Humans, machines, humans again

Daily draft sites are all the rage and dominate all the ads I see. Here’s an interesting story about a smaller company in that space and how the whole industry is dealing the churn of new users in the wake of some data that says big, sophisticated players are making a lot of money at the expense of the casual player.

Man vs Machine Part 1,334,353

For the customer experience, do you invest in your people? Or do you invest in your tech? Why, yes, it would be both. The data created by all the systems that support your customer is simply too big. As the author says: “Terminator is not walking through the door in the form of a marketing cloud with a flashing power button that will automatically change your business once activated.” That version is not available until Fall 2019.

What’s the impact of radically changing your product or service?

The New York Islanders hockey team moved from the Nassau County on Long Island to Brooklyn, about 30 miles. But 30 miles on the Long Island Expressway? 75% of the season-ticket holders said “Forget about it.” Even a the cool Barclays Center and a goal horn that sounds like a subway horn didn’t help.

Introducing the new @nyislanders goal horn that we worked on with the MTA. pic.twitter.com/PcAwbuIAVc

— Barclays Center (@barclayscenter) September 29, 2015

What’s keeping small business owners up at night? Besides binge watching a show, that is…

Turns out it is customer retention. A study by Hitachi Capital Business Finance (who knew?) is not only the #1 worry on Q3 of 2015, it posted a big jump from Q1. Why? Seems to be around increased competitiveness. What’s #2? Managing Cash Flow.

Did I mention that machines were not enough?

The data can certainly tell you what is going on, but go ahead and use people to followup. This article recommends a bunch of solid “plays” given certain conditions, including referral codes, support-driven followup, and NPS-driven phone calls.