iRobot: Turning customers into brand advocates

I have a Roomba. For those of you who are yet uninitiated into the world of consumer robotics, Roomba is a vacuum that vacuums floors—all by itself. This is a wonderful invention. I adore Roomba.

Because of this adoration, I am a semi-regular visitor to iRobot.com, the maker of Roomba. Browsing the site, I saw a link on the home page that said simply “I love robots.” What could this be? I wondered.

Clicking on the link, I discovered a wealth of customer-generated comments, all gushing about how much they loved Roomba, Scooba, and other iRobot products. I was surprised at how many people voluntarily took time out of busy schedules to write gushing praise for a consumer product. There are dozens of reviews here—so many that they are sorted into specific models. The freshness of these comments resonate far more than any advertising copy ever could. For example: “.. .between the roomba and scooba you can't tell I have 6 cats and one husband.“

How did irobot accomplish this? The steps are pretty easy to understand:

1. Have a great product or service. For iRobot, this is simple; it’s difficult not to like something that vacuums your house while you’re away. If your company doesn’t have a great product, then why are you here?
2. Continuously improve that product. The first generation Roombas broke easily. They got stuck on practically everything. Their batteries ran out quickly. They did not automatically recharge. Despite the initial charm, if iRobot had not improved Roomba, it would have become a passing trend, like a Rubik’s Cube. But, through continuous improvements, iRobot was able to meet and exceed their customers’ constantly-evolving expectations.
3. Oh, wait, improve that product using customer feedback. The people at iRobot did not lock themselves in a conference room and make a list of what features would sell more iRobots in the future and then release that product. No, they opened as many channels as possible for customers to tell them what they wanted. I, a first-generation user of Roomba, received a survey in the mail, and filled it out in order to receive a small reward of a roomba care kit. There are also newsgroups to join, and feedback links on the website.
4. I mean, lots of customer feedback. iRobot has a “post a review” link on their web site. Looking at the reviews, it is quite obvious that iRobot only posts ones that are overall positive. I’m sure they receive negative ones as well. But that’s okay, as long as iRobot reads—and responds to—the negative ones too.
5. Retain your existing customers by treating them well. Irobot realizes that their best customers are those that already own Roombas. That’s why it offers an ‘upgrade discount’ for owners of older Roombas. iRobot also builds in excellent troubleshooting support into its robots and website, so customers can diagnose and remedy dozens of problems on their own.
6. Give your happy customers a couple of customer advocate tools. Referral bonuses and the opportunity to post a testimonial are simple ways to make this possible.

What’s your plan for creating brand advocates?

Comments

[Courtney]

Boy, I am with Kim on this I have only praise for the iRobot folks and love my Roomba so much I bought a Scooba. Maybe you should go to their boards/feedback section on their website, I know I got a response when I had a question about my little Roomba friend.

[Lari]

I have had NO customer service from Roomba after trying for months to get help fixing my now totally dead Roomba discovery. I even wrote two snail mail letters to Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot when e-mails and phone calls resulted in no help or resolution. Neither letter was even acknowledged. My Roomba won't charge and can't run for longer than 2 minutes before dying. NO ONE in the tech area could help me or offered any suggestions that solved the problem. It could be as simple as a new battery (even though mine is nowhere near it end-of-life usage), but I can't even get that from the Roomba folks. Sure would like some help on this. Thanks