Service Envy
Creating Service envy is extremely important in our evolving retail world. The actual product sold is but an afterthought when true ownership begins. The service or what can you do for me, begins soon after purchase and is essential to keep customers not only happy, but loyal. Customers want others to envy the blue sky of what they have and competitors want to own the service that they adore.
This write up will evaluate at&t’s service and one of their competitors in three ways. First, does at&t’s devCentral enable consumers to identify themselves and define their identity through the service? Second, does at&t create services that someone can be proud of? Third, can/does at&t dev Central exchange more than the obvious with its customers? All of this followed by my recommendation on how to better at&t’s service envy.
After examining at&t’s website, I don’t see much there that would allow their customers to better identify with themselves, define their identity, or create envy from someone else. Their platform is stale and not creative. However, Droid from Verizon does. Right when you enter the website, you are immediately bombarded with “cool.” It instantly creates an attitude of I want to be cool like that or, this service relates to my inner cool that is extinguished by corporate world. Fail for at&t at this level.
Second we will look at whether or not the service creates services that someone can be proud of. It will be easy to get this issue and the former issue confused but they are very different. at&t’s website offers solid service that one can be proud of. Steady, reliable, clear and concise service that is easy to fix, easy to access, and easy to maneuver. Droid from Verizon really took the competition hands down in the identify identity section but when it comes to service, I would question how organized and straightforward their help, service, and accessibility would be. Win for at&t at this one.
Finally, we look at exchanging the obvious. Does at&t exchange with its customers more than just the obvious mobile telephone service? The answer is yes. at&t offers network compatible devices, business services, and Java supported devices to name just a few. Droid from Verizon, or Verizon itself, offers these amenities as well. So, we have a win win on this topic.
To conclude, to better the quality or strength of service envy for at&t, I recommend that they work harder on personal image. They need to help their customers link their identity to their service. That starts with redesigning the website and changing their scope of their advertising campaign to be a little more edgy and a little less square or in the box.
