DISQUS

Katy · 10 months ago

I agree 100%. I work with GEMaffair.com and instead of spending $$ on advertising, we're putting it into our customer service. It's already proven to us to be the right way to go. We can connect with customers the way we would in a brick and mortar store, which I think is extremely important in an e-commerce world.

Julia Chanteray · 10 months ago

Funny how all the "Taste The Difference" and other premium brands have suddenly changed from amost everything being labelled premium (so there's nothing to differentiate the premium product from) to "Basics" brands. I'm guessing the product inside is just the same old stuff.
People have become more discerning about how they view premium, and will still pay for good service, but won't be bothered about getting a platinum card, or being a VIP, unless this is proven by there being something real and substantial behind it all

Whitney · 10 months ago

There's a great book out there called Buy-ology that talks about some of this- like the difference in feel and value for a Bang & Olafson remote is all about the additional weight (literally, a hunk of metal) they put in it to add "substance" to its feel.

Sometimes perceived value is just perceived- we've drunk the koolaid. Other times, there are real and substantial differences that make sense to some consumers. For example, we bought a real wood dining table rather than the one made out of MDF with veneer, because we wanted real wood that would last through the ages. The people trying to sell us the cheaper, MDF and Veneer table pitched "made from space-age materials" at which point I said- "I want to feed my grandchildren Thanksgiving dinner at some point in the future at this table, not send it up in the space shuttle." The difference in quality was important for something I want as a possible heirloom. It's not as important, per se, in a flash drive, which is easily and cheaply replaceable.

It all depends on your metrics and whether the quality and the service that backs up the alleged quality work for you.

Emil Wisch · 10 months ago

Love the post, Chris. We feel the same way at crowdSPRING. We're a small company and customer service is at the core of everything we do. We strive to keep getting better.

Emil