Suspicious Minds: Winning Over Skeptical Carwash Customers

The past decade has seen an historic shift in the relationship between the business community and its customers. As recently as the early '90s, consumers had few places to go to learn about the products and services that businesses sold, so they depended largely on advertising to keep them informed. Then came the Internet, TiVo and other technological advances, and suddenly consumers found themselves in the driver's seat.

Not only did they now have a world of information at their fingertips, they also were able to bypass commercial messages at the push of a button.

Who Can You Trust?

At the same time that technology was empowering consumers, events like the Enron scandal were eroding the public's faith in business. This has been reflected in numerous consumer surveys, including the respected Yankelovich State of Consumer Trust Report, which found that 70% of Americans believe that most businesses would take advantage of their customers if they knew they wouldn't get caught.

Faced with this unprecedented level of consumer skepticism, many marketers have explored new ways of communicating with their customers. From Procter & Gamble to General Motors, market-driven companies have focused less on touting the merits of their products or services, and more on providing customers with the information needed to make smart buying decisions.

A case in point is Progressive Direct, which shook up the insurance world in 2002 by introducing Rate Ticker, an online service that allows consumers to check the rates offered by multiple insurance companies, including Progressive. Sometimes Progressive's rates are lower than the competition's, other times they're not. In either case, the comparison shopping service establishes a level of trust in Progressive on the part of consumers, who see the insurer as a company that's interested in helping them, not just selling to them.

Ironically, by encouraging comparison shopping, Progressive has gotten many consumers to focus more on trust and less on price. It's no accident that Progressive saw a 30% increase in new premiums and revenues the year it introduced Rate Ticker, while its bigger competitors like State Farm were experiencing significant losses.

Trust-Based Marketing

MIT's Urban has dubbed this practice "Trust-Based Marketing." Under this theory, a business doesn't simply sell a product or service to its customers, it partners with them to do the following:

1. Provide the information needed to make informed decisions.
2. Actively solicit customer feedback for changes in a product or service.
3. Assign customers a large role in shaping the company's marketing message.

The entire process puts the customer in control of the relationship, and over time builds a level of trust that cements loyalty. "The most important thing to realize is that you are no longer in power -- the customer is," Urban advises marketers.

General Motors put Urban's theory to a road test, working with him to develop its AutoChoice Advisor website, which matches prospective buyers with vehicles made by the Detroit automaker as well other companies. The popular site encourages prospective customers to test drive GM cars and competing vehicles. Consumers who test drive the competing vehicles are said to be 10% more likely to purchase a GM product.

Aside from establishing a level of trust with consumers, GM's AutoChoice Advisor site is providing the company with invaluable insights into the wants and needs of car buyers. The automaker plans to use this feedback to help it design vehicles that are more in sync with the marketplace.

First Tech Credit Union also worked with Urban to implement a trust-based marketing program. The company added a feature to its website that objectively explains different mortgage options, weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each alternative. This service has been used by 40% of the credit union's members, and mortgage volume is up 60%.

Understandably, carwash operators aren't going to post the prices of the wash down the street on their menu boards, but communicating openly with customers is likely to win their trust, and lead to more business in the long-run. Click here to learn how the Portable Touchscreen Terminal can help you make more informed suggestions to customers.

Connecting At The Point Of Sale

At a time when 79% of TV viewers flip channels during commercials and 55 million consumers have opted in to the Do Not Call registry, developing a level of trust at the point of sale has become critically important to the success of any retailer, including a carwash operator.

Having largely tuned out traditional media advertising, many consumers have become difficult to reach except through word-of-mouth referrals or interactions at the point of sale. Recognizing this, many companies have invested in big picture incentive programs that encourage employees not only to sell, but also to build solid relationships with customers. In this era of powerful viral marketing, savvy companies realize that establishing trust at the point of sale is not only a good way to retain existing customers, but to attract new ones as well. Click here to learn how one successful carwash operator uses DRB Systems products to run an effective incentive program that has increased revenues by $2 per vehicle.

Even as advancing Internet technology chips away at the importance of traditional advertising, old-fashioned one-to-one relationships seem to have become more valued than ever in the retail marketplace. Maybe that's because trustworthiness can no longer be taken for granted (if it ever was) by consumers. "Consumers today look at everything with a skeptical eye. Before they even set foot in a store, they are inclined to mistrust the use of flattery by salespeople as well as claims made in ads they've seen in the media," said Peter Drake, a Florida State University professor who has studied consumer attitudes.

A retailer that is able to earn the trust of its customers can depend on their loyal support, even when they become empowered by technology. Consider this: More than 70% of consumers now use the Internet when shopping for new vehicles, and walk into the dealer showroom carrying paperwork about the car they want. These consumers spend $450 less for a vehicle on average. Yet when auto buyers were polled recently on the deciding factor in their decision to repurchase the same brand of vehicle, 29.9% of them said it was the "attitude of the dealer sales staff." By comparison, only 10.6% cited "vehicle reliability," and 4.7% pointed to "vehicle value."

As these survey results indicate, consumers who have access to a deep well of information online are not looking to be informed when they visit a retailer as much as they are to be advised. They are looking for a retailing partner who understands them and their needs, and is able to guide them through the subtleties of the purchase process.

Of course, in order to trust the advice, you have to trust and respect the advisor. This is where the value of trust-based marketing comes into play. The trust of informed consumers can't be won by clever slogans or a nice smile, it can only be earned by openness, honesty and transparent information about which options work best for the customer.

By its very nature, trust-based marketing isn't focused on the casual shopper, says Urban, but on the dedicated hardcore customer -- the 20% of the folks who give most retailers the 80% of their volume. In the case of the carwash industry, this means focusing on those customers who join loyalty clubs, purchase prepaid cards or participate in automatic monthly billing programs. Click here to read about the SiteWatch Automatic Recharge Module (ARM).

Customers Control The Marketing Message

Honesty and customer involvement must also rule the day when it comes to advertising. Consumers have expressed serious reservations about traditional advertising methods. In a recent Yankelovich study, six out of ten respondents said they try to avoid commercial messages. Over half (54%) said that they try to "avoid buying products that overwhelm me with marketing and advertising." When asked to list things that most needed government regulation, survey respondents ranked advertising fourth, behind only water pollution, toxic waste and air pollution.

According to proponents of trust-based marketing, a business can increase the effectiveness of its message and polish its image at the same time by avoiding sweeping claims, such as "We're the fastest (or best)," and focusing on providing information that customers can use to decide for themselves whether or not a particular product or service will work for them.

When looking for advice about how to make their ads "more genuine and honest," companies should go to the source and ask customers themselves. In a 2006 survey conducted by the American Marketing Association, 68% of the respondents said that companies that use customer generated ads are more consumer friendly than those that rely on professionally produced commercial messages.

Commenting on this trend during a speech to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Jim Stengel, global marketing officer at Procter & Gamble said, "We're getting much more comfortable with the idea that consumers truly own our brands and our brand messages. It may be a little scary for us to 'let go,' but in the end we must realize that what people say about our brands is far more valuable than what we say... At P&G we're learning that if we want to engage people with our branding message, it has to be on their terms."

Any business hoping to get its marketing message out in this era of the informed and empowered consumer would do well to take these words to heart.