The other fifty percent.

The other 50%

A trend in technology introductions to business is the focus on the enabled minority while ignoring the rest. this is true in so many fields - new is more fun than old. The thought is that start-up and innovation, may only make profit from new markets. 

A few years ago, in an attempt to get vendor produced product photography, I called a well known denim jeans manufacturer. The manufacturer had made a marketing decision to only shoot the new "low rise" products and not the "mommy jeans". There was no photography to be had for my core product offering, the "mommy jeans" shopper. This ignored that the mommy crowd is the majority of the market.

Attempting to appeal to the new market is perfectly understandable. This denim jean company felt that they were loosing the youth crowd, and the dreaded demographic numbers, supported this. The company wanted edgier, younger, sexier.  The trouble with this, only becomes apparent when we leave everyone else out.

Marketing has evolved a comfortable system of single focused strategies that have become a series of swapping elements devoid of creativity. We could as easily hand out a template:

Seasonal branding template.
Hook: super low rise jeans are sexy.
Supporting tag line: "how low will you go?"
Harmless top 40 music track from 10 years ago = fill in blank.
Two color swatch branding combo: denim, white
Photo style guide: midriff, midriff, midriff, oiled midriff.
Strategic seasonal direction: newness! Hipness!

This may be an easy prescription to fill for the team, but a bit tired in a multi-channel world. you have attempted to appeal to a new crowd with an old formula, while serving the base nothing. 

The result was the loss of market share with the base. The "mom jeans" crowd ran away from a product that they felt would be unflattering. The youth crowd could find hip (seriously? Ten year old top 40?) and sexy elsewhere and with more exclusivity.

The same phenomenon is seen in most new technology proposals. The developers, business people and analysts engage a tunnel vision for their product. A solution is designed for a subset, and the hope is that everyone will adopt because, in the developers opinion, the new way is better than the old.

Mobile people tell me that 50% cel phone owners will have the type of phone that is capable of running a given app that will make the customer experience better. Of course this assumes the customer knows about it. And that they download it. Then, use it properly. This is now a subset, of a subset, of a subset of half the users. At best.

In the same pitch, the potential technology partners, will be shocked if you ask about the other 50% customers. How will this mobile idea work for my customers who don't have or don't wish to use a mobile device. How will they access this content? How do we serve their needs?

Considering the other group is the obvious difference between a good idea and a great one. Yes, your new device can push to mobile - but now show me that it can push to fixtures, associate devices, customer loyalty devices etc. The idea that the have-nots will adopt because they are missing out, only works when the content is compelling or the use is advantageous. 

Pulling out my cel phone to pay is the same as pulling out my wallet. Receiving loyalty via the same method, coupons etc., would still go into my physical wallet as well as my virtual one. I would point out that the tangible one may even have a psychological advantage.

If we are going to claim a cross channel world and devise cross channel strategies, we can not ignore channels that are inconvenient to our perceptions. Your customers deserve your innovative thinking in every channel.