consumer and customer.

Well this is no dumbo-jumbo market research stuff, but a simple question to everybody , who is a consumer. When I say consumer, it slightly different from customer. The latter is more prized for an organization, but a consumer is more generic . For everybody consumes beyond economic interactions.
I like to reiterate , that consumption here is not simply buying and consuming. It can be consuming anything , like I consume my frustration that procrastination is my biggest weakness, I consume the pathetic behaviour of people in my professional life, at time people consume my stupid behaviour for I may be speaking from a position of strength, so he/she consumes my idiotic banter. Some of you may be doing it right now, while reading this mystic note.

Anyways the truth is we all consume food, service, behaviour , etc. Now my next question is when I consume, I will have a reaction lets I have an argument with my brother, I consume his gyan , but replies back with utter disgust that I do not agree with his point of view. Now that’s natural between two brother they rarely agree to agree.

Any ways the only observation is that I consumed my brothers idea and gave him a feedback straightaway. The reason is faith; my brother has faith in me that I will give any honest relationship.

Now if we draw the same brotherly relationship to that between a Brand and consumer, we will realize that if the brand is not keeping its promise the customer on self-driven mode will transfer to a Consumer.

That’s not the end of the story; the brand will never realize when its costumer became consumer, because the consumer never shared his consumption experience with the brand. The reason they didn’t share a brotherly relationship, where the customer can blatantly vent its anger on the brand.

The brand responsibility is that it should make sure how it wins the faith of the consumer, so that when the brand goes wrong the consumer should blatantly say that S/he is not happy with the brand. Now I would not like elaborate how brands should engage with customers. But rather put it simply how they can help customers vent their frustration if the customer is not happy.

Lets say Tea Mint X is my favourite brand. Now the brand manager changes the flavour of the tea from Mint X to Mint & Pepper. I do not like the taste. The tea company used to have an email on the box for feedback, now they should have SMS number for quick feedback or twitter account for instant feedback. The customer should be allowed to share his frustration quickly, so that before he migrates to consumer, his feedback is quickly heeded and he remains customer.

The summary is make customer feedback instant and easy.

Look forward to your feedback.

Cheers
Sri