It’s one of the fundamental pillars of advertising and marketing – being customer-focused. How many times have you heard ‘customer first’, ‘customer-centric’, or ‘customer satisfaction’?

We centre everything on the customer. Customer insights. Customer benefits. Customer journeys. Customer loyalty. We choose media based on what customers watch, read and listen to. We choose spokespeople customers relate to. We measure how many customers open, click, respond and buy. Our ultimate measure is if a customer would recommend our brand to their friends.

But what if it’s all gone too far?

What if, by letting the customer know they’re the centre of our world they think they’re the centre of everyone’s world? In that world, what’s to stop them abusing their perceived position?

Let me give you just two examples.

1. Abusing trust in a trust-based business.

I reckon there are only three businesses left where trust is everything:
a) Tradies – where most of the time we see the mess they’ve left, not the work they’ve done
b) Healthcare – where their diagnosis might as well be Latin (because sometimes it is Latin)
c) Mechanics – where we’re blind to their work but it affects the safety of our family.

Personally, I have a mechanic I trust. Recently, I was picking up my car when another customer arrived for a pink slip test. Clearly, they wanted to be in and out quickly. Trouble was, a quick mechanical check of their rust bucket found multiple faults. When told the car needed work the customer got back in the car furiously screaming, “Zero-star review.”

My mechanic saw the potential damage to his reputation based on one, unfair review immediately. Based on him not putting a dangerous vehicle back on the road automatically.

2. Dialing up the heat when it’s already too hot

One of my favourite places on Earth is a public swimming pool near the Sydney CBD. Surprisingly easy parking. Great view. Perfect coffee. On a hot day, there’s nowhere better to spend a few hours and do a few laps.

On my last visit I was watching a very polite staff member deal with a customer who put the “bothered” in “hot and bothered”. They were trying to claim a discount and the entry staff were, quite rightly, asking for a valid concession card. Tempers flared. Managers were called. Racial slurs shouted. (This was an argument over $3.50.) Perhaps being so close to cooling off increased the heat.

Truth is, I have no idea if “Mr. Busted-Car-Driver” or “Mrs Faulty-Discount-Card” got their way eventually. I suspect they probably did. But in both cases, the sense of entitlement was breathtaking. Simply because they were a customer.

So, what does it mean for Adland creatives?

It means the customer isn’t always right. We need to account for the squeaky wheels when writing ideas. There will always be research derailed by the loudest voice in the room. There will always be customers with an axe to grind. Or a self-centred priority to manipulate.

It means our insights and our media choices need to rely a little more on gut feel. On instinct. On ‘non-data’. Now, I know that’s the polar opposite of where the industry is going. That “Trust me” is hardly a rationale that’s easy to sell.

But, if customers teach us anything, it’s not to completely trust customers.

Rob Morrison is a rarity in advertising – a grey-haired working creative. His consultancy, ‘morro’, is dedicated to curing businesses laryngitis. Giving companies back their human voice. 

Here are two more opinion pieces from Rob Morrison:

Cover image by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash