The Customer Is Usually Right

Why is it so hard for companies to give people what they want? Why dom't they even seem to KNOW what their customers want?

Right now, you can ask those questions about Twitter. This is about things like charging for blue checks, eliminating verification, offering paid direct messages to celebrities, and, yes, welcoming back hate speech (which never precisely went away but is back with a vengeance now) with less, or no, moderation. Who asked for any of that? Okay, one guy, maybe, and he owns the joint now. Are these addressing what the customers -- the users -- want? Probably now, but the way to ascertain that is to, you know, ASK them, like in an extensive market research project. I don't know whether the new owner did anything like that, but I suspect not. He's always gone with... well, I'm not sure it's gut instinct so much as it's whatever popped into his head at any given moment, or whatever he personally would like to see, whether or not he's thought it through. And so, we get a hodge-podge of plans, all focused on generating income to pay for his purchase. It's what HE wants, not what the customer wants.

He's not alone. The stories this week about the FAA's airline seat inquiry that resulted in an avalanche of public complaints were reminders that air travel is not built for the customer, it's built for the airlines' business interests. More (and smaller) seats, less legroom, fees for everything, micro-lavatories, fewer flights? They don't ask you if you want any of that. They just do it and if you don't stop buying tickets, that's permission to do even worse. I'm a frequent flyer and I get the occasional "Customer Satisfaction Survey" from the airlines, and I've yet to see them be responsive to anything mentioned in those surveys. They don't even ask the right questions, and I doubt they read the "other comments" anyone submits. For all the lip service we get about customer service, their actions demonstrate that they're laser-focused on their own interests.

That's their right, and, yes, it's a business and their primary loyalty will always be to shareholders. And if they're ignoring the research, at least they're DOING research. In fairness, after decades of complaints about the lack of overhead bin space, they've begin to react. True, the reaction is just to tell everyone boarding to put their carry-ons on their sides instead of flat, but at least they're aware there's a problem.

Which brings us to radio (and podcasting, and streaming, and every other media business, and every other business, period). There's been a lot of research on what listeners want, but stations still air too many commercials in too-long stop sets. We still don't know for sure whether music stations should banish talking or amp up the personality. We know that current talk radio content doesn't resonate with younger audiences but stations are sticking with what got 'em here anyway.

All of this is an indication that radio needs a reset, and that the first thing to do is to focus on, yes, the customer. Why is the current audience listening? What do the people who aren't listening but are willing to come back want? What programming elements can you provide that would meet the needs and desires of the target audience? What contesting and features are positives, and which are turn-offs? What kind of talk radio would bring more listeners into the tent, and what's turning them off? What content works better as a podcast, and what do people prefer and expect from radio? What would be the ideal radio station for the target audience, what topics would they like to hear on a podcast, what, in short, do they want?

There's data on a lot of this, from Share of Ear and Infinite Dial to studies commissioned by individual companies from radio research firms. We need more. R&D should be a major component of radio budgets. It just seems, though, that radio, like so many other industries, is focused less on what its customers want and more on cutting costs (and bodies) to make the bottom line temporarily look better. That's not a good long-term strategy. Finding out what makes customers happy and loyal is a good long-term strategy. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that competing with customizable and on-demand options by loading up on commercials and the same programming philosophies, imaging, and bits you were using in 1995 is not being responsive to the changed playing field and customer desires.

TL;DR: Find out what your desired listeners want and give that to them. It's not rocket science, but, somehow, it's escaped even a guy who owns a rocket company.

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Here's one tip: Your listeners want to hear about things that aren't the same as what everyone else on the radio is talking about. Enter All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics show prep page, where you'll find unique ideas for stuff to talk about on the radio or on your podcast. Get there by clicking here, and you can also follow the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics and find every story individually linked to the appropriate item.

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Not gonna talk about what kept me up late this week other than to say a) maybe something better will happen in Houston this weekend, and b) at least the Eagles are still undefeated.

Perry Michael Simon
Senior Vice President/Editor-in-Chief and News-Talk-Sports-Podcasting Editor
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
Twitter @pmsimon