Already in the Middle Ages, a shoe told a lot about its owner. The longer the toe-caps the richer and higher class the person wearing the shoe. But what about today? Psychologists say: "shoes don’t lie". This was the motive for the market research and consulting institution psychonomics AG taking a closer look at the Germans’s relation to their shoes and the shoe purchase in a survey. 1600 Germans from 14 have been representatively asked about their stance over shoes and their buying behaviour.

The first result: In comparison to Europe the Germans’ majority, mainly the men, are really no shoe enthusiasts. They rather be on practical terms with their chaussure. 60 percent declare to buy shoes only when the old ones are worn-out (men: 70%; women: 51%). Elegancy, stylish aspects and brands mostly play a secondary role in comparison to functional aspects.

 On average the Germans buy three to four shoes per annum spending round about 208 Euro. Almost half of the Germans spend for a pair of shoes at most 30 to 50 Euro. However, more than every third German is certain to diagnose a man’s character because of his shoes. So, is Germany a shoe sourpuss nation?

Taking a closer look there are differentiated results. Five different shoe buyer types could be defined. From the ’shoe sourpuss’ to the ’shoe enthusiast’. The preconception that women have obviously more fun in buying shoes was approved. Nevertheless, every third man goes shopping in a shoe shop and spontaneously buys shoes. Anyway, for each pair of shoes the German man spends more than the woman. While every fifth German only purchases one new pair of shoes every tenth buys at least seven to over ten pairs.

Source: Von Aschenputteln und gestiefelten Katern - Eine Kaeufertypologie im Schuhfachhandel

Dynamic, spontaneous, individualistic, these characteristics can be more and more also attributed to consuments. Meanwhile, the client decides because of a mixture of sympathies, arguments and emotions choosing the fitting product - and this choose depends on his emotional state.

The times with clear structures and linear developments seem to be over. Even the seniors’ customer profile is no more as definite as it was. But it’s safe to say the customer behaviour and marketing processes become more complex and multi-faceted. The consuments’ bonds are less long-ranging but fluent like a swarm whose form and morphology changes continuously. Similar to the quantum physics where either the position or the impulse of a particle can be defined but never both measurement categories the consument more and more defies standardized measurement categories. The long-ranging bond principle seems to give way the dynamic principle. Companies and their sales management considering the changes should start using the marketing’s kinetic strengths.

How should the companies behave? The more spontanuous the market becomes the more definite a companies’ positioning ought to be. They have to activate the emotions and sympathies picturing an exclusive product. Nevertheless: the company is no more able to impact its market directly. Therefore, the future’s strategies should be based on possibilities and probabilities that is imagination.

Where consistency was there will be more and more breaks. These should be used. It can mean for the management: Don’t bet on trends but use their breaks or make them break. Activity because of the advertence evolves from the break. Aand where advertence is there is also potential.

Quelle: http://www.zukunftsnet.de/vordenker-online/pi1/index.html  

Oliver W. Schwarzmann, a former banker started an institution for future conditioning in the early 90ies. Since then he is working as a future explorer and mentor. Schwarzmann sees himself as a specialist for new perspectives and an innovative mentor for the international world economy.

Market research is essential for customer recovery. Not until knowing why cutomers have churned and what damage is associated with methodical customer recovery is possible.
Here are some tips:

Data Mining: What clients are worth being recovered? 
Not each client is interesting as a target group for customer recovery. Customers doing no more purchase or having no more need or just being inactive can be filtered. As well as clients whose sales volume is only marginal. Please don’t forget customers still being active but with a significantly lower dealings. Data Mining is manageable by means of IT. 

 Clustering is closely connected with Data Mining. Both build on existing databases. E.g. it is possible that each client having cancelled his contract is tested for his attitude change during the contract period. Customers with a very similiar behaviour are summed up in common groups. Possessing a profile of these groups you will have a solid starting point for early detection of potential churning clients.

Root-Cause-Analysis: Quest for the motives
For adept market-researcher it is a platitude that a direct question not always follows a real answer. Churned customers are a vintage example of it. For the question why they have changed the company mostly the clients give socially pleasing answers like: "I am already supplied" or " "I ‘ve got a better offer". These are answers nobody can use as starting points for measurements. A better confitting method is the Root-Cause analysis. By the means of in-depth interviews any mentioned problem is questioned as long as the real change reasons are named. Such interviews are expediently conducted by independent institutions showing direct starting points for measurements.

Flow of customers analysis
Flows of customers can be analyzed by market research. Based on qualitative preliminary enquiries churned customers are questioned by qualitative interviews. asking about their former and actual buying behaviour. The key role is the question about where to and why. With the help of correlations analyses and decision trees coherences and flow diagrams can be generatet illustrating flows of customers and their reasons. E.g. such an analysis could show to what extent the price was the main argument for the change to a special provider of mobile telecom services.

Source: http://www.markt-studie.de/studien/Kundenrueckgewinnung.php
Author: Mag. Holger Sicking 

 Customer recovery is an important factor of success - together with customer satisfaction and customer retention. In the meantime the last two points are fixed in the companies’ minds. However, customer recovery is rarely addressed because a successful company may not lose clients. But a company not integrating that topic will never find out what customer are gone and what potential is passed up.

Customer recovery step by step
Lost clients means that the company or the responsible person has slipped up. Unfortunately, mistakes being barely seen as a chance for quality improvement are mostly hushed up. Though the topic "lost customers" is a profitable investment indeed.
Depending on the branch of trade a Return of Customer Recovery (RoCR) of more than 100% is possible. Calculation the RoCR the costs for the recovery is compared with recovery gain respectively the avoided market loss.The higher the Customer Lifetime Value in a branch of trade the higher the Customer Recovery Return. By the way, on average recovered customers means a higher profit potential. 

 And how does a company recover lost customers? Here are the five steps:

1. Identification of the lost customers
Only for real lost clients the effort is profitable i.e. they are now satisfying their needs with the competing products/services. Often clients don’t churn completely but displace important products to the business competition. Therefore, lost customers can be those whose share of customer wallet has significantly decreased. Here, target values are to be determined.

2. Analyzing the reasons
Why have the clients drifted away to the competition? Are the reasons individual or frequently observed? What clients are worth being recovered - in consideration of their specific reasons? A portfolio analysis (probability of recovery, client attractiveness and further client’s durability) can be helpful.

3. Solution to the problems
Customers can be recovered only if the reasons for their churn are resolved. Normally customer churn reasons are in the communication and not in the product or the service itself.

4. Beginning recovery measures
Customers seldom come back on their own. So, create incentives for the clients (financial, material, non-material). And give him the sense of being important.

5. Aftercare operations
Bond recovered customers to the company e.g. by intensified involvement in product development, qualitiy improvement etc.

Customer recovery is no witchcraft. But before managing this theme corresponding structures, hierarchies and incentives must be established. Then customer recovery can be successful.

 Source: http://www.markt-studie.de/studien/Kundenrueckgewinnung.php
Author: Mag. Holger Sicking 

 Citation: Problems are opportunities in disguise (Hungary)