Lessons from Jeff Jarvis + Dell

What to make of the latest Jeff Jarvis Dell incident?   Shankar Gupta of MediaPost asked me about this the other day for a story on the subject and I thought I might dive deeper into some of the themes.  The most important question for companies and brands: is the current customer satisfaction model broken in this age of "virality" and word-of-mouth?  The answer is a yes!  Jeff Jarvis is merely underscoring this point in vivid technicolor.

NPV of a Complaint? What is the NPV (net present value) of Jeff Jarvis's complaint?  It's not only the lifetime revenue or "buyer power" he brings to Dell (probably $15K of buying Dell products over a 15-20 year period), but more importantly, the "viral power" of his referral network or circle of influence (easily over $200K...probably way more).  The problem with call centers and consumer relations departments is that they tend to look at consumers in a vacuum, independent of influence.  This much is obvious by looking at the questions they ask when consumers provide feedback. Rarely will you find a website feedback form that asks consumers whether they blog, spend time on message boards, or share their recommendations with others.  Ad agencies and CMOs wax poetic about the importance of profiling, but this thinking rarely seeps over into "consumer affairs." 

Reframing Our Marketing Mindset: We need to reframe our mindset to think about all customer interactions, especially feedback, as an "advertising" opportunity.   If Jeff Jarvis is satisfied with a product, and bothers to speak out, we should have models to estimate the incremental consumer-generated media (CGM) he might generate on behalf of the brand.  If he's pissed or frustrated or deeply dissatisfied, our CRM systems should be able to predict with reasonable levels of confidence how much trouble or negative CGM he might stir up.   Moreover, this should be a calculus we apply to all consumers, not just the big fish like Jarvis.  That said, no one can say Jarvis didn't catalyze a critically important conversation.