I’ll tell you what happened to me a few days ago.
I was about to unsubscribe from a grocery delivery service I had subscribed to because I felt I was using it too little.
When I went into my account to cancel, I noticed that they had added a new “statistics” panel with interesting graphs and insights. The banner informed me that by using the service, I had saved 48 h of time and avoided carrying 455kg of shopping bags!
My first reaction after reading was, WOW!
Do you know how it ended? Instead of unsubscribing, I immediately ordered another shopping spree and, even, shared my referral link “invite a friend”!
Well, what can I say, this app has hit the jackpot!
But let’s take a closer look at what happened.
Perceived value: why didn’t I cancel my subscription?
What happened is very simple!
The data quantified the value of the service, even increasing this value in the mind of the consumer!
As you well know, there are several techniques to increase the perceived value to customers. Examples include:
- Enhance the benefits of the product;
- highlight packaging;
- Focus on the design of the product itself;
- Leverage testimonials from satisfied customers etc.
However, using Data is another very effective and often underestimated way to make the customer perceive the value of what you are offering.
If you are wondering why data have this power, here is the answer: they are impactful! If you think about it, just with some numbers you are able to concretize and quantify, even visually, the perceived value of the product, which by definition is completely abstract.
At this point, you may be thinking, “Why didn’t I think of this before!” but more importantly, “How can I do this?”
Read also: “Artificial intelligence and business: toward the new era of marketing”
Increase perceived value in 5 ways with data
Let’s see right now how concretely you, too, can get bingo, as happened to the delivery app with me.
1st method to increase perceived value: monitor product/service utilization
The first and easiest way is to monitor the use of the product/service to show the customer how often they actually use it .
Let me give you an example that you surely know.
Spotify every year-end sends all its users the “Wrapped,” statistics on what and how much they listened to in the past year.
“You listened to music for 7,650 minutes, listening to 388 different artists!” he says.
But what it concretely does is identify favorite artists, genres and songs, inviting you to be proud of your musical tastes and share them with friends.
This method is perfect for all services involving people’s leisure or passions.
2nd method: highlight the results
The second method allows you to go a step further by highlighting the results customers have achieved because of your product or service.
It is recommended when customers buy the product/service to be able to achieve an end goal, such as losing weight, earning more money, learning something.
For example, apps for selling one’s second-hand clothes send reports on how much one was able to earn in a year through the app. By doing so, they push users to put more items up for sale!
3rd method: quantify the savings
The third way is to instead quantify to the customer what they have saved as a result of the product or service, just as happened in the case of our customer’s grocery delivery service.
What they did in this particular case was quantify the kilos of heavy bags saved!
Another example is electricity and gas bills: many companies include charts comparing your consumption to the average of people in your area–possibly showing you how you are saving compared to others.
The goal: to lower your perception of spending!
4th method: enhance the client with data
The fourth way is to use data to make the customer feel important.
This means identifying the top customers by use or results and letting everyone see their successes.
With this in mind, Google Maps, for example, sends its users reports on how many thousands of people have read reviews written by them, to make them feel useful and invite them to write more.
Or YouTube, celebrate with you achievements in terms of number of views, people reached and new subscribers to your channel.
5th method: collect aggregate data
Finally, the last way is to collect all the data from the previous points in aggregate to create overall statistics on the results or savings that on average all your customers achieve.
For example, a famous time management software says that on average, their active users save one day a week of wasted time for nothing!
By using these statistics in your communication you can increase the perceived value of your offer even for those who are not yet your customers.
Conclusions
So, as you could see, what happened to me and it is clear: thanks to the data, the delivery app was able not only to convince me not to cancel my subscription but also to buy further and recommend the service to Family&Friends.
This is a prime example of the ‘effectiveness of this method.
What do you have to do at this point?
Now all you have to do is choose one of the 5 modes that best suits your particular case. The question you need to ask yourself is , “How can I leverage any of these methods and data to increase the perceived value of the product/service I offer my customer?”
Obviously, as you may have guessed, the essential and necessary condition for taking advantage of the methods I explained today is to have control of your data, internal and external.
To accomplish this, you must constantly monitor everything going on inside and outside your company.
Warning. This activity must not for any reason in the world be sporadic! Far from it, it must be done continuously!
But if you realize you don’t have the internal resources to do it; if you don’t have the time; if you don’t know where to start, you can always turn to Big Data experts, like us at Central Marketing Intelligence.
Contact us and find out how we can help you increase your customer’s perceived value of your product/service!
