Are your customers cheering? Dissecting the Club Med ‘clap-o-meter’

Okay, I admit it. I’m an XGO!

What?

An ex Club Med “Gentil Organisateur” – a hospitable organizer of Club Med vacation memories.

In my almost 5 years with “The Club” I (and others) developed personal brands with various degrees of success. There were corporate metrics to measure how effective these branding initiatives were, which were part science, part human-dynamics and part ‘clap-o-meter‘.

For those who remember the 80’s or have been to a Club Med resort, the clap-o-meter was a device that “measured” an audiences’ response with a Christmas tree of lights that progressively rose as the clapping, cheering or jeering increased in volume.

Of course the magic of the clap-o-meter was the little man at the back flicking switches based on how loud the clapping was. I’m certain more scientific methodologies could be used, but this was low budget, high return stuff!

Effective personal branding in Club Med was *easily* measured by applause, whether it was voting on an act (in the case of the ‘talent’ shows) or at shows’ end when GO’s were introduced.

This immediate feedback – how loud the audience cheered – demonstrated the visibility and popularity of the particular GO. This feedback over the course of a ‘season’ was a major contributing factor in determining a GOs worth, status, hierarchy and “perks” – whether it was a choice of resorts for the following season or choice of dinner date for that night 🙂

Your virtual clap-o-meter

Think about how you can improve interactivity and social mechanisms on (and off) your site, and allow people to cheer for your products or services. With many mediums to choose from, blogs, forums, video, review sites etc. there’s opportunity to give your customers a voice and platform to demonstrate why you deserve their (and other prospects’) trust and business.

What kind of clap-o-meter are you using in your website?

Can users give immediate feedback?

Can other users see, feel, experience that feedback?

Is there an opportunity to show your popularity and visibility?

And most importantly, is your audience cheering for you?

Leveraging your customers cheers may not lead to a romantic dinner on the beach in Cancun, but it’ll certainly drive more business and site conversions, and these day, that’s about as romantic as eCommerce gets!