Hi! Managers: Winning over the Moment of Truth

AG Lafley, our high-calibre former chief executive, throughout his term in office harped on the principle of “Consumer is Boss.” That’s the starting point of how we are the voice of the consumers within P&G and they are the heart of all we do.
In the early days when he assumed the CEO role, he told us that according to his observation P&G was once letting technology rather than consumer needs dictate new products. We were not working closely enough with retailers where consumers first see our product on the shelf. And, he named it “First Moment of Truth” (FMOT). The powerful concept of FMOT that Lafley pointed out to all of us is to make sure we seriously understood how to delight the consumers at the point of purchase resulting in being able to lure consumers into our brand franchise and outstandingly pop out from the shelf against the competition. Besides, Lafley also did make a good point on winning over the “Second Moment of Truth” (SMOT) where consumers experienced P&G products at home which resonates with how your product quality and innovation successfully satisfied consumers’ expectations. The centrepiece of his notion of First and Second Moment of Truth is truly how well you put your key focus on deeply understanding your consumers.
How FMOT has really played a major role in today’s business has been proved by an easy observation. Back in early 2000, branding had become fashionable and many players in the market were trying to come up with many different brands resulting in a proliferation of brands. You can see, there are hundreds of branded hair-care products, ranging from local, international, and house brands on the same shelf. Besides, the retail boom also emerged during that period and continues to be strong even today. Consumers, additionally, who consume your products might not be the ones who make a purchase decision and vice versa. To win over the FMOT in your game plan is to make sure you got the right strategy to collaborate with your retail partners, clearly understand what really matters to your shoppers and also how to bring out your brands to prominently stand out from other players when competing on the same shelf.
However, it’s not winning yet if you just focus on the FMOT given that SMOT is also something that really makes you yearn for the long-term loyal users of your brand franchise. SMOT is really critical at a time today when consumers have more right to judge your brand and your product. The consumer age is still on and its power has not shifted away from them yet. Seriousness in finding out how to delight them with your product quality and innovation is still a key to win on SMOT. That’s why investment in research and development to come up with new innovations that answer unmet consumer needs is still a key to win here.
Recently, the digital trend in social media and search engines is really changing the way how consumers make a purchase. A purchase decision that used to be more likely to focus on winning at the FMOT and SMOT is not really sufficient. Google has shared a very interesting additional terminology on the Moment of Truth in a consumer’s purchase decision, known as “Zero Moment of Truth” (ZMOT). The renowned search-engine site, Google, has been a part of many consumers’ life by surprisingly playing a critical role in helping consumers to make a purchase decision. It is used a 100 million times a day either on mobile phones, laptops, wired devices of all kinds. Hence, all marketers need to zero in at this stage carefully as the marketing plan can also happen here where information search and evaluation stage are processed at this point.
The key to win the ZMOT is to make sure your consumers will grab their connecting devices to seek information about your brands and ultimately buy your products.
As you can see “the moment of truth” has evolved at every stage of the purchase decision, whether it’s at searching, evaluating, at the point of purchase or even at the post-buying stage.
Today, consumers are moving fast and we have to move even faster. The searching and evaluation stage used to be one of the least attention stages to work on among marketers. But, with the technology and lifestyle change, every stage does matter. That’s why we, as marketers, are working on creating and delighting in the moment of truth to consumers who are the ones to judge.
Are we ready to seize those moments?
The answer is with you.

Medhee Jarumaneeroj is influencer marketing & external relations leader, Asia Male Grooming, Procter & Gamble. Follow his article every fourth Monday of the month.