Putting the customer first and delivering a consistent brand experience
The last time we checked customer is still the king and they are always right in their thinking and position. According to Barbara Cador of Kantar Insight more than ever, customer experience makes or breaks brands. Who remembers the United Airlines brand crisis, in which $1.4 billion in value was wiped out overnight when a passenger’s bad experience went viral on social media? An incident of less than two minutes which set the lines backward for many years.
For instance, security concern used to be the big driver for the choice of banks in Nigeria. Not anymore; customers assume when a license is issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) after security concerns must have been addressed and sorted. Banks must therefore provide optimum service and nothing more. To grow value, brands have no choice but to deliver a great experience to their customers.
According to the head of customer service at First Bank, Taiwo Shonekan, the bank puts its stakeholders and the public alike at an advantage in meeting their personal and business needs as it underscores the magic of its services through a hundred and a quarter of a century . The same can be said of most other banks.
Today, what people want (and therefore on what they are spending more of their money) are memorable moments. So, marketers must find ways to turn goods into experiences, and to find new sources of value to meet growing experiential-driven competition. The formula is simple: the better the experience, the more value the brand commands.
A 10-year longitudinal analysis of BrandZ data confirms that brands high in Experience Capital outperformed the market by up to 188 percent, while brands with low Experience Capital declined in value.
In many ways the importance of experience now dwarfs everything else. Experience is the real moment of truth, the one that confirms or denies the expectations created by prior contact with the brand, and yet we also know that many brands are failing to deliver consistent, relevant experiences in this complex new world. According to Kantar’s Connected Life survey, 33 percent of consumers globally report an inconsistent quality of experience across online and offline touchpoints.
Five success factors can help brands put the customer first and deliver a consistent brand experience across all touch points:
1. A clearly articulated and understood brand promise. Do what you preach. Under promise and over deliver.
2. Empowered employees who can provide proactive, responsive and empathetic service
3. Empowered customers free to ‘do it their way’ through frictionless and relevant digital and omnichannel excellence.
4. The creation of lasting memories and positive emotional moments throughout the customer journey
5. The exceptional delivery of experiences that reinforce the brand choice and therefore generate loyalty, advocacy and greater customer lifetime value.
This recipe for success has massive implications for businesses around the world: they must create a holistic customer perspective through a seamless alignment of customer experience and brand strategy departments who can therefore no longer sit in organisational silos.
Going forward, senior leadership has a critical role in helping an organisation to make this change, ensuring that the processes which support each stage of the customer journey are designed and managed holistically by interdependent teams.
Finishing the way, we started … with the words of Barbara Cador of Kantar Insight “Every business must strive to create a different and better experience to everyone else. Never rest on your laurels.” So, if a great customer experience truly starts at the top, why do so many business leaders seem to ignore it?
Michael Umogun, Business Development Specialist @ Kantar Nigeria – @michaelumogun
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