Let's set the background here...
It's a quite common mistake to think that a customer's path is still straightforward. After what is often referred to "the crisis" of 2008 came a wave of "back to the essentials". With costs being cut here and there, customers and clients turned to new means of "buying". We saw the rise (or at least boom) of shared economics with organisations such as Uber, Bla bla car and more!Yesterday...
A long long time ago... Mr.Smith or Mrs.Bill would have typed "uncommon restaurant" in Google or Yahoo or Bing depending on the device and would have selected one of the 11 page results... We also went through an era where one would trust a Trip Advisor review or go for a friend's recommendation. And then it changed...
For example
During a sort of think tank, I had the occasion to speak with a young man who clearly stated that when he invited his girlfriend for dinner at the restaurant, he would search for days for an extraordinary restaurant before taking a decision. And THE decision would go for something sensational. How could you go against that ? The www is so full of extraordinary "things"... real life can seem boring or uninteristing.
So we get to the point that the brand has to go a mile further to appeal to the milennial. There needs to be an experience behind the product.
When I look for a restaurant in Paris, I also search for something extraordinary and I will not stop at the Yellow Pages.
The last time I went out with a very-digital friend who has a sense for casual, yet fine dining, this is the search path I went through :
A facebook friend had shared a new app with me. The core function is to book restaurants in the app and also enter your billing details which are automatically debited at the end of your meal - no need for cash and a possibility of sharing the bill instantly with your friends - no need to take out your iphone or calculator.
However, I had no need for such an app but what I noticed was that the restaurants featured in the app all had the same "feel". Although they were quite different from each other... they all appealed to me because they had that "little something more". Simple, casual dining, local produce combined with the "wow" factor.
Hence I downloaded the app, listed the featured restaurants, looked them up in my favourite Search Engine G...... Then I made my decision based on websites+Facebook page + Tripadvisor pics.
I then deleted the app, having no further use for it and happily started my dining journeys, which were all successful.
Although some may qualify this as a mere waste of time... (I had spent perhaps 90 minutes looking for the perfect pick)... It was much more... It was part of the journey already! I was actually having fun with the search process... Imagining the evening, making sure it was picture-perfect, looking for something excitingly new...
So the conclusion of the story is not to tell you about my nice and scrumptious dinner but how actually getting there has changed and will continue changing.
Once I was at the restaurant (which my digital friend loved BTW) we happened to ask our counter-neighbour how she had heard of it. Her answer was straight forward: she had seen a TV show which she had thoroughly enjoyed.
Hence having each of us zigzagged through digital and media crossroads we were now sitting at the same delightful counter....
This is what I will take back from the experience :
The last time I went out with a very-digital friend who has a sense for casual, yet fine dining, this is the search path I went through :
A facebook friend had shared a new app with me. The core function is to book restaurants in the app and also enter your billing details which are automatically debited at the end of your meal - no need for cash and a possibility of sharing the bill instantly with your friends - no need to take out your iphone or calculator.
However, I had no need for such an app but what I noticed was that the restaurants featured in the app all had the same "feel". Although they were quite different from each other... they all appealed to me because they had that "little something more". Simple, casual dining, local produce combined with the "wow" factor.
Hence I downloaded the app, listed the featured restaurants, looked them up in my favourite Search Engine G...... Then I made my decision based on websites+Facebook page + Tripadvisor pics.
I then deleted the app, having no further use for it and happily started my dining journeys, which were all successful.
Although some may qualify this as a mere waste of time... (I had spent perhaps 90 minutes looking for the perfect pick)... It was much more... It was part of the journey already! I was actually having fun with the search process... Imagining the evening, making sure it was picture-perfect, looking for something excitingly new...
So the conclusion of the story is not to tell you about my nice and scrumptious dinner but how actually getting there has changed and will continue changing.
Once I was at the restaurant (which my digital friend loved BTW) we happened to ask our counter-neighbour how she had heard of it. Her answer was straight forward: she had seen a TV show which she had thoroughly enjoyed.
Hence having each of us zigzagged through digital and media crossroads we were now sitting at the same delightful counter....
This is what I will take back from the experience :
- Search is not a straight path anymore
- Search is actually part of the end-experience and goal
- Search is led by fun
