THE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND IN CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Brand: The missing link in Customer Experience
The role of brand is often ignored in developing CX strategy, designing solutions and CX management. Yet brand plays a critical role in delivering positive customer experiences. The role of brand in customer experience is two-fold:
To deliver a unique customer experience in a homogenised market
To bring to life the brand purpose & promise
Brand as a differentiator
With CX increasingly being leveraged as a competitive differentiator, the importance of building a great CX program that stands out from the crowd is becoming more important than ever.
Whilst CX enables marketers to create frictionless, joyful customer experiences, the experience risks becoming homogenised and easily replicated without a brand’s presence, narrowing perceived brand differences and making your brand more easily substituted for a competitor's.
Branded interactions provide customers with a unique customer experience that are deeper, more engaging and therefore more memorable than those offered by the competition.
CX = Brand reality
Brand promises live or die by their customer experience. A company may define its brand promise and why it is worthy of consideration, but it is the customer who decides whether or not the company delivered on its promise.
If the customer expectation doesn’t live up to the brand promise, then the brand promise falls flat and becomes meaningless. By contrast, when a customer feels the brand promise in their experience with a brand, they gain the true value of the brand and the brand promise becomes reality.
Why waste years of investment in differentiating a brand through advertising and communications to then let the CX weaken the brand?
How brand & CX work together
Brand = A promise made to customers
CX = How the promise is kept
It's a two-way street
Just as a brand sets customers expectation of the experience they will encounter, the experience will also influence the customer’s perception of the brand.
For example, if a brand positions itself as caring for you, but is unavailable or unsupportive in a crisis, then the experience doesn’t match the expectation. The customer will be left doubting the authenticity of future brand communications and be less likely to choose your brand again.
Brand or branded CX?
A brand customer experience is where the brand’s essence, promises, values and purpose is reflected in the customer experience. The brand sets the expectation for the customer experience, which is designed to be true to the brand.
A branded customer experience goes a step further, where the experience itself becomes unique and is recognisable. For example, Ikea’s and Apple’s CX is unique in their respective categories.
Whether you choose to develop a brand or branded CX depends on the context, market, brand’s strength, how much of the customer journey you control and how much value can be gained.
Five tips to improve your brand Customer Experience:
1. Evaluate your brand experience
Map out your customer journeys and evaluate the brand experience at each customer interaction. Ask yourself; is your brand promise being delivered at each point where a customer interacts with your brand?
Compare your customer experience to competitors. Is your customer experience on par with the category you operate in, is your brand infused in the customer experience and is there potential (and value) in creating a branded customer experience?
2. Aim for brand consistency
Ensure each touchpoint and channel is consistency with your brand promise, voice and identity.
The customer should get the same brand experience whether they are interacting with your company, staff, products and services wherever they are in their customer journey.
3. Involve your brand team
If you have one, involve your brand team or guardian as you develop and evaluate your customer experience strategy and design solutions.
Discuss with them their brand vision and purpose and look for opportunities in the customer experience where this can be brought to life.
Ensure your brand purpose, voice and image are threaded throughout the customer experience to help distinguish your customer experience from competitors.
4. Use brand communications to set expectations
Frequently overlooked, communications help set customer expectations, build empathy and mitigate potential CX issues, turning customer dissatisfaction from misunderstandings into satisfaction.
UK sandwich chain Pret A Manger introduced a sticker at their counters saying "VAT Nightmare - We're legally required to add on VAT when you eat in."
This approach not only manages customer expectation on the difference in cost between eat-in and takeaway prices but communicates in a way which is in keeping with their brand personality.
5. Start with your staff
Successful CX delivery starts with your employees - as these are the agents in delivering much of your customer experience. Be explicit with your brand values within your organisation. Let your employees know what you stand for. Articulate what it means for employees to live your brand, by translating your promise, vision and values into a clear set of expected behaviours.
Create a CX vision that inspires your employees and provides a collective goal to work towards. If employees understand your brand purpose and how this integrates with your CX vision, then they are more likely to be able to bring this to life for your company and your customers.