Fifteen minutes into my first ever flight with my newborn son — a flight that had been delayed for an hour and a half, during which we'd held off feeding him so he could eat on the way up to make sure his little ears wouldn't pop from the pressure and he wouldn't start the flight screeching — fifteen minutes in, we were still ascending and even with his little head concealed beneath a nursing scarf, I could tell he was starting to get full.
I was terrified.
If he started screaming I had no idea how we would survive the four hours left in the flight. My husband and I were not the cool couple who had brought earplugs and coffee cards for all the passengers around us. I was certain everyone would hate us and, even worse, we'd never, ever fly again. I was the worst mother in the history of mothers.
As I was readjusting my son and trying to keep him calm, I noticed this phrase on the back of the nursing scarf's label:
You, too, can grab your audience by the heartstrings and build a lasting connection that gets them to come back to you time and again while also evangelizing your business to all their friends. Because while the designers of the Itzy Ritzy nursing scarf did not know specifically when or how this new mom was going to need encouragement and, yes, the kindness of strangers, it was an easy guess to say that every one of their customers would at some point. And with a cheap, but creative, insertion of content on the back side of their label, they won my heart and loyalty.
This is called manufacturing serendipity and here's how you do it.
Understand your audience's needs
We talk a lot about empathy at Moz, and that's because the value of empathy cannot be overstated — in marketing or in life. Empathy is a super power. Dr. Brené Brown describes that super power as "feeling with people," and it creates a spark of connection for the person being empathized with. That spark can be fanned into the burning passion of a long-lasting relationship — in business and in life.
To understand how to empathize with your customer, first create personas. Find out where your audience is emotionally. Figure out what they're insecure about, what scares them, what they most need in the moment that they're visiting your site. It's not rocket science to understand that a new mom might be feeling insecure about nursing her child in public, and if that's what your product is designed to help her with... go that extra mile to connect.
Ways to reach into your customer's soul and speak to their needs include:
- A car insurance company that caters to the accident prone starting their rate page with copy that assures the customer the company will be there no matter what happens.
- Creating an ROI calculator after uncovering that your customer needs your software to generate client reports, sure, but she also needs to be able to show her boss the value she's adding to the company with her daily work.
- Understanding that everyone's time is limited, ask the most essential survey question first and then give your customer the chance to expound if he wants to. Like Sears does at the bottom of their two-question satisfaction survey:
Put content in the right places
Are you using all the content opportunities available to you? Reeling from the sniffles, fussiness, and, yes, boogies, that came with my son's first cold, I opened up the lid on a package of Boogie Wipes to find this:
The wise marketers at Boogie Wipes know that many parents will buy almost anything to make their child feel better. So they seized the opportunity to let me know that they have even more products to help me. Serendipity? It sure felt like it. And you can bet someone (not it!) dashed off to the drug store to buy some saline spray.
You don't have to turn your site into the Times Square of the Internet to put content in the right places. Instead:
- Include a call to action at the end of product-related blog posts for a free trial or other promo.
- Send a reminder email to a customer who's filled their cart and then left your site. Bonus points if you can pinpoint and speak to why they might not have finished the transaction. Comparison shopping? Offer a discount. Too busy to finish? Suggest a recurring delivery option.
- Use the mobile version of your site or app to direct customers to your nearest storefront.
- Make sure the link to your next webinar or event is on your homepage so no one has to dig for it.
- Or, like clothing retailer Boden, put an order widget at the bottom of all those reviews so it's super easy to order the item after doing your due diligence:
It doesn't always take a large change to connect your customer with the content they need.
Surprise, delight, inform
Serendipity is the feeling of happy coincidence. If your content sparks surprise, incites delight, and manages to inform along the way, you're more likely to get the response you're looking for from a potential customer. According to Dr. Read Montague, a neuroscientist at Baylor, surprise lights up the brain's reward pathways. And, unfortunately, delight in marketing is still surprising to most people, so by delighting your customer, you're creating a positive association with your brand in two ways.
Some favorite examples of content that's surprised, delighted, and informed me are:
- The way The Land of Nod positions a website error is both amusing and perfectly tailored to their audience:
- A "Moments" announcement email from Twitter. Instead of telling me about their new feature, they clued into what I use this account for (live-tweeting The Bachelor) and surfaced content that's specific to my interests:
- The image on AirBNB's 503 error page captures that feeling we have when something gets between us and that sweet treat (or vacation reservation) we've been dreaming about:
- And, finally, because not all content is online, I love the way yogurt maker Brown Cow uses the lids of their yogurt to playfully highlight the many ways a customer could eat the yogurt's cream top. This both signals to me that the yogurt has a cream top (not everyone's favorite) and shows me new ways to experience it:
Now that you understand your customer's needs, are looking at creative content placement, and understand how important it is to surprise, delight, and inform your audience, you have the tools you need to help serendipity along.
So if you're ready to build a lasting connection with your customers, go manufacture some serendipity already. You might just soothe the nerves of a new mom so well that she'll start evangelizing your products the minute she safely steps off the plane with her calm, jet-setting son.
La idea que tienen Boogie Wipes es genial para este ejemplo creo que nuestro mundo en un futuro creara publicidad de este tipo.
Gracias, Sergio! Estoy de acuerdo - es una gran oportunidad :)
Creo que este es un ejemplo clásico de coche y la apreciación :
Empathy is critical to retain customers. And one way is to brighten the day, a communication, an error page 404 or anything else with a touch of humor that makes them smile can finally capture them and finally build loyalty. Thanks Isla to remind us how important is empathy
Totally agree! If you don't make a difference they'll run away!
Just loved your post! It's amazing to see how brands are trying so hard to connect with customers. I can't clearly remember right now, but there's a brand that, in the internal label of its clothes has written: "if you don't know how to wash it, ask your mom. She knows". I laughed so bad the first time I saw it! It's strange to see how a small message can connect so much with us, and how it makes you love the brand even more. I think this kind of posts are the best, since they talk about things that we can really feel related to. Keep doing stuff like this :
I love that! My brother once told me he had a pair of Lucky Jeans that had "Lucky You" inscribed inside the fly :) Thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep at it if you keep responding with your favorite examples :)
Hahaha that's a good example too! Some brands are afraid of being too "friendly" because they want to keep the serious look in front of the public, but I've always thought that it's more effective to get closer to people than keeping a distance (even if it means that you're feeling safer). Really liked your post, Isla!
Feel a connection with each other (customer and supplier), share moments and feel like continuing commercial relationship, this is what we should achieve with customers. Very good post Isla, thanks for sharing
Hi, really nice article. Interesting thought about creating a ROI calculator to show the value to the boss. It's similar to advertising toys to parents instead of kids, but not quite the same. I think this trick is helpful with creating repeat customers, since someone is already using your product and bosses approval helps you keep them using it.
I'm working on a SaaS, do you think generating a detailed report for each customer and sending it as a monthly newsletter will have similar effect?
Thanks, Igor! Without knowing your audience, I do think a detailed, custom report would be of value. I'd suggest interviewing/polling a few trusted, long-term customers to see what they'd want from such a report and proceeding from there.
Fantastic this is in terms of when you find that small message at the right time it can impulse you to continue down a conversion purchasing path, or even just feel better about the moment like encountering a 404 page. I think that this also shows the creativeness of a product when under a lid or a personalized message of a new feature is catered to the user. This is also true when trying to develop evergreen marketing content that drives organic search through the roof, but that small call to action with a clever tag line might be really why people are staying and being intrigued.
I am sorry for the bad flight but wow on the fantastic thought of serendipity in marketing it gave to the Moz community.
Thanks, Tim! Words and content are very powerful things and so few take full advantage of the ways they can help boost those conversion metrics. And the flight wasn't so bad after all. Thank goodness :)
Really nice example. Having a "Human Touch" incorporated in your company's branding and marketing efforts really helps to connect with your customers. This not only bring a smile in their face, but would turn them in to lyal customers and brand advocates.
Hello Isla,
I have liked your experience with your newborn son that how you inspired and overcame from this situation. Manufacturing serendipity is always keep importance I agree with this.
For me, the content that can impress audiences includes a good keyword and the hot topic that everyone is all caring about. I agree with your idea. We need to know what readers need to write an interesting and appealing topic. Then, focus on designing our site overall. We can draw attention from audiences with dull and boring theme, right? Anyway, thanks for your post!
Hello Isla,
It was indeed a very informative post on the content!
Currently, Everyone seems to realize the potential of content marketing, but very few are getting the most out of it. It’s difficult to create content that resonates with your readers, but it’s even more difficult to create content that inspires action. It’s no secret that content marketing can produce great results. But at the same time, the majority of marketers are not having success with it, It’s because their content marketing approach is broken. Every content marketer must have these questions in his/her min before creating any content:
What is your thought?
Hello,Isla
"You're doing a great job!" Excellent description. Empathy is the only thing that generates the relation between audience and the marketer. We should not be judgmental and should try to understand visitor's behaviors, their likes, their feelings towards certain things/products. To surprise, delight, and inform our valuable customers is equally important. Thank you for this. :)
Hi, it's really overwhelming to read this article. The first paragraph itself is so touching that it made me stick to the end. I feel the post is truly inspirational and encouraging for aspiring bloggers. It started motivating from the line "You're doing a great job!" and carried the flame till the end with excellent examples. Thanks for sharing such an enlightening post.
I'm so glad you liked it!
Fantastic post. Really useful. Loved the examples you included. Including tangible aspects and visuals to content like in your post, is what makes the best content. :-)
Hi Isla,
That's a great example of giving a personal kinda of feelings to clients. Which make customers to remain with the brand or service provider. I always stress on this point, as marketer we must focused on these pulses. As it means a lot to customers.
Brown cow is the best
It makes sense that as the internet 'grows up' that marketers now need to start acting like real people where for so long we've been able to just manipulate things. The plus side is that those who do will be able to dominate while those who try to remain faceless and emotionless will drift into the background.
Nice article! Certainly, empathy may be the key to success, but profiling persona can be quite hard in some cases as we have feelings and thoughts on our own that may interfere when stepping into the shoes of another, and bias the analysis at then end.
Excellent point! It's really easy to think that the rest of the world sees things the way that we do. Research helps but I think part of empathy is really taking ourselves out of the equation when listening. Hard to do, but so important.
I loved this post. Always nice to be made aware of a new perspective. I took it as a starting point for an article for Pulse and our blog. I hope you don't mind. Unfortunately it's in Italian :)
I think that your content should contain surprises, fun, and easy-to-read details so that the audiences can be drawn to it. However, rest assured that you are confident with the topics you want to write without copying it from anywhere!
Great article! As an SEO content person, appealing to my target audience's needs, and pain points is always top of mind. However, I often struggle with getting into the mind of my target if he/she is not someone I can relate to. For example, I might know that my target is 'millennial men,' but I am neither a Millenial nor male. I can make assumptions, but that's too risky. What tools/resources do you use to get to know your target audience better?
Because I'm a reader, the first thing I try and do is figure out what my audience is reading. That helps me get inside their lexicon and start to understand the way they think and what kinds of topics they care about.
Great !, a help to further improve my business online, thanks
Estoy de acuerdo en que no todo el contenido debe ser online, pero no se me ocurre alguna idea extra para hacerlo desde afuera y que impacte a mis clientes. :(
¿Con que tipo de clientes trabaja usted?
I really like your article but I think it is imperative for readers to optimize their article for search as well. If you do not, it is like a tree falling in the woods with no one around to hear it. With that being said it does go to your well explained point about understanding your audience's needs. What I mean by that is SEO for content is now done by optimizing for concepts and not keywords so if you understand your audience and what they are looking for you can do your own SEO much more effectively.
One tip I would give is to use Google's instant search to see closely related searches and topics which are semantically related. Great Post!
"Create personas. Find out where your audience is emotionally. Find out what they're insecure about, what scares them, what they most need in the moment that they're visiting your site."
I love that point. Personas are too often simply about cold, hard facts. This person works at an agency, managing a small team. They have a budget of $1,000/mo for marketing software, and prefer in-depth reporting suites with built-in flexibility. All of that can be useful, but it's like trying to get to know a person by reading their resume. The deeper connection you've espoused so articulately here, while potentially difficult to create, can pay *huge* dividends in the long-run.
Superb advice in here; lots for marketers of all stripes to think about. Great work. =)
Thank you, Trevor! It reminds me of something I saw on TV the other day. One character told another that the way to get a girl to like you is to compliment her on her worst feature. There's so much to be said for understanding and connecting with insecurities. We all have them :)
I do admire how marketers innovate. Even more i love when content creators and marketers cunflux in impressive ideas.
thanks for this piece of content. It's encouraging, including the awful experience you've had in that flight.
Serendipity is more related to human psychology and so as marketing. Amazing post!
Thanks so much for this post, Isla. It's so incredible that such a simple idea that we already know (know your audience) can have such a huge impact. It's especially clear here that only brands who really know their audiences, not just a general idea of who they're talking to, can genuinely manufacture serendipity. This could go sour really quickly, so thanks for such extensive ideas of how to do this the right way.
Sometimes it's the little things, isn't it? I'm really interested in the way we learn from hearing the same messages in slightly different ways over time. If you have anecdotes of how this type of content has gone sour, I'd love to hear them :)
Your first example ("you're doing a great job!") reminded me of the study where people were given random responses of flattery by a computer ("The Man Who Lied to His Laptop.") I always am afraid that non-specific praise or encouragement will come off as inauthentic or canned, but that never seems to be the case. We'll take recognition wherever we can get it, even if it's from a randomized computer! Thanks for the article.
Ooh, I hadn't heard about that! Googling it now... :) It's funny because nonspecific praise does seem like it can come off as insincere. In this case, I think they may have known that their audience might be just that desperate for a pick me up :) Thanks for reading!
I think empathy is the key, here. Non-specific praise sounds insincere exactly because that's what they are: generic and therefore non-empathetic, i.e. targeted to an audience and not to an individual. In that peculiar situation, the marketing people at the scarf factory figured out what their business persona would be feeling and took their communication to another level, emotional and not rational, thus making it sound like they are talking to that mother and not to all of them. Maybe more confident and experienced mothers would disimiss that with a smile, but still not perceiving the message as impersonal. I'm not sure I made it clear and, hey, I'm not a woman, just a husband of a woman who's breatsfed a couple of kids (is that even a word? ;) )
I was looking for some tips and tricks for SEO practices and here I have found this wonderful article. Keep it up!