How Are You Connecting With Your Customers?

We recently purchased a new washer and dryer. Like everything else these days, it is wi-fi enabled. We can start washing clothes from our app! The app can’t get the clothes in the machine. Yet. The washer and dryer come with some preset programs but to get the full suite of programs, you need the app. 

At first, I thought that was a little annoying. Then, I realized the genius behind having programs you can only use on the app: the manufacturer is getting real time data from customers on how they use their machines. And the manufacturer is not paying for market research. Brilliant! (You can opt out from sharing data but that requires an additional step.)

The business to consumer world has always had numerous steps in the sales channel: manufacturer to distributor to retailer to the consumer. The feedback loop for product changes worked the same way in reverse. That cycle is rapidly changing right before our very eyes. How are the changes going to affect your business? What are you doing about it? Regardless of what business you are in, you better be using technology to connect with your customers. More importantly, you better be taking action based on what your customers are saying.