Coupons!

I absolutely LOVE saving money. If a product has that magic four letter word on it (S-A-L-E), I feel compelled to buy it because I think I am saving money. I use to clip out coupons from the Sunday paper when I was younger because my mom would give me all the money we saved. Ever since then, I love the challenge of finding the best bargain I can find. The Entertainment Book is one of my favorite things! It is a book that is done for different cities and its tag line is “great savings on dining, shopping, travel, attractions, and more.” Through my odd obsession with coupons, it got me wondering what affect coupons had on a customer’s experience. I know for me when I go out to eat and have a coupon, I get more satisfaction out of the meal and enjoy myself ten time more. Even if the food is not that fantastic- in my mind I justify everything by the fact that I saved money. In my paper I would like to explore the relationships between coupons, satisfaction, and store loyalty.




There are so many different reward and store loyalty programs out there. I find it very fascinating that at CVS they track everything I buy, and then give me personalized coupons for things I had previously bought before. Do other people even notice these things? Does it make them feel more connected to CVS? What about punch cards at sandwich shops- does it keep people coming back knowing that eventually they are going to get a free sandwich? There is a serge of online coupon sites where you can get discounts for specific products (Couponcabin.com, couponmom.com, retailmenot.com, etc) The question is: does receiving discounts increase people’s satisfaction with companies? I feel this topic relates a lot to customer insights because I feel coupons exist to drive people to buy a certain product by promoting a discount that could increase the customer’s experience.

According to Motivation Strategies Magazine, the number of people turning to the Web for coupons will soar to 36 million this year, an increase of 10 million since 2005. In an effort to learn more about these so-called "coupon clickers," Simmons/Experian Research and Coupons, Inc. conducted a survey entitled "The 2008 Printable Coupon Consumer Pulse." (http://www.couponsinc.com/corp/pdf/2008_Consumer_Pulse_Survey.pdf) Research confirms the most popular sources for printable coupons are savings-specific sites like Coupons.com. The economic downturn is generating a shift in coupon use and a long-term change in consumer perception and behavior," said Steven Boal, CEO of Coupons, Inc. Some other findings I found interesting from the survey:

• Coupons increase a brand's equity and perceived value; 58% believe a brand providing coupons online is more likely to provide new products they will enjoy; 57% believe these companies care about keeping them as a customer.

• More than 70% of coupon clickers would provide their e-mail address, first and last name and answer survey questions for a $2 coupon.

• Coupons fuel marketing initiatives; 73% of coupon clickers are more likely to open an e-mail if a coupon is offered; 64% are more likely to click on an ad banner or search listing if they know a coupon is offered.

A fear of choosing this topic is that I am afraid that I am not going to have 15 pages worth of content to write about. I am also afraid I will not find enough evidence to find the answers to some of my questions. Any feedback you have would be fantastic!

Customization?- to do or not to do, that is the question

While I was babysitting the other night, we were watching TV and a Neutrogena commercial came on. It was about their new “skiniD.” SkiniD supposedly works because it uses the power of personalization to create an acne solution that matches your individual needs. You get on to the website and take this skin evaluation to see what products would work best for you. One of the dermatologist states that, “Personalization is key.” This got me to thinking- is customization really what matters to the consumer and can it actually enhance the customer’s experience?


On the Converse website you can custom design your own shoes. You get to pick the body color, heel stripe, tongue color, lining color, stitch color…the list goes on. You can even personalize the shoes with your own words. Also on sites such as adiamondisforever.com you can design your own engagement ring. Does having the ability to design your own stuff put more pressure on the consumer? To a certain extent I believe it does. Say you spent all this time designing your own product and when you finally receive it, it doesn’t meet your expectations. You have no one to blame but yourself, and that is a very irritating place to be in as a consumer. Everyone always wants to have a scapegoat. However, customization can be a good thing because one size does not fit all. In 1947, Burger King thought customization was the way to go with their slogan “Have It Your Way” and in 2004 they returned back to the expression. Everyone wants their burger to be how they like it so I feel this enhances the customer’s experience. In class we talked about L’Oreal and Clairol, well Revlon gives consumers the ability to create a custom salon look at home with Revlon Custom Effects. I feel most people like to be in control and having the option to personalize things gives the control to the consumer instead of the company.



TimBuk2 allows customers to build their own bag. I do feel having the ability to create something that fits your needs is a fantastic concept, but is customization really customized when a company gives a certain number of different varieties in a product, thinking that one of them has to be the perfect one for a customer? I think the hardest thing for companies is that it is almost impossible to find out what people’s true needs are. Amazon.com does a good job of keeping track of what customers buy and then recommends other products they may be interested in, but this does not get at the heart of meeting customer’s expectations through personalization.

Eighty percent of companies believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8 percent of their customers agree, says Bain & Company. (Harvard Management Update) I read an article about the three "Ds" of customer experience. Unlike most companies, which reflexively turn to product or service design to improve customer satisfaction, leading companies pursue three imperatives simultaneously:
1. They design the right offers and experiences for the right customers.
2. They deliver these propositions by focusing the entire company on them with an emphasis on cross-functional collaboration.
3. They develop their capabilities to please customers again and again—by such means as revamping the planning process, training people in how to create new customer propositions, and establishing direct accountability for the customer experience.

Each of these "Three Ds" draws on and reinforces the others. Together, they transform a company into one that is continually led and informed by its customers' voices. I think listening to customers’ opinions is critical to any business, and I feel some big companies lose sight of their customers and just see dollar signs. I think overall customization can help enhance a customer’s experience, but for now it will still have to walk the tight-rope of consumers’ opinions.

Paradox Of Choice

We walk down an aisle in a grocery store and are instantly bombarded by thousands of choices. We spend time vacillating on our decisions. I could be at the grocery store for hours sometimes because I am so horrible at making decisions and there are just too many options!! I feel like once I get use to being a grown up and start to favor certain brands the grocery store will be less of a nightmare for me. To a certain extent I am thrilled that there are options out there because life would be so boring if they didn’t exist. Also, more options means no monopolies, so prices stay competitive; options allow you to find products that suite your needs best. On the flip side, I think that more choices have turned people into bratty consumers because now we always want more. I love variety and having the power to choose, but I hate making decisions. I feel like I am a walking oxy-moron.



Barry Schwarz talked about the official dogma revolving around maximizing a person’s welfare. This happens by maximizing individual freedom because freedom is good and valuable. This is established by maximizing choice because more choice means more freedom and more freedom means more welfare. However, Schwarz thinks more choices paralyzes us because we become less satisfied with the decisions we make. This is due to the possibility that we regret the choice we made because we had so many other choices to choose from. Whenever I go to a restaurant, where there is a large selection and variety of food, such as The Cheesecake Factory, I always regret my decision because I wish I would have made a different choice. So, even if the choice I made was delicious, I am still less satisfied. When a class I need to take has lots of options for professors, I always have a hard time deciding. If there were only one teacher then the decision is made for me, but when there are more, I feel compelled to do research and find out who is the best professor.

Schwarz also talked about the escalation of expectation. Adding options to people’s lives can’t help but increase the expectation people have about how good those options will be and that produces less satisfaction with results even when they are good results. I would have to agree with Schwarz’s opinion that the secret to happiness is low expectations. I got married over the break in Cozumel, Mexico, and my family and friends took a cruise to get there. Well, reading reviews I had gained the impression that the Carnival ship we were taking was one of the older ships and the décor was very outdated. I went into the cruise having low expectations about the actual ship and it worked wonders for me! I wasn’t disappointed at all and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated.

Schwarz says that why choice makes people miserable is 1) regret and anticipated regret 2) opportunity costs 3) escalation of expectations and 4) self-blame. Some choice is better than none, but more choice is not necessarily better than some choice. I remember choosing which university I was going to attend and it was narrowed down to UT and A&M. I knew whatever decision I would make would be amazing, but I would have two totally different experiences. Where would I meet better friends, get a better education, what happens if my future husband chose the opposite school I did?! I was in a paradox. Every other day my senior year in high school I would change my mind because I kept regretting my decision. Thankfully, I ultimately made the right choice- Hook ‘Em Horns! Consumers are in the midst of paradoxes everyday and have to conquer their indecisiveness about what products to buy or services to use. Companies have to work extra hard to make sure their product is most satisfactory so that consumers will be repeat customers and not experience buyers remorse.