Many brand marketers are puzzled when consumers do not choose to buy their brands. There could be many reasons for a consumer to not purchase or utilise a certain brand. One of the major reasons is, misunderstanding (or not understanding) what the brand is offering. In other words, the consumer is confused about the brand and what it is offering. Hence, over decades of experience, I have discovered a simple truth, which is expressed in my Brand Mantra:, ‘when the consumer is ‘confused, the brand is refused’. It is important to find solutions to tackle this issue so that a brand is accepted and never rejected.
I propose to find the solutions in the problem itself – in the word ‘confused’ itself.
C for Clarity
The first solution to tackle this problem is to give clarity to the consumer about the brand and its offerings. Anything that is hazy or ambiguous could lead to confusion. Consumers do not like confusion. They need clarity. Only with clarity can they decide to buy or not to buy. In confusion, they can only decide not to buy.
In recent times, brands like Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart have been able to provide clarity to consumers about what they are offering. Even though there are brands in e-commerce and many of their own parent brands offer other services, Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart provide clarity about quick commerce and are able to deliver in less than 30 minutes -- many a time, in 10 minutes. This is different from the other service brands which deliver in three or four hours. This clarity helps consumers decide favourably to make last-minute purchases and increase convenience or meet emergency needs through ‘Quick Commerce’ brands. That is why ‘Quick Commerce’ brands are growing quickly.
O for Onus
The next solution is for brands to take onus and responsibility about the promise that they have made to consumers. It is interesting to note that in the airline industry, one brand has done supremely well both in terms of top line and bottom line, unlike many airline brands in the world. IndiGo is a shining example of growing its market share from a low level to almost 64 per cent in the Indian market, because it takes the onus and responsibility of taking off on time and landing on time, in most cases.
Thus, consumers know what to expect. They are not confused and, hence, the brand is widely accepted, instead of being refused.
N for Novelty
If you want your consumer to stick to your brand and its latest offerings and not refuse it ever, you need to provide novelty to the consumers, so that they get excited about a new offering or an upgraded offering. Obviously, then, novelty in your new offering, under the same brand name, maybe with the sub brand, would have to differentiate itself and be better than the previous version. If you follow this solution, the consumer would keep coming back to the new novel offerings of your brand, because he/ she wants to move up and upgrade himself/ herself -- and you are providing that opportunity. This reduces the chances of refusal, increasing acceptance.
Apple is an excellent example, with its offerings -- whether it is iPhone or watch or any other product in its brand family, which constantly comes up with novel features and upgradation. Consumers are excited and look forward to the new versions under the same brand.
F for Factual
It is important to bring out factual information in front of the consumer about your brand. It is important that facts about what the brand can do and what the brand cannot do should be presented before the consumer.
My Brand Mantra, ‘Lead consumers; do not mislead them’, is relevant here. Amul, the market leader, keeps its consumers well-informed. When it talks about Amul ice-cream, it brings out the fact that, Amul ice-cream is made up of milk and not other ingredients. This helps consumers quickly decide and accept the brand; the thought of refusal does not cross their minds.
U for Understanding
Understanding the specific consumer needs helps in avoiding confusion, increasing acceptance and removing the fear of refusal. Ultimately, brands are supposed to meet specific needs of consumers and also provide satisfaction to them. For that, it is important to understand the specific needs of the consumers, so that you are able to provide the satisfaction desired by consumers, by meeting those specific needs.
If you have not understood the specific needs of consumers and are coming out with a brand which is giving some benefits, though not meeting the specific needs of your segment of consumers, then there is a high likelihood that it would be refused. Actually, in this case, the non-understanding of specific consumer needs by the brand marketer could lead to irrelevant offerings being provided; hence, it causes confusion, and the likelihood of refusal goes up.
Many a time, brand marketers make a mistake of trying to provide a lower price, thinking that it is the specific need of the consumer, but it gets refused. Actually, the specific need maybe acceptable, quality and price could be a secondary need. This non-understanding of the consumer need could lead to confusion and when the consumer is ‘confused, the brand is refused’
S for Sensitivity
Whether it is products or services, being sensitive to the consumers’ needs, emotions, background and many other intangible elements, is important. Lack of sensitivity could actually lead to the consumer getting confused and also getting angry, leading to the brand being refused.
Whether it is banking or restaurant services, it is important to be sensitive to what the consumer does not want. It is not about what the consumer needs, it is also about what the consumer does not need. This would avoid confusion and reduce the risk of refusal.
In a restaurant, where a sensitive service provider would ask if there are some ingredients which the consumer does not like or some ingredients which do not agree with his health, such checking and enquiring would be a good way to go about avoiding confusion. Then the risk of refusal comes down. Similarly, in medical services, checking about whether a patient has an allergy to a certain type of product or medicine maybe a sensible and sensitive way to get the consumer to accept the relevant offering and avoid getting the consumer confused, and the brand refused.
E for Education
Whether it is a financial service brand or a lifestyle garment brand, consumer education is a must. One hears about a lot of mis-selling, which takes place in financial or investment products and services; later on, the investor or the consumer feels let down and even feels cheated. Unless efforts are made to explicitly educate consumers about what the brand is offering in terms of benefits and also about the risks involved, the consumer cannot take an educated decision.
If this process is not followed, then the likelihood of confusion goes up and as I mentioned earlier, the likelihood of the brand refusal goes up. Similarly, if there are garment brands, whether it be shirt, trousers, Punjabi suits or sarees, how to take care of them during washing, cleaning, storing, ironing and many such other processes needs to be explained to the consumer through consumer education. This will increase acceptance. If not, the consumer will be left confused, and the brand will be left refused.
D for Demonstration
In order to get rid of confusion or doubt, so that your brand gets greater acceptance, demonstration is a good weapon. Gadgets, consumer durables, mobile phones, television sets, laptops and many similar product categories do require a certain amount of demonstration to show what the benefits are, how to use and what to avoid during usage.
In many other product categories in both the consumer and industrial level, demonstration by your brand to the consumer can remove the clouds of confusion and bring home specific benefits, as also the dos and don’ts.
You could actually be buying the Bose brand of audio system, or a Samsung refrigerator or a Bajaj micro-wave oven, these brands do well to demonstrate and, hence, avoid the possibility of confusion. So, these brands find their acceptance level go up.
It is not that other brands don’t do that, but due to paucity of space, I can give only a few examples. Demonstration also helps to increase credibility of the brand in the consumers’ mind, so that the probability of purchase and usage goes up.
I would like to give a message to brand marketers. While many elements of marketing, advertising, distribution and promotion are deployed by spending crores of rupees, it is equally important that you do things in marketing, which help avoid confusion in the consumer’s mind. Remember, ‘when the consumer is ‘confused, the brand is refused.