4 tips on how to deliver consistent winning brand experiences

I came across some really good advice on how to deliver consistent brand experiences – check-out full article swbratcher.com.

These are the four steps:

1. Provide service channel options relevent to your consumers’ profile. Eg Baby Bloomers like the human touch but Generation Y are used to interactive channels and expect instant gratification.
2. Choose authentic rather than WOW experiences. [Think Zappos.com.]
3. Measure your brand experience from the customers’ perspective , not from an operational efficiency perspective.
4. Engage your customer facing employees as happy, proud and empowered employees make happy customers. Apparently Nordstrom have a great approach - “Hire the smile; train the skill.”

Great stuff.

Winning brands understand the power of emotion

It is well understood that delivering winning brand experiences that forge strong relationships with consumers is an effective way to build consumer loyalty and advocacy.

What may not be so well recognised is that emotion is a key ingredient of a winning brand experience.

Marketing & Strategy Innovation blog have just posted hard data that shows that emotional ads work better than rationale ads. However, ads are just one type of brand experience, and only part of the story

To be successful it is vital for brands to deliver: a) the promise [made in the carefully crafted ads] and b) experiences that delight consumers.

Without doubt the best way to deliver brand experiences with meaningful emotion is through the use of human contact.

Brand organisations should think carefully about how their people are dealing with consumers, and look for ways to build elegant brand experiences at every stage of the path to advocacy – particularly in-store and customer service.

There are plenty of brands that do this really well (Zappos, Hyundai, Virgin and Nordstrom). They are a smart place to start if you are looking for compelling examples about how to do it.

Importance of a Brand Experience Culture

A recent article in MediaPost (‘Branding meets customer service’) explains how some companies are guiding employee behaviour so that during every ‘interaction’ with consumers they are aiming to deliver and delight.

There are a couple of quotes that are important:

“How your employees speak with your customers is, quite literally, your brand brought to life.”

“.. each brand has its own unique brand personality characteristics that should colour the language employees use to help differentiate the company from its competition.”

Ensuring these interactions are right is clearly vital.

Brand organisations should train employees to ensure they deliver brand experiences that delight consumers.

The article highlights how companies set-out to get this right.

Nordstrom's corporate culture is humbly taught to their employees from their first day on the job with only one rule for customer service:

Welcome to Nordstrom.
We're glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them. Nordstrom Rule #1: Use good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

One of Abbott Vascular’s (five operating) Principles is: We keep customers first. Our ability to significantly impact our patients' lives requires that we always keep their needs in mind. We have a responsibility to be responsive, and a commitment to care about our customer."

Key for me is: a) the need to define clearly the customer brand experience culture and b) to ensure that everyone in the brand organisation commits to delivering it from day one.