Keeping abreast of customer lapse

A reminder to us all that a serious message can sometimes be best conveyed using humour; say hello to the "Your Man Reminder" app that has been released by Rethink Breast Cancer to encourage women to check their breasts regularly.

The genius is that the reminder is not a dull outlook alarm or exclamation on the calendar, it's your choice of "hot guy" that will talk you through the process.

According to Rethink Breast Cancer, "Your Man Reminder App includes the following fun features:

• Customize – Update the App to fit your personal liking, with features that let you chose your man, his pose and more.
• Hot Messages – You’ll love the attention your man gives to you, with messages like “Any guy would be lucky to have you” and “Give your breasts some TLC.” 
• Reminders - Tailor your calendar schedule with settings for weekly, monthly or surprise reminders directed by a sexy man of your choice.
• Education - The App includes a special “signs and symptoms” tab to hone in on the importance of early detection. 
• Get Checked – Use a variety of scheduling options such as doctors’ appointments and many more."

There are two key lessons from the Your Man Reminder app.  First, the app is an evocative example of how to overcome inertia by creating an entertaining, enjoyable experience.  And the same technique can be applied to any subject.  Car tyres, taxation, health checks, superannuation...the opportunity is to link typically dull but necessary tasks with something fun or unusual. 
Perhaps a slightly less fun example, but the "Change your clock, change your smoke alarm battery" campaign has proven to be an effectuive way in Australia of triggering a low awareness need (battery replacement) with an event (daylight savings) to overcome inertia. 

For your business, this can make a difference to your cash flow by minimising the risk of customer lapse. Imagine the positive impacts for a car mechanic who gets people to turn up for their annual service rather than procrastinating for 14-18 months (over three years that can mean securing one additional service)? Or a dentist that has clients returning every 6 months rather than every 3 years? 

The second lesson from Rethink Breast Cancer is in how they have structured their donation section to take advantage of our tendency to accept status quo.  Note how the donation is defaulted to monthly rather than once off which would improve their chances of that option being accepted.  They could have taken this a step further and defaulted the amount to $20 rather than $10 to encourage higher donations through our tendency to accept the default terms.  Further, they could have also applied the behavioural principle of herding to influence the amount donated. To take advantage of this they could have shown that the average donation was, for instance $25 (as long as it was truthful of course), and kept a running count of how many people made a donation.  Seeing how many others had donated and what they had spent would have been very persuasive.

So hopefully those clever Canadians at Rethink Breast Cancer have inspired you to use behavioural strategies to tackle business objectives. I am certainly looking forward to seeing more apps like the one they have created. 

For more information on the app (and the guys) check out the clip on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsyE2rCW71o

The app is available http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-man-reminder/id467911146?mt=8