Sunday, March 17, 2019

Intangible Products Become "Tangible" in the Process of Delivery




Selling services generally is more difficult than selling a product. By definition, services--including communications--are intangible. Like marketing advice, crisis management and other services, communications can be very hard for buyers to evaluate, in advance of purchase.

These sorts of goods are not physical objects consumers can see, hear, taste, smell or touch.

There is no physical object to inspect, so a potential buyer has to try and determine value some other way. Buyers must rely on evaluations, third party testimony, advertising or other proxies for value.

There being no way the buyer actually can determine “quality” in any direct way, until the services are provided. Consider the use of Amazon, for example. Customers might in that case be buying tangible products. But some important part of the experience is the delivery.

Was billing accurate? Was payment secure? Were delivery communications timely and accurate?

Did actual delivery happen when expected (within two or some other promised number of days), where expected (the right address) and how expected (on the day promised, within a four-window, at a place at the delivery location expected)?

Communication products likewise are mostly intangible, There arguably is no "product" until consumption begins. And that is why "trust" often looms so large in the sale of communication products. Customers do not actually know what they will get until after they buy and start using the product. 



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