent? Is a feeling of being cared for the essence, the core of it, or is there another emotion that is really being evoked by the stories?”
“So what did the respondents really say? What was their point? They object greatly to calling it caring, but how would they express it?”
“What I heard the respondents say is that they were heard—they weren’t rushed through the call—there was no sense that the rep wanted to get them off the phone. They got to explain their problem without being harried.”
“And I heard a sense of relief, an expression that they were going to be helped.”
“Then how about using ‘help’ in the tagline? We help.”
“Ummmmmm. Something about that just doesn’t sing.” Heads nodded around the table.
“We need something with more punch.”
“Wait a minute. The respondents said they were being heard by the reps. We can’t use that; it doesn’t fit. But wouldn’t that say that the reps are really listening to the customers?”
“Yes! How about ‘We listen’?”
“Let’s try that in the next group and see how the respondents react.”
More to follow.
Comments welcome!
Dr. Bob
