How Stitch Fix Shows They Truly Care About Their Customers

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Chevron CEO and Chairman John S. Watson recently noted, upon his retirement, “The sooner you learn about reading people, listening to others and building relationships, the sooner you will be more effective.”

And though Watson was referring to business relationships, this comment should be taken to heart by marketers regarding how they build relationships with customers.

Why Brands Need to Care

Social Media Today reported that “consumer service interactions via Twitter have increased 250% in the last few years and an estimated 67% of consumers now use social media networks to seek resolution for issues and 88% are less likely to buy from companies who leave complaints in social media unanswered.”

This is reiterated by the Deloitte study, The Growing Power of Consumers, in which it was noted, “To increase consumer trust, businesses must engage more closely with [the] consumer … When a consumer reaches out to a company for resolution they want rapid acknowledgement of their interaction and actionable assurance that the company will try to make things right.”

And, this is especially true for Millennials. Joe Gagnon, senior vice president and general manager of cloud solutions at Aspect Software commented, “…millennials are more ‘experience-loyal’ than ‘brand-loyal,’ …It’s imperative that businesses adapt their customer service strategies to deliver an interaction strategy that addresses millennial engagement preferences.”

Key point to remember: Businesses need to mitigate their risks by monitoring consumer communications. By putting in place the means to track consumer sentiment, companies can identify areas of concern. This is a case of “if you don’t know what’s broken you can’t fix it.”

Putting Caring into Action

Stitch Fix is a great example of getting it right in terms of a high quality customer experience. Their subscription shopping model depends on consumers trusting them to make clothing choices on their behalf. And, they make it a practice to quickly acknowledge any missteps. The company’s strategy includes these vital steps when things don’t go right for customers:

  1. Immediate acknowledgement at the point of pain.
  2. Personalized contact to make the consumer feels heard, thus rebuilding their trust.
  3. An actionable demonstration of relationship rebuilding and reinforcement of the brand promise

CEO KatrinaLake puts it this way:

“… in building relationships with our clients and making sure our clients feel heard… and how the stylists and data science work together…is kind of symbolic of the way we work together and partner…so I think we’ve been able to create this amazing culture that is…a big driver of success…

The key takeaway from the Stitch Fix philosophy — from the top down– is that of relationship building. And, a total 360-degree understanding that in order to fix any issue the consumer needs to be assured that they are heard and understood. And in Stitch Fix’s case, that philosophy also builds trust.

To reinforce the point that brands need to care about consumer service, in a study by Wunderman, 79 percent of respondents said they only consider buying products from brands that show they care and understand their consumers. The study went on to note, “the data shows that brands now need to demonstrate their commitment to serving the consumer and exceeding their expectations every day.”

Key Point to Remember: Reputation risk is an issue that needs to be managed at every touch point.

In Conclusion: Brands need to understand that consumer service is everything, everyone, and everywhere a consumer has contact. The total experience, from start to finish and beyond, is what drives satisfaction. This is what builds longevity, repeat sales, and positive word of mouth recommendations.

And, when things go wrong, brands must understand that timely, honest and human response is essential. When a company dodges responsibility for a bad experience, it only serves to exacerbate and fuel an already aggravated and vocal consumer.

Ernan Roman
Ernan Roman (@ernanroman) is president of ERDM Corp. and author of Voice of the Customer Marketing. He was inducted into the DMA Marketing Hall of Fame due to the results his VoC research-based CX strategies achieve for clients such as IBM, Microsoft, QVC, Gilt and HP. ERDM conducts deep qualitative research to help companies understand how customers articulate their feelings and expectations for high value CX and personalization. Named one of the Top 40 Digital Luminaries and one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Marketing.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Agree. Reputation risk is real and measurable in many instances. As one who specializes in managing revenue risk, I’m glad to see you call this out. But something’s missing from both Mr. Watson’s statement and your points about Stitch Fix.

    Mr. Watson said, “The sooner you learn about reading people, listening to others and building relationships, the sooner you will be more effective.” Good advice to provide an earnest marketer. But in a nefarious context, I’d offer the same recommendation to a scammer. Something needs to be added to ensure that companies conduct business with consumers in ways that are honest and ethical. This is what’s missing from the three points about Stitch Fix. Ethical conduct transcends relationship building and trust building. It means companies must be dedicated to making sure that customer interests are consistently maintained and protected. A big plus for brand reputation when customers believe that to be true as well, but that should never be a primary objective. It leads to lots of weird corporate behavior and messaging that don’t necessarily create positive outcomes for customers.

    I think that’s the key matter that distinguishes ethical marketers from scammers.

  2. Andrew,
    You make an excellent point!
    Ethical conduct is a fundamental prerequisite for a business and should govern all decisions and practices.
    Consumers view this as a prerequisite before committing to deeper engagement.
    One of the great values of social media is the rapid and widespread ability to alert consumers when a company has acted in ways which are not ethical..
    Thank you.
    Ernan

  3. Excellent quote by John S. Watson, in our time being a marketer is very fashionable, probably for this reason, more than half of them do not have a clue about who is a marketer, what marketing is, and how to build interpersonal relationships with a client. Cool post

  4. Hi Ernan: I agree – along with its many warts, social media has its positive side, one of which is making it possible to expose unethical businesses and underhanded marketing practices. If only social media was a consistently effective antidote for preventing consumer harm. It is not. In many cases, businesses scale unethical practices in complete subterfuge. Volkswagen, Takata, Theranos, Wells Fargo. Pfizer engaged in some of the worst ethical transgressions when marketing Bextra. While revenue climbed, people who purchased Bextra died. And this week, Oxycontin marketer Purdue Pharmaceuticals voluntary stopped promoting this product and cut its sales staff. Good thing. I point this out, because I don’t think any of these scams were crushed by customers getting a whiff of immorality and deciding to take their business elsewhere. They depended on regulation and enforcement to stop the harm from spreading. It was already bad enough. And these are but just a few examples.

    I point this out, because I think the subject of ethical risk is grossly underrepresented in the biz-dev/CX blogosphere. I think there’s opportunity to include statements that acknowledge a company’s role in protecting consumer interests, along with their drive for revenue growth and profits. These points should not be omitted as John S. Watson has done, memorable as his statement might be.

  5. Andrew,
    Terrific points.
    Ethics and consumer protection are areas where companies and governments invariably fail to protect consumers.
    Ernan

  6. Bill,
    Right on target!
    Companies do not realize that after the acquisition, marketing is fundamentally about retention, growth and deepening of customer relationships. One can only do that if they earn the right to a solid relationship which passes the test and trials of time.
    Ernan

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