RSS Feed

« Silent Strategy RealTime Redux »
October 17, 2003

4:28 pm | 0 recommendations | 7 comments

TiVo or Not TiVo III

| posted by Heath Row

An FC Now entry in August has catalyzed some surprising interaction between FC Now readers and TiVo executives. Writes FC Now reader Jackie Huba:

We are longtime TiVo customers and fans, and we believe TiVo hasn't "tipped" because it's a sales-driven company that cares more about celebrity endorsements than the 97% of TiVo customers who evangelize the product to a friend, often ad nauseum.

In fact, inspired by your post, we (my co-author and I) penned a little article called "How to Ignore Your Best Customers the TiVo Way." We sent it out in our monthly email newsletter in late August, and it was published by an online marketing publication just the other day.

We received lots of response to the article from frustrated TiVo customers, but we were quite surprised to receive a quick response by TiVo VP and General Manager Brodie Keast. He wasn't too keen on our commentary. He called the article a "poorly researched cheap shot." Is that how you talk to your customers? And we had quite a back and forth with him.

Then, recently, someone posted our article to the 43,000-strong self-organized Tivo online community. This is the most evangelistic set of customers the company has, yet the TiVo marketing person we spoke to referred to them as the "fringe," not to be engaged to help drive new sales. What?

It's quite telling to see these customers comment on why, oh why, can't TiVo see if that they would just return the love that the customers feel for the product, then the TiVolution could really be a grassroots movement to change people's lives (and sell more product).

Fast Company contributor Michelle L. Cain first sung the praises of TiVo a couple of years ago. While I've yet to use the service myself, several friends swear by it. That kind of loyalty is an asset that TiVo should work to harness and mobilize -- not quell or ignore.

Huba's comment about the company's celebrity endorsements reminds me of a similar campaign run in The Nation. As much as I like Janeane Garofolo, I'm not sure that knowing she reads The Nation, too, makes me a more loyal or dedicated reader. I'm much more intrigued by the Apple Switch ads in which "average" people are featured as customers.

Tags: Management, sales + marketing
Report Content
Sign in or register to comment.

Recent Comments | 7 Total

October 17, 2003 at 8:52pm

Michael Buffington
I love my TiVo as much as the next evangelist, but I have to generally agree that the 43,000 TiVo "fringe" is indeed, a fringe group. How many people don't currently have TiVo's? I don't know the figure, but I'm sure it makes 43,000 look like small change. I'm not justifying bad behavior, but I'd like to ask: does TiVo really need to care about the fringe? I'd truly like to think so, but I think that in reality, they'll continue pushing ahead trying to make new customers in mostly traditional ways.
Report Content

October 19, 2003 at 2:55pm

Frank Patrick
I don't have a TiVo, and don't need it, nor it's service. I do have EyeTV on my Mac and love it. I would run, not walk, to my nearest Best Radio Circuit City Buy Shack for a plain vanilla 80 gig VCR replacement with a similar simple manual interface.
Report Content

October 19, 2003 at 6:56pm

Rayne
While working for a Fortune 100 company's customer service department, I had it drilled into my head that excellence mattered -- that for every one dissatisfied customer, there were six potential customers they told that would NOT become customers. Let's do the math: 43,000 "fringe" existing customers x 6 = 258,000 potential customers 258,000 x $10/month x 12 months = $30,960,000 annual sales Can a company like TiVo really afford to throw away nearly $31 million in potential sales because they can't be bothered to communicate *respectfully* with existing customers? I don't know any company that can in this economy -- let alone any that can afford to annoy and possibly lose 43,000 so called fringe customers. I know I'm thinking twice right now about even looking at TiVo. It sure looks like a market that's ripe for something better.
Report Content

October 19, 2003 at 7:13pm

Rayne
Karmically interesting how this all plays out. Minutes after reading this post and commenting above, I *just* referred someone to this blog post because they asked whether they should buy a TiVo. Two down, four more to go...
Report Content

October 20, 2003 at 2:14pm

pb
I've gotta side with the Tivo executive here. The original srticle was not pursuasive at all and certainly did not include good business sense. Whilr Tivo fanaticism is important, it's not going to get it to critical mass. As you say, "just look at apple".
Report Content

October 21, 2003 at 2:44pm

Rayne
So companies whose sole product is still in its infancy in the marketplace should only care about its customers' feedback when the customers reach "critical mass"? Who's defining critical mass, anyhow? As for evangelical customers -- aren't they a lot less expensive to encourage and more effective at promotions than a full-fledged ad campaign? I think that's the story of Howard Dean as a product; picture Joe Trippi blowing off the grassroots the way TiVo's blowing off its base...
Report Content

October 22, 2003 at 6:24pm

Nick
What is conventional advertising? If that means spending millions of dollars to place ads in countless print and T.V. mediums then they are doomed to repeat mistakes that so many companies commit. Hell, I have the time to ignore another commercial or scan past another print ad. The "fringe" or as Geoff Moore might call them "early adopters" are the ones who will convert the majority "masses". Instead of spending the money on mass media and "stars" to promote, they should spend that money in customer service and reward customer loyalty. Once the word gets out on that unique behavior.. (communicated by the fringe).. Tivo will have created more value then spending millions on ads. 2 cents.
Report Content

Special Editions?