It is how brands make consumers feel that is really important

I love this quote:

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will not forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou

For me, brand organisations should care most about how consumers feel about their brand. To do that the have to do something special. It takes planning and alignment of the whole organisation around all consumer touchpoints.

It not just about glossy TV ads. It not just about having a clever social media activity. It not just about a slick service department. It is about all these touchpoints working together and making consumers feel really good about every interaction with the brand.

Brands need to deliver experiences that WOW. 

Check out Zappos, who do this really well. Alternatively check out this presentation.

Experience is the next Corporate Battleground

This is the type of headline I love. 


"Customer Experience: The Next corporate Battleground".


Absolutely.


Brand organisations are starting to catch-on that it isn't enough anymore to focus all effort on traditional marketing. 


As the article says, they need to build an experience so extraordinary that it differentiates them from their competitors and inspires people to become advocates...


To do that they need to build an operation that delivers fabulous brand experiences at every stage of what I call the path to purchase.


The article mentions Apple and Zappos. Two brands organisations that dominate all articles about successful organisations that get it.


Take a look at my previous posts on what these organisations do to win.


Zappos focus on WOWing consumers
Apple understand the importance of in-store delivery and delight.

Brand purpose is vital to ensure organisation is in sync

This is a good post [Jakara Globe] that spells out why it is important to have a clearly defined vision and  mission.


This quote says it all:


"One of the most important and often overlooked factors that separate industry-leading iconic brands from the pack is their guiding corporate mission and vision."


If a brand organisation's vision is based on how to value and treat consumers (which most are) it is a recipe for success.


If everyone in a brand organisation knows how they should engage with consumers in a considered and consistent way, particularly if the focus is on delighting them (such as brands like Singapore Airlines, Apple and Zappos) then every brand experience their consumers have is more likely to lead to improved loyalty and potentially advocacy.


A winning force for sustainable sales success.

What kills loyalty?

In a recent article Business Insider suggested 20 ways to kill loyalty. It admits to appearing negative but does provide a useful perspective - and check-list of what brand organisations have to avoid.


To me they the list is fairly obvious and a little repetitive, that said, the last point: 'a failed promise is a loyalty killer' is the deal breaker.


To be a successful brand you have to deliver the promises you are making (via brand communications). That is how you build loyalty, a key stage on the path to advocacy.


It is also important to remember that there are a number of different types of loyal customers [check-out Inertia, Transactional and Fanatical loyalists article], so for some consumers it is also important to find ways to delight them. 


That's how you build brand fans who are likely to advocate you and, as we all know, advocacy is the most powerful form of communication. 


Zappos know how to do this. They have a list of core values that everyone working there has to live and breathe. Top of the list is WOW through customer service.

Working out how to do delight/WOW isn't always obvious or easy but when you get it right, like Zappos, you will build a very successful business. 

Zapposication - the new marketing goal

I rave about Zappos all the time. [See example post]

It is therefore of no surprise to me to see this recent post by CustomerThink.com, that shows Zappos at the top for customer service:

1. Zappos
2. Expedia
3. Apple (Computers)
4. Acer /Samsung
5. Kindle
6. Discover/ American Express
7. Apple (Smartphones)
8. Fed Ex
9. McDonald’s
10. HP/ Samsung

How do they come top?

Simple...they focus on delighting consumers. They ensure they whole organisation understands the focus by publishing, training and living their core values.

All marketers should take note as winning in marketing in this day and age is not about creating great advertising (although that is important). It is about delivering an overall brand experience that delight. A great customer service is integral to that goal.

Learning about in-store success from luxury brands

Here are two highly effective ways to build a great in-store brand experience (see Sparxoo article about luxury brand in-store experience).

Make consumers feel comfortable and special.

Sure, this is obvious, but the article highlights two good ways to help deliver this successfully combination:

Personalise tech

“….one innovative way luxury brands are adding a touch of special is through mobile technology. In-store sales people can deliver better service with the aid of mobile devices, such as the iPad. “Mobile devices combine personalization efficiency and effectiveness with an unprecedented touch of caring and nurturing”

Invest in kind human capital

“..the stuffy, know-it-all, sometimes condescending sales associate is certainly a big turn-off for customers at luxury stores. LI takes example of superior customer service from the online retailer, Zappos. Taking a cue from the extremely polite, considerate and genuine customer service reps at Zappos, “putting polite, informed and well-groomed sales personnel on the floor is just the start, but done well it can be a true differentiator”

The iPad idea is fabulous. It seems kinda obvious but I have yet to see any retailer use the ipad to help improve the shopping experience.

Zappos is a brand I love. I have written about them many times because they know ho to WOW consumers with their great approach to customer service.

So, if you are responsible for in-store delivery of brand experience then look into: a) how iPads can be used as a staff tool to delight consumers and b) at Zappos for ideas about creating values that direct staff on how behave in a way that will delight consumers.

Great experiences drive word of mouth

Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire

View more presentations from faberNovel

Thank you Gerd Leonhard for pointing me towards this very interesting deck about Amazon.

I have long been an admirer of Jeff Bezos and, as I have posted before, I thought his purchase of Zappos was smart.

This is my favourite quote in this deck (and there are many great quotes, not to mention loads of great tips about how to build an extremely successful digital based business):

"If you do build a great experience, customers will tell each other about that. Word of mouth is powerful."

Absolutely. This is what my Promise Deliver Delight framework is all about. Deliver and delight and consumers are more likely to buy again and tell their friends.

Amazon deliver $34bn revenues annually. Need I say more?

Delighting consumers is the key to business success

I talk a lot about the power of delighting consumers.

I believe if a brand can deliver a brand experience that over-delivers and delights - the consumer is more likely to buy again and may be even talk about your brand. (Many studies demonstrate that word of mouth is one of the most influential touchpoints).

Seth recently wrote an interesting blog about the paradox of promise in an age of word of mouth.

It is worth a read and he references a really useful MBA chart (above).

It is challenging but simple.

Brands need to be really smart about the promise they make and, when it comes to advertising, they must only talk about what their brand will deliver.

Then they must ensure the deliver what you promise every time.

Failure to do so will, at best, stop consumers buying again and, at worst, make them angry. Angry consumers can create a serious headache given that social media is like word of mouth on steroids (an excellent quote from the popular ‘What The F**k is Social Media’ slideshare presentation). Check out my previous article about United, Dell and Comcast

The best brands deliver every time and also work out how to delight.

This is not easy but it is worth the effort.

A good start point is to assemble all the key stakeholders who are involved in delivering brand experiences across the whole path to advocacy.

Align on a definition the brand experience you can deliver consistently.

Then ensure the organisation is in-sync and focused on delivering it.

This is what winning brand organisations do time and time again. [Think Apple, Zappos, Virgin]

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.

Brands organisations must resist pressures from the demands of short-sighted share-holders

This is a great article by Customer Think about Tony Heish’s (CEO Zappos) decision to sell to Amazon.

It cuts to the heart of what this blog is all about.

Heish faced a dilemma that all CEOs face:

Either; bow to short-term share holder financial pressure...
Or; maintain Zappo’s commitment (and investment) to delivering brand experiences that delight consumers.

Zappo’s has a great reputation. [See my previous posting about their commitment to a culture and values that focused on WOWing consumers’ through service.]

To protect Zappo’s hard earned reputation Heish sold to Amazon [Another great brand experience organisation.]

It was really smart move.

The article quotes Heish’s rationale:

“...Some board members had always viewed our company culture as a pet project — “Tony’s social experiments,” they called it. I disagreed. I believe that getting the culture right is the most important thing a company can do. But the board took the conventional view — namely, that a business should focus on profitability first and then use the profits to do nice things for its employees.

... (I thought) better service would translate into lots of repeat customers, which would mean low marketing expenses, long-term profits, and fast growth.”

I totally agree.

It is simple. Delight your consumer and they will reward you with long-term loyalty, advocacy and more sells.

Zappo’s net sales were up almost 50 percent in first quarter of 2010...evidence that Heish got it right.

If you work at a brand organisation it would be really good idea to look at how you are delivering brand experiences across the path to advocacy and see how you can replicate Zappo’s success.

10 things you hate to hear when talking to a brand organisation

BNET UK recently posted a list of the 10 most annoying customer service phases (below).

Sadly, the list will be all too familiar to most of us

Why don’t brand organisations focus more attention on the brand experiences being delivered by their call customer service staff?

It isn’t complicated.

....an organisations that operates a service department with motivated staff who are empowered to deliver a brand experiences that delights the consumers will win.

... an organisation with unmotivated staff who work to a company policy/script will not.

If you want to win in this space take a look at brands like Zappos, Joie de Vivre and Apple.

They get it.

• They delight consumers.
• These delighted consumers buy again and become advocates.
• Their business results speak for themselves.

BNET’s list:

1. If you’re not completely satisfied…
2. Sorry, you’ve called the wrong number…
3. Your call is important to us..
4. Please listen carefully. Our menu has changed.
5. To be honest..
6. Sorry about the wait..
7. It shouldn’t be like that..
8. That’s our policy..
9. I can’t do that..
10. We’ll call you back..

'Delivering Happiness' provides another key to success

Zappos - Tony Robbins - Business Mastery - 01-16-10

View more presentations from zappos.

Zappos is an awesome company.

I have posted before about how Tony Hsieh (CEO) leads a brand organisation that, in my view, is a 'black belt' in delivering winning Brand Experiences; fuelled by their commitment to 'WOWing every customer.'

The above was presented by Hsieh at a recent Tony Robbins - Business Mastery.

Powerful stuff.

It is definitely worth a read. It has so much great stuff in it. Two key points for me:

• Zappos absolute focus on vision, culture and customer service.
• How this focus drives word of mouth and repeat customers (check-out the compelling reveue numbers on page 7).

Look-out for his book 'Delivering Happiness' being published in June 2010. It will almost certainly become a must-read for anyone serious about building a brand organisation that recognises the importance of delivering consumer Brand Experiences that WOW consumers and drive advocacy.

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.

Amazon buys Zappos, the brand experience grand master

This probably shouldn't be a surprise...Amazon buys Zappos.

Or rather, as Tony Heist (CEO Zappos) would rather say (see email to employees): "Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree..."

Like many, I have posted before about Zappos' core values - that focus on WOWing consumers with winning brand experiences - and how these have helped them grow from strength to strength.

The challenge for Zappos will be to maintain their strong culture and build on the massive success achieved to date with this new business relationship.

I wonder what happens next. A global roll-out would seem like a real possiblity.

I will watch with interest.

[Read this good article Retail Customer Experience]

A winning customer service strategy will deliver brand experiences that delight.

This post by Cardell Insights Group provides some really useful tips about how brand organisations should handle customer service (Provide basic information that consumers can easily access on the web; For anything else invest in good human customer service people; Use metrics other than call times or first time resolution).

There are a few other success drivers out there:

• P&G principle that: ‘The Consumer is Boss’ drives everything they do.
• Zappos core values includes: ‘Deliver WOW through Service'.
• Apple state that: ‘Service is Marketing’ and ‘Solving Problems is an Opportunity.’

Why is it that so many brand organisations are spending effort and money on making a Brand Promise but ignoring the opportunity to Delight consumers?

I think it is pretty simple.

Any time a potential or existing consumer calls (or drop-in) to chat, enquire, buy, complain, etc, regard it as an opportunity to delight them...show them you care...apply some magic...make them feel loved.

This is a sure way to accelerate consumers down the Path to Advocacy.

Zappos win by focusing on WOWing consumers

I have come across several blogs that talk enthusiastically about the recent SXSW conference and particularly the contribution made by the key note speaker Tony Hsieh – the CEO of Zappos.

During the conference Hsieh talked about Zappos and their 10 core values.

At the top of his list: to deliver WOW through service.

There is an excellent posting on Harvard Business Publishing explaining some of the reasons why Zappos is so successful. Part of the success is that they have got the economics and operations right - offering of a vast selection of goods, free delivery and returns.

However, what makes a real difference is their focus on WOW through service. They have mastered the art of telephone service. Their employees are smart and entertaining. They have no scripts, no call time limits and no robotic behaviour.

Zappos understands that it is not just about promising products that deliver – although this is key – but also about delighting consumers; by finding ways to surprise, to be magical and connect with them on an emotional level.

I love this.

It’s exactly what all brand organisations should be focusing on. Too many spend all their effort on the Promise to consumers via advertising. Most get the Delivery right but few Delight consumers.

Brand success comes through delivering great brand experiences that delight and drive advocacy. Zappos really get that - their turn-over has grown from $70m to almost $1billion in 5 years.

Most brand organisations could learn from them.