Customer experience is one area the forum is very passionate about. It goes hand in glove with Digital Marketing. If you read our 20018 debut book then you should be aware of Chapter 5 dedicated to the topic. In our latest Digital Marketing Book, we opened the book with staging experiences.
Let’s look at a few case studies of practical customer experiences:
Case Study 1
In 2017 the author attended a funeral in Tandi Rusape. Upon arrival in the evening took a few relatives to a shopping centre across Mhezi River. A sleepy place with little going on and we identified a butchery where we bough meat, tomatoes and cucumbers. We purchased a few drinks from shops across the road and did set up our own braai.
What started as a small event soon snowballed into a massive experience as passing motorists upon seeing the braai going on stopped and joined in. Kombi drivers heading to the last stop in Chitsva joined us and within 2 hours we had a large gathering of us, passing motorists and villagers.
Villagers selling rabbit meat also joined in the braai experience sharing village stories of farming, hunting and other social issues. Our team had urban stories including entrepreneurship.
The butchery owner was surprised to learn of the massive potential she possessed as she ran out of meat. Bottle store owners across the road could not believe that all action had diverted to the small butchery which had never run out of meat in ages.
Case Study 2
When we toured Beira in October, we decided to save on accommodation by looking for cheap accommodation in Dondo about 40km from Beira. Accomodation was US$8/room and it was not really bad as it had basics.
If you have ever travelled along the Machipanda-Beira Road, you should be aware of the Tongaat Hullet turnoff and at the turnoff there is a restaurant pub or banca. The 3 of us did light up the place in the 3 days we were in Mozambique.
Frelimo supporters coming from a rally in Beira ended up congregating at the place and on the last day, they closed at 4:00am instead of the usual 9:00pm. We staged memorable experiences and resulted in a lot of contacts with some promising us access to land!
Case Study 3
Our meeting in February at Leisure Centre in Chitungwiza had the biggest gathering of entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe. We did not have one place presenting but a diverse team tackling various topics such as bus transport, crowdfarming, real estate, regional opportunities and more. The presenters staged experiences and it paid off. The after meeting had more memorable experiences and networking.
We repeated the concept with the March Meeting at Capitalk Gardens were an even greater number of forum members attended. Sadly the Covid-19 shutdown affected our plans but one thing is apparent…the forum can attract thousands of members through staging memorable experiences!
Incorporating experiences in your business
-Have you been to National Tyres in Harare recently? Their headquarters situated in Graniteside now has a fabulous fitting centre where clients rest whilst watching television whilst their vehicles have tyres fitted.
– Have you witnessed Mambos Chicken Ads? How do they factor in experiences?
-Did you read our feature of Thailand customer experiences?
-Did you know the doctor’s waiting room ensures you do not get bored whilst the doctor is busy with other clients?
-Why does Mai Chisamba show include audience participation?
-Why does Millinier Properties include videos in their adverts?
One for the road
There is customer service which we are all aware of but this is elementary. The advanced series include customer experiences and this is still an alien concept in Zimbabwe. Those who master it will have a headway and this explains why we are passionate about it. It is a little known concept and yet creates and sustains your business.
One can just start a business today-stage experiences and carve out a niche market for themselves. The good thing is customer experiences do not cost an arm and a leg….its just a mindset, its is a culture done on a consistent basis. Clients keep coming and they also refer others when they experience exceptional experiences.
To those who got a Digital Marketing Book, the good news is we are compiling a book on Customer Experiences and its coming free of charge. Add customer experiences on top of the digital marketing skills and we will be confident of having created winners.
We have started compiling the easy to read and apply book and will share the good news in 2 weeks time.
