There is a fine line between attracting customers and alienating them. We don’t always know where that line is until we cross it. According to our research at Female Factor, there are seven classic mistakes to avoid when appealing to female consumers. While they are not hard and fast rules (because much of marketing depends on the types of products and services being sold), they are a useful guide to connecting with this powerful consumer market. Let’s see if you recognize any of them:
1. Act as if customer experience and marketing are two different things. Women place a lot of importance on service. Try reaching out to their customer service number or online chat to see if your company’s mission, vision, and values come to life through these channels. In a world of busy women, customer service can be the most powerful differentiator. It’s surprising that exceptional service is still considered a novelty in almost every industry.
2. Represent women as delicate flowers. The world is full of passive, syrupy representations of women. Reflect reality by showing women actively. (Example: showing a woman in the driver’s seat of a car, instead of the passenger seat.) Companies tend to avoid using humor with women and this is another opportunity: Women love a laugh, but they rarely get one from marketers.
3. Automate everything. Don’t underestimate the power of human connection. Apple is one of the most technologically advanced companies in the world, yet its stores are full of helpful employees. Make human help available as an option and don’t hide your customer service number like plutonium. (See #1 above.)
4. Believing that pink is irresistible to women. Put down the rosewood and back away slowly. Unless you’re raising money for breast cancer causes or working on the next Barbie movie, strive to include more colors besides pink in your design and marketing efforts, especially with gender-neutral products. Pink is not a strategy.
Avoid the most common mistakes when marketing to women
4. Create imaginary worlds where all women are in their early 20s. The mature adult population is an inexhaustible source of influence and purchasing power. People over 50 have the highest net worth and greatest assets of any consumer group. However, consumer companies outside the pharmaceutical and financial services sectors systematically ignore them.
6. Underestimating women’s decision-making power. Women’s purchasing power and influence are the most powerful double whammy in the consumer economy. Women drive more than 70-80% of consumer spending through a combination of purchasing power and influence. They are the purchasing directors of most households and, increasingly, the buyers of B2B services. Underestimating your power and influence can be dangerous for the bottom line.
7. Exclude women from strategic leadership teams. This is simply shortsighted, but it still happens. If women are an important part of your customer base, they should be proportionally represented on internal and external teams, creating strategies to engage them. Research shows that diverse teams achieve better results.
Companies that best understand female consumers are poised to dominate their markets. If your company hasn’t addressed this market closely enough in recent years, now would be a good time to start.
