Every company talks about how important their “Brand” is, but how many truly understand how well – or how consistently – their Brand Experience is being delivered or the impact of delivering an off-brand experience.
Tucker & Company research identified that most companies don’t know:
· If they are delivering an on-brand experience
· That the experience they are delivering is “better than competitors”
· The impact that an improved customer experience has on revenues and profits
B2C Case Example – Driving 35% growth and 90 point NPS impact through an On-Brand Experience
A national restaurant chain was interested in understanding and improving it customer experience, specifically in the deployment of new retail formats as well as technologies that would address wait times and help customers customize their orders to address food allergies.
The research scope covered more than 25 elements of the customer experience – including packaging, service, order execution, café design / colors, signage, digital ordering kiosks, new menu boards, cleanliness & sanitation, café wi-fi and power outlets, takeout order pickup, parking, etc. Thousands of customers were interviewed and surveyed to assess the impact of the various factors and regression analysis were performed to determine the most statistically valid elements if overall satisfaction.
When the analysis was complete, more than 20 improvements were generated – but the impact of the changes on sales, retention, frequency of visit and loyalty was inconclusive. To find the answer, discussions with loyal customers opened the door to strategic insights.
Customers involved in the research felt confused about all the different elements they had been poked and prodded about – and told the research team they were really looking for 4 things from their experience at that company. Evverything else was a nice to have but wasn’t part of their decision to select that restaurant. These 4 elements made up their “On-Brand Experience”.
When this “On-Brand Experience” was delivered customers were delighted – their decision to go there was validated, the friends they brought were impressed, they made a commitment to return and they told other friends on social media about their experience. As they each told their story about “why” the experience was important, the “On-Brand Experience” became crystal clear.
To test the insights, quantitative analysis of thousands of customer experiences was performed to assess how often the “On-Brand Experience” was delivered and the impact it had on loyalty, revenue and retention. This analysis is summarized below.
Based on these insights, the operations team refocused their efforts from tactical improvements across 17 different areas to strategic improvements in 4 areas to deliver the “On-Brand Experience” consistently and used the brand loyalty from the customers to fuel their growth, including:
Generating same-store revenue growth of 35% (vs. negative trend in the past)
Reducing customer acquisition unit costs by 60% by capturing testimonials and positive social media messaging to complement marketing efforts that enabled growth to be fueled without budget increases
Reduced employee attrition by a 15% by simplifying employee training
The ROI of the “On-Brand Experience” program was determined to be over 200% - well beyond other investments and it “earned” the increased investment from the C-Suite.
Brand Experience design effort should define these mission-critical elements:
1) Clarity about what constitutes the “On-Brand Experience” – at a strategic level and at a tactical level that every employee can understand and deliver against. This needs to be in the customer’s language and compared to competitive offerings – not just “marketing-speak” and industry buzzwords.
2) Measurement of the “On-Brand Experience” delivered to customers – not dozens of touchpoint metrics, social media sentiment analysis or random surveys that can distract and confuse the organization, but carefully selected metrics based on the moments that matter and the key customer experience elements that make up the foundation of an “On-Brand Experience.”
3) Clear Linkage of Delivery of the “On-Brand Experience” to revenues, retention and profits. The type of clarity that allows everyone to make decisions on how much to invest in programs necessary to deliver the elements of your unique on-brand experience.
4) Training and communication of the “On-Brand Experience” so every employee can align their work, their skill development and their innovation contributions toward a single objective. This also needs to be part of regular employee engagement surveys.
