In 2011, Google came up with a an e-book titled Winning the Zero Moment of Truth. The concept was adapted from an older idea called the Moment of Truth with described customer behaviour in stores when TV advertising ruled the world. In 2017, the concept of the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) is more relevant as the smartphone becomes ever more present in the customer journey.
The Moment of Truth.
Imagine if you can, if you are old enough, a time when customers didn’t have the whole picture. The Mad-Men days, when advertising agencies could influence a customer, where the showroom salesman could change a customer’s mind. Imagine a customer standing in front of a shelf, reaching out, about to put something into the basket. This is the moment of truth. Because at that moment, there is not much more you can do to ensure your product is chosen.
Many retailers in the Middle East still cling to these days where the shop-floor associate tries to push a certain brand or upsell a customer, or incentivise with last minute gifts and discounts. But the world has changed.
The Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT)
Today, it is highly likely that your customer is more well informed about your products and services than people walking into your store. They have Google, they have reviews, they have algorithms driven by Big Data that can recommend products based on social media interactions and online behaviour.
A customer is more likely to change their purchase decision based on a WhatsApp message or Snapchat post in a changing room than they are be influenced by the person paid to stand outside and make suggestions.
Customers now know what they want. Not just the brand, or the model number. They know how much RAM they want, what colors are available, what the positives and negatives are for similar products. And they know the price that they want to pay.
Many 2017 customers can factor in shipping costs, taxes and other factors to work out whether they are truly getting the best deal.
The Customer is Smarter than you Think.
Many offline retailers are still in denial. It’s a nostalgic notion to have a High Street of quaint independent retailers or speciality stores that really know their products, but for mass produced goods at least, that are comparable world-over, this no longer makes sense.
How Not to Sell Boat Shoes
A real case in point. There is nowhere in Dubai to buy sailing shoes. I could write a whole blog about how boat shoes are no longer boat shoes because most manufacturers have decided to make fashion shoes which completely ignore the purpose of boat shoes, which is to provide non-marking, non-slip soles – but… I digress.
In December, I went home to Melbourne. Sailing is a niche sport, but Australia is an outdoor sporting nation, so I figured I would be able to get boat shoes in Melbourne. I was wrong, for several reasons.
- Fluctuations in the exchange rate over recent years means that the prices in Melbourne compared to the rest of the world are way out of proportion. It’s a niche product. It’s a small market, and offline chandleries are known for price gouging, but I’m a 2017 customer and I know the price – globally.
- E-commerce in Australia, at least in the boat shoe market, is not very good. Buying directly from the brand didn’t really confer much of a price difference and once the shipping was added in, it made less sense than paying over the odds in a store.
- Markets like the USA and UK have a huge advantage. Not only is the market size bigger, but they are more advanced when it comes to E-commerce.
So I came back to Dubai, went onto WestMarine in the USA and had 3 pairs of shoes shipped to Dubai for less than what a single pair of shoes in a quaint independent retailer in Mornington could do. What’s more, the customer service was brilliant, even from seven thousand miles away.
If you don’t know what ZMOT is, you really should!
No Comments