What Does Your Customer Expect is Going to Happen?

What does your customer expect is going to happen when they purchase your product or service?

That is the question you should be asking every time you craft a new advertisement or marketing campaign.

When you go to a restaurant, you expect to feel full after your meal.

When you buy a ticket to a movie, you expect to be entertained.

When you buy a membership to a gym, you expect to see changes in your physique/health.

This idea, that customers expect something to happen when they purchase one of your products or services is obvious.

But where this idea gets interesting is when you start dissecting ALL your customers’ expectations — not just the obvious.

For example, if you take your date to Benihana, you’re really expecting to be entertained — whether you feel full or not after your meal is irrelevant — you came for the knife skills.

The same goes for the gym — I’d argue most people don’t buy a gym membership because they expect to get fit; most people are buying a gym membership because they expect it will give them a body that makes someone else jealous.

Good marketers and advertisers understand the different levels of customer expectations, and they know exactly which ones take precedent.

I was reminded of this earlier this week when I was watching a promotional video for a local summer music festival.

If you think about why someone between the age of 18-35 would pay money to go camp out for three days at a music festival — where it’s dirty and cramped — it’s not just because they want to see their favorite artists perform.

Young people especially, go to music festivals for the “experience,” the “vibes,” the “stories”… and, of course, the music.

If you watch this video, you’ll see all these expectations portrayed. You’ll also see the video follows a natural progression: Morning turns to afternoon, afternoon turns to dusk, dusk turns to night. Most videos promoting festivals follow this same progression.

But notice the very last scene… What expectation is being portrayed?

The last scene is the silhouette of a guy and a girl about to kiss in a crowd full of people as a band performs on stage in the background. Do you think most young people are expecting to possibly hook up at a music festival?

This is an example of understanding what customers expect is going to happen on a deeper level than the obvious.

Spend some time today thinking about what your customers expect from your products and services and figure out how you can better sell these expectations.

Nick Papple
Managing Editor
Success Formula Daily

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