????過去，公司會在節(jié)日提供一些小禮品來取悅老顧客，招徠新顧客。他們會送出帶有公司標志的冰箱貼、日歷、以及圣誕裝飾等。

????但如今，那些成熟老道的公司正嘗試用一些新手段贏得消費者的信賴，并與他們建立情感聯(lián)系。我們把它們稱作“親善應(yīng)用”。與那些用來提升銷量和推銷打折商品的應(yīng)用不同，親善應(yīng)用旨在提供實用或其他能幫助用戶決策的信息。這樣做并不是為了促進產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)銷售這么簡單，而是為了建立信賴和聯(lián)系，從而最終獲得經(jīng)濟上的成功。

????Sea Tow Service International就是一個很好的例子，這家位于紐約州紹斯霍爾德的公司，為美國、加勒比海和歐洲的船員提供緊急拖曳和救援服務(wù)。他們的免費應(yīng)用Sea Tow會提供當(dāng)?shù)爻毕?、詳細的海洋天氣預(yù)報、GPS坐標、航行方位和速度等船員定位所需的信息。

????傳統(tǒng)的營銷人員也許會認為，從某種意義上說Sea Tow提供的信息會減少事故（因此也就減少了Sea Tow收到的呼救數(shù)），這會妨礙公司本身的業(yè)務(wù)。然而，感受到這份友善的船員當(dāng)面臨緊急狀況時，可能就會傾向于呼叫Sea Tow，而不是它的競爭對手Tow Boat US。

????為了進一步研究這個概念，我們與利寶互助保險集團和駿河銀行兩家公司合作，創(chuàng)建了兩個親善應(yīng)用并測試它們的效果。

????這款利寶互助應(yīng)用面向正在搬家的人群。該應(yīng)用擁有一個數(shù)字“保險箱”，可以讓用戶用文字和照片記錄自己的貴重物品；還有一個清單工具，可供用戶記錄箱子中的物品。

????盡管利寶互助提供汽車、房屋和個人財產(chǎn)保險，卻并不提供搬遷保險。那么為何公司會有興趣做一款幫人搬遷的應(yīng)用呢？它的目標是通過這款親善應(yīng)用建立信賴，提高品牌形象、關(guān)注度，增強顧客的購買意愿。在應(yīng)用的最后一個頁面，用戶可以聯(lián)系利寶互助，獲得更多關(guān)于該公司產(chǎn)品的信息，包括家庭保險、人壽保險和意外保險。所以盡管它屬于親善應(yīng)用，卻能建立用戶和公司員工的聯(lián)系，從而提高公司的商譽。

????2010年，該應(yīng)用經(jīng)過了面向750名顧客的綜合市場調(diào)研?？傮w來說，調(diào)查對象認為利寶互助的搬遷應(yīng)用很有意義、很可靠，與他們的生活密切相關(guān)。這種良好的用戶體驗使得人們對該公司的態(tài)度有了正向的轉(zhuǎn)變，他們覺得負責(zé)和值得信賴是該公司的品牌特質(zhì)。利寶互助在信用評分、可信度和品牌信心上都有了顯著提升。

????我們的第二個應(yīng)用是為位于日本靜岡市的駿河銀行（Suruga Bank）創(chuàng)建的。這個應(yīng)用名為Dream Mover，可以幫助日本顧客選擇要購買或租賃的新房，并幫助他們弄清不同情況下涉及的財務(wù)問題。該應(yīng)用能根據(jù)用戶的地址和預(yù)算要求，顯示一系列備選房屋，并給出大小、布局、是否便于搭乘公共交通工具等細節(jié)。此外，為了幫助用戶篩選可能的居住地，Dream Mover還扮演了預(yù)算規(guī)劃顧問的角色，為用戶提供個人貸款和抵押信息以及其他具有針對性的建議。

????為了解Dream Mover的影響力，我們隨機選擇了1,500名受訪者，發(fā)現(xiàn)那些用過這款應(yīng)用的人對駿河銀行的關(guān)注度、信賴度和正面印象都有提升。尤其要指出的是，駿河銀行在“坦率、誠實和透明”等公司特色和提供“可靠的建議或信息，是一個你可以信賴的品牌”等選項的評分都有了顯著提高。

????我們的兩項研究證明，親善應(yīng)用可以加強人們對公司品牌的認知、關(guān)注和偏好，并由此提升公司營收。使用利寶互助應(yīng)用的用戶明顯對利寶互助更有好感，更傾向于在保險服務(wù)中選擇它而不是其他競爭者。此外，用戶對品牌的信賴感也有所增強。在駿河銀行的案例中，用戶對該公司的關(guān)注度同樣有顯著提升。而與利寶互助的案例一樣，用戶對駿河銀行的信賴感也增強了。

????這些親善應(yīng)用可以讓顧客認為該品牌關(guān)心他們感興趣的東西，并因此成為促進營收增長的強大力量。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

????本文作者是麻省理工斯隆管理學(xué)院的營銷學(xué)教授。本文改編自《斯隆管理評論》2014年冬季號文章《支持親善應(yīng)用的理由》。

????譯者：嚴匡正

????In the past, companies sought to please old customers and entice new ones by offering small holiday gifts. They gave away refrigerator magnets, calendars, and Christmas ornaments emblazoned with the company logo.

????But in today’s geo-encoded, app-enabled world, sophisticated companies are trying something new to build trust and relationships with customers. We call them ‘benevolent apps.’ Unlike some apps that are designed to generate sales and promote special deals, benevolent apps are created to offer useful information or otherwise help with decision-making. The idea is not simply to sell products or services, but instead to build trust and relationships that eventually will lead to economic success.

????One good example comes from Sea Tow Service International, a company located in Southold, New York. Sea Tow offers emergency towing and rescue services for boaters in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe. The free Sea Tow app supports boaters’ navigation needs by offering information about local tide tables, detailed marine weather forecasts, GPS coordinates and bearing and speed.

????A traditional marketer might argue that to the extent that Sea Tow furnishes information that can reduce accidents (thereby reducing Sea Tow calls), it is undercutting its own business. A boater, however, might be favorably disposed toward calling Sea Tow instead of its competitor, Tow Boat US, if faced with an emergency.

????To further study this concept, we worked with two companies—Liberty Mutual and Suruga Bank—to create two benevolent apps and then test the results.

????The Liberty Mutual app was aimed at people who were in the process of moving. The app included a digital “safe,” where they could record with text and photos their valuable-items and an inventory tool where they could record the contents of their boxes.

????Although Liberty Mutual offers auto, homeowners and personal property insurance, it does not offer moving insurance. So why did the company find the idea of creating an app to help people move appealing? Their goal was to build trust through benevolence and to improve brand image, consideration and purchase intent. On the final screen of the app, users could contact Liberty Mutual for more information on the products they offer including home, life and accident insurance. So although the app was benevolent, it had a mechanism for capturing goodwill by linking users to the company’s agents.

????The app was tested in 2010 in a comprehensive market research study of 750 consumers. Overall, respondents viewed the Liberty Mutual moving app as meaningful, believable and relevant. The favorable user experience led to positive attitude changes toward Liberty Mutual, which considers responsibility and trust to be among its key brand attributes. The company saw a significant increase in its trust rating, believability and confidence attributes.

????The second app we created was for Suruga Bank, a bank based in Shizuoka, Japan. Called, Dream Mover, it helped Japanese consumers choose new homes to purchase or rent and assisted them in understanding the financial implications of different decisions. Based on the user’s location and budget criteria, the app presented a set of home choices with details such as size, layout and proximity to public transportation. In addition to helping users screen potential places to live, the app acted as a budget-planning advisor, providing information on personal loans and mortgages as well as providing targeted advice.

????To assess the impact of Dream Mover, we surveyed 1,500 randomly selected respondents and found that among those who used the app, there was a measured increase in awareness, trust and positive consideration of Suruga Bank. Specifically, the bank’s ratings were significantly improved for characteristics such as being “open, honest and transparent” and offering “believable advice or information and a brand you can trust.”

????Our two studies show that benevolent mobile apps can positively impact a company’s brand perception, consideration and preference and therefore improve the bottom line. People using the Liberty Mutual app became significantly more inclined to prefer Liberty Mutual and switch to it for insurance versus competitors. Additionally, the brand attributes related to trust increased. In the Suruga Bank study, consideration of Suruga also rose significantly. As with the Liberty Mutual study, brand attributes related to trust rose significantly.

????These are powerful forces that can lead to increased revenue from consumers who perceive that the brand has their interests in mind.

????Glen L. Urban is a marketing professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. This article is adapted from The Case for Benevolent Apps, Sloan Management Review, Winter 2014.