Do customers want a relationship with brands?
“Relationship-building is the single biggest lie being purported right now.”
Last week, Adam Kmiec penned the line above while trashing the concept that customers actually want a relationship with a brand via social media. And he was right. Based on the way he defined relationship. But he he also compared the brand/customer relationship to romantic relationships and divorce. Last time I checked, brands aren’t asking customers to dinner and a movie with the hope of some late-night extracurriculars.
See, the problem is customers don’t give a crap how you define relationship. They don’t give a crap if you call interacting with them via social media a relationship. And they really don’t give a crap if you conduct that interaction with them via social media…unless it’s the way they choose to interact with the brand in question.
Here’s what I know…Customers want a brand to be personable, helpful and willing to say I’m sorry. Customers do not care what department you work in or what your internal process is to find an answer to their questions. They just want the answers. And they want a brand that is willing help them find those answers and act like a decent human being in the process. Sometimes they’ll ask for those answers via social media.
Is that a relationship? Maybe. For me, it’s more a brand positioning itself as a resource. Adam is right, we don’t need to be friends with our brands, necessarily.
Maybe the problem with the word relationship is it sounds too touchy-feely and too far away from another term that starts with r — ROI. We’ve all heard the case studies that show a correlation between brands that position the company as a resource via social media and overall bottom line success. Zappos and Blendtec, just to name a couple of my favorites.
But maybe talking about relationships isn’t the best way to show that connection to the bottom line. I could get on board with that argument. What I can’t get on board with is the idea that customers don’t expect brands to be personable and helpful via social media. And that they won’t show preference to companies that take the time to listen.
Come to think of it, that does kind of sound like a relationship, doesn’t it?
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Who am I?
I'm a business communications consultant at Fleishman-Hillard. I used to call myself a PR professional, but I don't use that term anymore because people hear PR and they think only media relations.We do a lot more than that at Fleishman-Hillard Kansas City (FHKC). I specialize in social media, but am trying hard to brush up on my measurement and analytics. Every strategic consulting conversation should start with your business goals and how communications can help you reach them. My motto: "Your brand is what your customers say it is." 
I concur, sir. Brands want a relationship. As you mentioned, they just define “relationship” differently.
@kmskala Well said. All about how the term is defined. Customers want what they want via the channel they prefer. Some are reasonable and worth engaging. Some are unreasonable and worth ignoring.
@kmskala @jgoldsborough Definitely agree the problem here is the definition of the term “relationship”. I mean, I have a relationship with my doctor. Doesn’t mean we’re buddy/buddy.
Rejecting the idea of needing to connect on some kind of level with customers, which is what I think Kmeic is proposing to a certain extent, leads to poor customer service and a disconnect from what your audience/customers want or need. And besides. If you connect on a personal level with your customers…doesn’t it make any crisis situation a bit easier to handle?
@MattLaCasse @kmskala All good points. Per my comment to Betsey, a lot of this is can companies take a long-term approach with how they address customers online. Adam makes a good point — the relationship isn’t only built via social. But if the customer reaches out via social, in most cases the company misses an opportunity if it isn’t prepared to respond.
Okay, so I’ve had two experiences that I think prove your point. One is that my cat’s health insurance, Pet Plan, knows my cat’s name and checks in if I say anything about going to the vet on Twitter. These two simple things have resulted in me never leaving them and recommending them to others, despite rarely having the need to actually use their product.
The second is the gym I recently joined. I was having problems with the location, and they blamed corporate. Since corporate doesn’t publish their phone number, and I wanted an immediate answer, I took to Twitter. The only responses I got were an “I’m sorry for your experience at that location,” and “We will forward your comments.” The “relationship” question of, “How can I help make this better?” was missing from the interaction. My rage at the problem was then fueled. Had there just been that one question, I would have been happier with my experience at the gym.
Okay, so there’s my psychosis for the day.
@decillis1 Yep, both good examples. What’s tough is measuring the value of connecting with customers online like that. You have to believe that offering help now produces loyalty later. Or if the person isn’t a current customer, you the brand are inserting yourself to be top of mind when a consumer need comes up that you can solve for that person. Hard to draw a straight line and show direct impact there, so leadership has to believe in the value. You can see it in the results for companies like Blendtec and Zappos.
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