Rory Sutherland

OK, if you spend some money on acquiring customers, you can see whether it's working very quickly and you can say very confidently we spend X and the value of the acquired customers was Y.

OK, if you spend some money on acquiring customers, you can see whether it's working very quickly and you can say very confidently we spend X and the value of the acquired customers was Y.

Let's say you want to make a corresponding investment in customer loyalty or customer experience, in other words, ensuring your existing customers have a great experience and so they come back, or dealing with problems very well so that your customers don't leave. Generally, you could perfectly well prove that that was cost-effective.

Let's say you want to make a corresponding investment in customer loyalty or customer experience, in other words, ensuring your existing customers have a great experience and so they come back, or dealing with problems very well so that your customers don't leave. Generally, you could perfectly well prove that that was cost-effective.

Let's say you want to make a corresponding investment in customer loyalty or customer experience, in other words, ensuring your existing customers have a great experience and so they come back, or dealing with problems very well so that your customers don't leave. Generally, you could perfectly well prove that that was cost-effective.

And indeed, my hunch would be that money spent there would be more cost effective in many cases than money spent on acquisition. However, it might take you five years to prove the efficacy of what you do. Because it's slower. There are businesses which are fast. There are businesses which are slow. There are fast feedback businesses which you learn very quickly.

And indeed, my hunch would be that money spent there would be more cost effective in many cases than money spent on acquisition. However, it might take you five years to prove the efficacy of what you do. Because it's slower. There are businesses which are fast. There are businesses which are slow. There are fast feedback businesses which you learn very quickly.

And indeed, my hunch would be that money spent there would be more cost effective in many cases than money spent on acquisition. However, it might take you five years to prove the efficacy of what you do. Because it's slower. There are businesses which are fast. There are businesses which are slow. There are fast feedback businesses which you learn very quickly.

An example, by the way, of very fast feedback business is comedy. You have an instant feedback mechanism from the audience, which basically tells you whether or not a joke is any good and whether you've landed it. And so apparently if you go to small comedy clubs, you'll occasionally be surprised because you're sitting there and there are only sort of 20 tables and Chris Rock will come in.

An example, by the way, of very fast feedback business is comedy. You have an instant feedback mechanism from the audience, which basically tells you whether or not a joke is any good and whether you've landed it. And so apparently if you go to small comedy clubs, you'll occasionally be surprised because you're sitting there and there are only sort of 20 tables and Chris Rock will come in.

An example, by the way, of very fast feedback business is comedy. You have an instant feedback mechanism from the audience, which basically tells you whether or not a joke is any good and whether you've landed it. And so apparently if you go to small comedy clubs, you'll occasionally be surprised because you're sitting there and there are only sort of 20 tables and Chris Rock will come in.

And effectively, it's all a bit weird, but he's trying out his new material for the next run. Before you go to bigger theatres, you try your material out on a small scale. And that's a fast feedback business. Amazon is a pretty fast feedback business, I would argue, because it has a very high degree of frequency of interaction with customers.

And effectively, it's all a bit weird, but he's trying out his new material for the next run. Before you go to bigger theatres, you try your material out on a small scale. And that's a fast feedback business. Amazon is a pretty fast feedback business, I would argue, because it has a very high degree of frequency of interaction with customers.

And effectively, it's all a bit weird, but he's trying out his new material for the next run. Before you go to bigger theatres, you try your material out on a small scale. And that's a fast feedback business. Amazon is a pretty fast feedback business, I would argue, because it has a very high degree of frequency of interaction with customers.

Something like banking or insurance is unbelievably slow. I mean, if you're a bank and you piss off a customer, they don't even leave, by the way. They just go inert. It's not like people go, I'm going to close my current account and I'm going to walk off. They just open another current account somewhere else. Your current account, they don't buy anything, any other products from you.

Something like banking or insurance is unbelievably slow. I mean, if you're a bank and you piss off a customer, they don't even leave, by the way. They just go inert. It's not like people go, I'm going to close my current account and I'm going to walk off. They just open another current account somewhere else. Your current account, they don't buy anything, any other products from you.

Something like banking or insurance is unbelievably slow. I mean, if you're a bank and you piss off a customer, they don't even leave, by the way. They just go inert. It's not like people go, I'm going to close my current account and I'm going to walk off. They just open another current account somewhere else. Your current account, they don't buy anything, any other products from you.

But it's not the same as something like comedy where you know within seconds whether you've landed something or not. And then there are also things which bother me, which is

But it's not the same as something like comedy where you know within seconds whether you've landed something or not. And then there are also things which bother me, which is

But it's not the same as something like comedy where you know within seconds whether you've landed something or not. And then there are also things which bother me, which is