My wife and I recently met with a representative of a highly reputable window replacement brand. We had been contemplating upgrading our home’s windows since before the pandemic. Now seemed to be the right time to select a brand and installer. Our process of evaluating brands was extremely thorough: we reviewed company websites for models and reviews, talked to neighbors about their experience, met with four different company representatives to ask questions, see the product, and discuss pricing. Our process led us to a confident decision. It also caused me to reflect on how important consistently delivering quality customer service is to a brand’s reputation and the impact that service made on our decision.
A study conducted among 4,500 U.S. consumers on 134 unique brands by Harvard researchers explored the type of customer experience required for share growth in five different industries.1 Two dimensions, “frictionless” and “memorable” experiences, emerged to have the greatest influence on customer sentiment, purchase behavior, and spending decisions. Not surprising, the study revealed that it is difficult for a brand to excel in both dimensions; however, all great brands do excel in at least one.
The Harvard researchers found the degree to which a brand can increase or sustain its market share depends on its current share position. Mass-market brands with high market share are more focused on a “frictionless” experience where wide assortment, easy availability, affordable pricing and ease of purchase are hallmarks of the experience. Amazon and Walmart are great examples of this. By far, the most memorable part of the experiences with them was how easy it was to make the purchase. Both companies’ success is founded on operational excellence, which translates into low cost and efficiency. Smaller market share brands, like WaWa Convenience Stores also use frictionless experiences as their strategy to grow sales.
Consistently delivering memorable experiences is most critical to companies founded on product excellence or customer-centric business models. Here the experience is a more involved and immersive customer journey that requires greater attention to higher quality components, enhanced physical environments, superior training and selling interactions. Some of the brands who excel in memorable experiences are Disney Resorts, Lego, IKEA, Wegmans and Grainger.
There’s no doubt that customer experience continues to grow as a key brand differentiator. This makes understanding which experience dimension is most important to your customers a requirement for future growth. Marketing executives have to determine which customer experience focus area will help grow their business and ensure the entire organization consistently delivers against one of these dimensions– not both. As the Harvard research concluded, companies must embrace their fundamental brand characteristics and plan customer experience improvements according to their “brand DNA.” At The Bloodhound Group, we start with understanding the business model of a company to determine its brand DNA and then we can confidently recommend the strongest brand experience improvements. If you need help navigating the steps toward delivering a better brand customer experience, give us a call. We are happy to help.
1 What’s the Right Customer Experience for Your Brand? By Luke Williams, Alexander Buoye, Timothy L. Keiningham, and Lerzan Aksoy. Harvard Business Review. July 30, 2021.
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