In 1975 Andrew J R Mack wrote an insightful article "Why Big Nations Lose Small Wars”. It discussed the concept of Asymmetrical Warfare looking at the factors behind why the little guys sometime prevail over the big guys in the most shocking of theatres: military warfare. There are many parallels between how military battles are fought and how marketing battles are fought. Marketers can use the same vernacular as Generals. As we unwrap the advantages that the little guy can have over the big guy in both worlds, we see technology emerge as a pivotal factor. In this blog, I will share some ideas of how technology can change the balance of power between the consumer and the brand owner.The much quoted battle between United Airlines and the small time singer Dave Carroll -whose clever song about the airline’s customer service boasts 10,873,498 hits on YouTube as of yesterday - struck deep into the hearts and minds of large corporations. It was the consumer example of Asymmetrical Warfare and it stung many large corporate brand owners into action. The idea that one disaffected customer can move a market has become a reality and so the threat posed by poor service is massively increased. We also have begun to measure the upside, as we begin to directly link customer loyalty to corporate earnings and - for the first time - start to quantify the Life Time Value of a customer.
As the pace of change accelerates, the demand for differentiating technology that better serves the customer also accelerates. Wherever there is any kind of meaningful interaction with a customer, it is important to know how the customer felt. Were they happy, satisfied, annoyed – these have become essential questions to answer.
This was the genesis of Fizzback. Our original vision centred on the ability to discover what your customer would say about the brand, the product, or the service at the point of experience – the “moment of truth”. We need to know and we need to know now –in real-time. We need to know what every customer thinks, not just a survey or a sample – we need to ask everyone. We need to analyse the data in a form where it can be used in the day-to-day running of the business. Fizzback generates market leading response rates - more than 50% in some cases - and the result is game-changing volumes. This year alone we will process over 150,000,000 Fizzbacks. This is the quality of intelligence that we need from the battleground.
Over the last few years, Fizzback has been woven into the core customer service processes of some of the largest customer-centric businesses in the world. We have seen the product deployed in 11 different languages across 3 continents and in multiple sectors. The consumers tell our customers directly how they feel about the brand and the service. But the market is evolving; our customers are becoming ever more sophisticated. They want to join the direct and indirect feedback they receive through Fizzback with other forms of indirect and inferred feedback from other sources such as call recording in the contact centre.
This brings us to the logic that supports the planned acquisition of Fizzback by NICE Systems.
As consumers become more demanding, brand owners must respond. The brand owners must deploy and utilise technology that captures all forms of feedback and describes the customer journey. The integration of Fizzback into the NICE Customer Hub captures this vision.
In summary, we have seen the market for technology to support customer service emerge and flourish over the last few years. We have seen attitudes and behaviour to customer service change. We have seen rising demand for ever more sophisticated solutions articulated by innovative brand owners. We believe the merging of the Fizzback proposition with the NICE proposition provides that holistic solution; this is evidence of a market forming and of technologists responding. In its own way, it is a small slice of history that we are proud to be a part of.
Rob Keve
To read the full press release, please click here. For more information on Fizzback visit www.fizzback.com