How to Get a HIPPO Out of the Meeting Room?
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BUSINESS
it can extend to text. People often forget
who the most important factor is when it
comes to this type of marketing, and it is
not the manager, but the customer.
This phenomenon is, in fact, so common,
we even have a term for it.
Who is a “HIPPO?”
HIPPO - “Highest Paid Person’s Opinion.”
Hippo is a term used to refer to situations
within companies, where decisions are
made not based on data, analysis or expert
advice, but rather based on the opinion of
the person with the highest position.
When decisions are left solely on the
hippo, they can often overlook key data
or analysis. This can then be problematic
as the decision does not have to be in line
with the best interests of the company or
its customers.
The price is irrelevant…
Our brand is the best! If everyone loves
us, it doesn’t matter that our product costs
35% more! Meanwhile annual sales are
down 47% and the competition is miles
ahead.
We conduct mass research and analysis.
We find that communication is not our
problem, as we have loads of positive
feedback in that department, even our
PPC is well set up. Our website is also
good, it is modern and fulfills all UX
best practices. The main bottleneck is,
however, the conversion rate. People
simply do not complete the sales, even
though the marketing had been working
perfectly up until that point.
Then we get into a deep discussion, where
we discover that the customers really do
love the products and communication.
Nevertheless, this love is not strong
enough to get them to pay 35% more
plus shipping, when there is an alternative
of essentially equal quality on the market.
Yes, part of the target audience does
not place much importance on price,
however, this segment of the audience is
not large enough to facilitate long term
growth.
It is all the HIPPO’s fault
Is that really true? Finger pointing is easy,
however, the problem usually lies within
the ecosystem as a whole. Management
that gave up long ago and have stopped
resisting because they mainly want to
keep their jobs. Consultants that can offer
good answers, but are unable to sell them
to the management.
How to escape this?
1. A/B testing
2. Pilot projects
3. Surveys and data research
4. Parallel alternative options, wherever
possible
It is easy to lose hundreds of thousands
of crowns through meaningless inefficient
work, and tens of millions on bad ideas. It
is, nonetheless, our responsibility, as those
that remain silent in meetings, to protect
our own personal interests.
Article author: Tomáš Schwarz
CEO of the full-service marketing agency
Upster, which he founded in 2021 after
spending a decade working in the field.
Currently, he is one of twenty Google
certified trainers for Czechia and Slovakia
focused in the field of online marketing
strategy and a lecturer of marketing
strategy and AI workshops. He, along
with his team of 30 experts, take care of
the performance and content marketing
of over 100 clients among which are well
known names such as Colours of Ostrava,
Mobil Pohotovost or Můjkoberec.