Are you overwhelmed marketing in a digital world?

Many of us have been to a hairdresser’s shop, but the experience may not be pleasant. The process started with the first step of washing your hair. The assistant recommended several shampoos, names you had never heard of. If you did not choose one, they would pick the most expensive one. When the hairdresser started to cut your hair, he/she would try as hard as possible to sell all kinds of expensive hair dye and maintenance products, as well as membership cards. What’s worse, it took so long because of the persistent marketing and up-selling.  

The competition in the hairdressing market is fierce and many of them are struggling with marketing in a digital world. QB House is a famous hairdresser’s chain that offers 10-minute cut only service. It was founded in 1996 in Japan with over 550 shops and now it has opened chain shops in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan .etc with more than 125 visitors on a monthly basis on average. It only charges $10.46 for a 10-minute cut. QB House has already achieved over 4 billion yen in revenue (approximately $42 million Canadian) in the first few years. What makes it so popular and profitable?

1. Innovative water free service - QB house uses a special vacuum cleaner to clean the small hairs left on the customer’s neck and clothes.
2. Simplicity - there is a standard cubicle for each hairdresser with essential tools such as scissors, combs and mirrors .etc. in order to save the space. Customers use an automatic ticket machine to make a payment and obtain a number card to wait for the service. It costs less than to hire a cashier.
3. Convenience - there are signal lights in front of the shop and in the waiting area from where customers can check whether the service is available and how long they have to wait. For example, the green light means the service is available right away. The yellow light means you need to wait for 5-10 minutes and the red light means the waiting period is more than 15 minutes.
4. High tech - There is a sensor under each chair that can automatically send the customer’s information to the backend system that enables the headquarters to calculate real time customer flow information and make strategic decisions accordingly.

You may wonder why the founder of the QB house had so many innovative ideas. The answer is that it’s based on his own uncomfortable experience and customer feedback/surveys. In a digital world, marketers are overwhelmed figuring out how to engage customers with numerous new technologies and channels. It’s time to take a step back to Marketing 101 and focus on customer needs and behaviour. Do you really know who you are trying to reach? Do you understand the processes they take to make decisions? Can you quantify the returns on your marketing investment? And can you use the data and web analytics to do segmentation and targeting for your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy?