Connecting the Gap Between Customer Experience and Your Brand
Companies can spend all the time and money they want on crafting the perfect brand — but without a genuine understanding of how customers interact with it, it's useless. Branding without customer experience is really just a logo--it fails to animate a company to a living and dynamic business capable of growth and success in the ever-changing digital landscape.
Brands need to tell a story that aligns with their values but it can't leave out the customer, as their experience should coincide with the brand story through all touchpoints, from digital to physical and back again.
A brand's customer experience is where the values, promises, story, and overall character of a brand really comes through in how a customer experiences a wide range of interactions with a company. Here, a brand intentionally guides customers through various touchpoints and sets expectations for how these experiences are supposed to go.
A branded customer experience, on the other hand, really works to make their experience unique and stand out as something special. Here, companies really utilize the customer's experiences as what sets them apart from the competition, and this recognizable feature of the business becomes their branding type, also known as experience-based branding.
Where to Start
Half of the battle when connecting customer experience and your brand is getting everyone on board. Some departments may understand these two facets of your company but don't have a firm grasp on the relationship they have with one another.
Are you attempting to persuade customers of a positive experience through marketing efforts, or are you letting your brand speak for itself and having your customer experience come to life through interactions with your brand?
The answer to this question will give you some understanding of where your brand stands in relation to your customer experience. Here are several other inquiries regarding your company and how it approaches branding and customer experience:
Where and how do your customers or clients interact with your brand?
How do customers feel or say about your brand?
What's your "brand promise?"
Are you delivering on your brand promise?
Is your customer experience consistent (do customers feel the same about their experiences at different touchpoints)?
Getting a lay of the land with questions like these will help you understand if there is any glaring disconnect.
Tips for Connecting Customer Experience and Your Brand
When it comes to aligning your brand and customer experience, there's not a "one size fits all solution," as every business is unique and every customer base is different. Here are some universal tips we can offer to help bridge the gap:
Customers see your company as one big brand and not a collection of departments or teams. This means that each and every touchpoint is the same in the eyes of the consumer, and they expect consistent messaging and interactions every time. Consolidating your data and customer service communication efforts so that customers receive a unified experience is crucial for your brand.
Speaking of communication, make it omnichannel for a more seamless customer experience. Customer inquires, issues, and overall data should be accessible across multiple platforms. So, regardless if they hit up a chatbot, call in, or send a complaint via Twitter — a representative doesn't need to recollect inquires or information to solve an issue. Whoever is speaking with the customer should have a wealth of data at their fingertips so that the customer experiences their interaction with your brand as one continuous interaction.
The bigger the brand, the more consistent you should be with your customers. The size of your company will create expectations, whether you want it to or not. The larger your brand becomes, the more difficult it will be for you to unify processes and communication, which comes at the expense of the customer experience. Don't lose business by failing to be consistent even when you scale up.
These three tips are a great foundation for which to build your customer experience and branding so that they're more connected and aligned. Businesses, both big and small, should also have a deep understanding of their customer base and the company itself — as familiarity in these areas breeds success down the line. So, here are some final tips to help you on your journey.
Understand your brand and how it affects the customer experience
Determine your brand story and narrative in relation to the customer experience
Integrate consumer data and make internally accessible at all your touchpoints
Deconstruct silos with marketing and brand research to better align their goals
Ensure that employees are embodying brand vision and values
Align brand with service or product at all times
Consistent messaging across all touchpoints
Your customer experience and brand should connect to reach the same goals. Having a deep understanding of how your brand exists amongst your competitors and in the mind of the consumer -- along with how customers experience your company at any given moment -- is key to mastering today's digital ecosystem.
