Warranty Wise

CES is Intensely Interactive

How can so many people be on the same page?  E-Tabs and E-Readers, that’s how.  E this.  E that.  E is for Electronics.  E is for Entertainment.  E is for Extensive as in selection of new ways to get on the same page with everyone else in your life and I am not talking Facebook.  There are so many ways to stay in touch, or stay out of touch.  Upload, download, voice activations for everything in your home and business.  It is getting to the point you will not need to know how to type….just speak….

 

Some of my favorites so far are all the variety of 3 D offerings in every type of device from everyone, something called Lookee TV that let’s you upload TV and radio from just about anywhere without a subscription if I understand it right, and a new International Wireless phone company that has free phones waiting at the rental car or hotel counter for those of us that forgot ours---all we pay for is usage and it is pretty inexpensive at that….

 

I could go on, but suffice it to say, there will be plenty of need for warranty and customer support in every channel with just about every product….I think my career is secure.

 

Warranties…what a concept.

The Warranty Concepts Annual Awards

The WCAA’s.  What do you think of the sound of that?  There are industry awards for advertising, best products, best apps, best movies, best shows, best plays, best music of many genres.  I could go on.

 

What about our industry?  I am going to start our awards today. I will bring them up at the CES show this week to many of my industry friends.  Haven’t decided on the criteria. Have not decided on the rewards.  Have not decided on the awards categories.

 

Here’s a few ideas to start:

 

• Best Publication
• Best New Program
• Best TPA
• Best Insurance Company
• Best In House Program
• Best Training Program
• Best Application
• Best Service Network
• Most Consumer Friendly
• Best Warranty Association
• Best State Agency

 

I am looking for input and sponsors and this project starts today.

 

I will give a monthly or quarterly update.

Would You Text Register?

What would you call that?  Rexting?  Registrexting?  I got a call yesterday from a business associate who shared with me the concept of manufacturers enabling you to register your purchase by simply entering in 5 digits.

Smart Product Marketing of Smart Products.

The manufacturer knows by those digits which product you bought so you don’t have to enter that, knows who you are by the phone from which the text came from so you don’t have to enter that.  Pretty convenient.  They may ask you if you want to receive future offers and such of which you can accept or decline.  Could you imagine how simple it would be to contact you if there was a recall or real problem?  Could you imagine if the Smart Appliance could be adjusted for maximum efficiencies, or the manufacturer could contact you if the product showed signs of failing and offer a service call before you even know there was a problem?  That would be great for refrigerators wouldn’t it?   The ramifications are many and some awesome. 

 

I would love to hear from you on this. I will have Dick send me his thoughts for the Friday blog.

TPA or In-House for my Warranty Program? Regulations

This is substantial.  Please do not overlook it.

Moss-Magnusson is a federal act requiring you to maintain an up to date listing, and make available, all the manufacturer warranties for your consumers.

If you are a retailer or manufacturer you must pay attention to the new Product Safety Consumer Protection Act and recall laws.  If you are selling extended services you better be registered and compliant in all states that you are trading. Some require this, some do not.  California and Florida are the toughest.  Pay attention. You are not off the hook because you are doing e-commerce.

Here are a few links to have a look at:

http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/15C50.txt

http://www.bear.ca.gov/forms_pubs/sc_sellers.pdf

Being compliant is not only a matter of law, but it puts you at a competitive disadvantage if you are not.  An advantage of dealing with a TPA or insurance company is that they tend to be real-time up to date on these issues as not only is their ability to do business effected, but so are their clients.  They can be a great source and partner.

Feel free to contact me should you have any questions. I am not a lawyer, but can bring you up to date and point you in the right direction.

What incentive would it take to get you to register?

As I asked to end my last blog, have you ever registered your purchase?  What will it take to get you to register?  What keeps you from registering?  Think about this before you put your campaign or technology to work.

What will it take for you or your customer to register?

· Free stuff? How much is enough?

· Future discount?  How much is enough?

· In case of recall?

· Want to know about new accessories or products?

· Quick and easy, why not?

What will keep you or your customer from doing it?

· Fear of private info being sold or passed on?

· Takes too long?

· Don’t see the value?

· Don’t want to be bothered with offers?

· Previous bad experience.

Answer these questions for yourself and your customers and ramp up your registration….Registration is necessary to protect your brand.

Protecting your Brand with Registration, (Type)

Obviously if you are selling computers, or something automated like that, the Product Registration should be as simple as turning on your computer and entering your name and personal information. The unit itself should already have been programmed to send you the unit information and upon completion by the user, who you sold it to. It should also have the most important question…Permission to contact them with relevant information about, or in regard to, their purchase.

If your products are not automated registration, you can use paper type of registration, or better yet, use a disc.  If it is paper, you should have made this process as simple as possible by either mailing in their card or directing them to your website.  Keep it short and simple.

The disc or other similar memory medium is the wild card in this…Think about it, you can not only put the registration process on the disc, but also the use, assembly and care instructions, videos of those, your entire catalogue of accessories and other products. I am still amazed that companies do not use this solution to product registration.  It is powerful.

Protecting your Brand with Warranty

It all starts out with the purchase.  We all do it. We go through the process.  Whether you are a “careful shopper” who hunts for information and pricing, or the “just buy it” shopper who wants it now, it’s about getting the right product for the job at a price from a place that makes it a value.  We get our new smelling, shiny product home or to the office.  We pay no attention to the registration card or the assembly instructions, (especially if it is installed).  We just want to watch it, use it, and play with it.  Try it out.  See if it does “as advertised’.  Works for a while and then the, “what happened moment”?  It won’t turn on, tune in, make noise, function. Bummmmmerrrr.

If you are the manufacturer who sold this through channel, or even direct, what have you done to insure that this negative customer experience is short, is solved, is turned back into a Brand Building Experience?

Was the product registration easy? Did you make it easy for the customer to get a hold of you?  Did you make it easy for your retailer or reseller to give the customer a satisfying experience and support your brand?  Will they switch the customer to another brand because you made it too difficult?

Warranty situations are inevitable.  The question is: what have you done to make this as positive experience as possible for everyone in the supply chain?  Plan to Protect and Build your Brand with Warranty and Product Registration.  It will make you strong and ultimately give you more opportunities if you take this seriously.

SET Your Clocks Back this Weekend. Wrap of the Month: “Revolving Door Syndrome” to “Protecting Your Brand”

As we leave October, remember to fall back with our clocks this weekend.  Take the extra hour of sleep.  Rest up a bit and get ready for the Christmas selling season.  Whether you are a Retailer or Manufacturer this is the best time of year.

This month we swung from the Revolving Door Syndrome over to our series on Protecting your Brand.  Having strong Conceptual understanding of all things Warranty, and relative subjects, affects all channels and areas of the customer relationship, your profits and your success.  On Monday we will pick back up with discussions on the value of Product Registration and how with an effort in that area, manufacturers can not only help build their brand, but protect it as well.

Have a good weekend.

Who owns the Customer Relationship? Manufacturer or Retailer?

If you are not taking this question seriously, you are not interested in protecting or promoting your brand.

 

• What have you done to insure your customers know you?

 

• Is it more expensive to pay and ad agency to run ads to build or fix your brand, or to incent your customer to register their purchases so you can follow up with them directly?

 

• Have you made product registration as easy as possible?

 

• What is your percentage of products that you have put into channel that you know the customers’ information?

 

Who owns the customer relationship?  The manufacturer or a reseller?  Whose brand is more important?  Obviously, each party will answer, “me”.

 

Customer relationship is the ultimate of all you do.  Do it well.  Start with Product registration.  Everything moves from there.

 

Product Registration---Protecting Your Brand

For the next few blogs we will explore the value of Product Registration, specifically how it relates to Protecting Your Brand sharing best practices and view points to help drive that home.

Today is a guest blog entry from my friend Dick Demers from www.digitalzing.net

 

Accuracy to advocacy... Putting consumer at the center experience... Moving from logistical to relational... Promoting, Positioning, Price, Privacy are all key ingredients to establishing successful registration programs.

Accuracy to Advocacy... Customers’ expectations are that you know what they bought... You are available to support them 24/7... That they can learn something from the experience... and eventually with the right mixture of support and satisfaction become advocates of the brand.

Putting consumer at the center (Self segmentation)... Establishes what the consumer is interested in and helps them eventually buy more products and services... It is about selling... More importantly helping customers buy.

Logistical to Relational... Insight without action breeds cynicism... Use what a consumer has given you to build a sustainable sticky relationship... Guided by best practices and timing... Connect and re connect based upon a designed communication strategy established by the consumer and the brand.

Promoting, Positioning, Pricing, Privacy... Mind these P's and you will get to more of these $.

Failing to understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, who you are doing it for and what in means to the organization will doom your effort from the onset. There are thousands of registration sites that receive minimal activity simply because manufacturers forget to Mind their P's.

For better results from your registration pay attention to these points.

Thanks for the input Dick. If you want to reach the Digital Zing team, Dick’s e-mail is rdemers@digitalzing.net.