THERE is a common trend among most marketing organisations to over focus on their product’s features and functionalities rather than on their performance.

Most of the organisations overlook the importance of customer satisfaction, which is one of the most critical factors in marketing.
As I have repeatedly pointed out in my other articles, marketing is all about customer’s satisfaction and profitability.

Customer experiences now constitute the modern approach to marketing which is based on the premise that happy and satisfied customers will provide an organisation with free ‘word of mouth advertising’.

According to recent research findings, one satisfied and happy customer has the ability to influence more than 50 close relatives, friends and associates. This in customer service terms is often
referred to as ‘level of influence’.

Similarly one unhappy and dissatisfied customer has the ability to influence more than 50 close relatives, friends and associates through negative talk or criticism.

Most of you have heard the common saying “bad news spreads like a bush fire”. Would you not also agree that
this saying is just as true?

I recall some years back around the 1980s in Kalulushi on the Copperbelt, where one famous butcher store was rumored to have been stocking human flesh and it is unbelievable how people strongly
believed this story.

Apparently some people who had differences with the butchery owner deliberately decided to mudsling his business.

One thing about rumors and negative reports or stories, is their ability to leave no room for rational judgment and objectivity.

I remember during my childhood days, how our parent’s elders discouraged us from eating chicken eggs, by threatening that when one grew up they would have a bold head.

A lot of things were restricted from children for reasons better known to elders.

This example illustrates the power of influence based on hearsay or rumors.

Marketers should understand this influence as they handle their customers and ensure their products and services leave an impression that will last a long time and get them speaking positively about the product or service to each person they interact with.

In social sciences where the marketing discipline belongs, this is known as cognitive dissonance, where people make choices that are not in conflict with their beliefs.

Powerful products and brands such as Coca-cola, Colgate and many other house-hold names have largely become popular due to good word of mouth advertising.

For most consumers it has come to be acknowledged that people make purchasing decisions on house-hold goods based on reputation or what they have heard about particular brands.

For instance in my family, we have always believed that when it comes to toothpaste the best brand is Colgate.

This is not to imply I am endorsing the brand, in fact I have been extremely generous by mentioning the brand-using this space at no cost.

This demonstrates how when a product truly satisfies the consumer, it may not even need to pay for advertising.
It is for this reason that products such as Surf, which because of prominence and market dominance have assumed the name of every washing powder.

You will agree that most Zambian consumers still refer to any other washing powder as Surf.

It is for this reason that marketers should begin to look at other ways of maximising on their products and services and reputation among their consumers from the inception of new products and services.

There is a common Japanese saying that ‘you have to get it right the first time’ and also the saying that ‘first impressions last longer’.

Customer satisfaction is now being considered critical in creating products of strong brand names by most marketers.

To do this, most organisations have begun to invest heavily on new product development and research for them to come up with products that will ultimately satisfy their customer’s needs.

When an organisation takes time to investigate its markets or consumer’s needs it is very likely that its product offering will meet the consumer’s or customer’s expectations.

When customers’
expectations and needs are met it is the same customers that will be your ambassadors.

You will be assured that they will sing praises of your product thereby promoting it unknowingly.

Intelligent marketers are today spending more time on product performance rather than features because they know that performance has a direct link to customer’s satisfaction.

When the foundation of a product is right, all the marketers need to do is to advertise for market penetration and awareness, but when the product has been positioned on the market, it will be the happy and satisfied customer who will be spreading the good news about it and it might even be unnecessary for further advertising on a large scale.

I am not saying that advertising may be irrelevant, but what I am saying is that with good word of mouth advertising the marketer may drastically reduce on his or her advertising expenditure and channel the scarce resources to other pressing marketing activities.

Comments: dennis sokondhlovu@yahoo.com, ndhlovudennis75@gmail.com