A Positive Customer Experience Will Build a Solid Brand
Online marketers were pretty misguided last year, trying to build brands by simply buying ad impressions. What they failed to realize is that a brand is not just about awareness, it is not logos slapped on every possible surface, it is not even about the website’s look and feel. A brand is the sum total of what customers think and feel about a product, a service or a company.
And the way to create those feelings and thoughts in the minds of customers is to give them a great experience, every time. This is where the warm and fuzzy brand image is really created. A series of good experiences builds the valuable asset known as brand loyalty.
Unfortunately, lots of positive feelings can be undone by a single bad interaction. Seems unfair, but that’s the way consumer behavior operates. One graphics-heavy, slow-loading order confirmation page. One tired, cranky operator on the phone. One broken or missing item in the product package. One billing snafu. There isn’t a lot of wiggle room here for us marketers. And, as we all know, dissatisfied customers tell their friends, big time.
So what’s a marketer to do? Manage the sum total of brand experiences. Get on top of that larger set of contacts the consumer has with the brand. It’s not just about the website, the e-commerce experience, or the email. It’s every point at which a customer comes in contact with the product, service or company. So web marketers need to think big, think way beyond the mere marketing function, think about the entire operation, and strive to create a great experience for customers at every point of contact.
This is a fairly daunting prospect, so let’s break it down into manageable steps. The best way to begin is by pulling together a list of every possible customer touch point. Every contact a consumer might have with your brand. Some of these you can control, some you probably can’t. But the first step is to list them, and then analyze them.
To spur your thinking, I am posting here a preliminary checklist of spots you might consider. I’ve grouped them more or less in order of the customer buying process. You might find it easier to organize your thinking around functional departments or individuals in your company, or by your internal employees and your external partners. There will inevitably be overlap–buying is a complicated process, and so is serving customers.
Presales
- Marketing communications (advertising, collateral, website, direct mail, email, events, speeches, publicity, search engines, bulletin boards)
- Inquiry/leads (call center, collateral, website)
Transactional
- Point of sale (website, store, field sales, distributors, resellers, delivery service)
- Merchandise (packaging, “out of box experience,” package inserts, packing slip)
- Billing (invoices, statements, accounts receivable, collections)
Post-sales
- Customer service (call center, in-store)
- Returns (call center, in-store)
- Word of mouth (bulletin boards, websites, publicity)
- Ongoing communications (newsletter, loyalty program, survey)
Of course, many of these can be broken down further. In store, for example, you’d consider the merchandise experience, the sales people’s interaction, the customer service desk, the signage, the location, any element that impacts a customer’s impression of you. You’d consider how you can accept e-commerce returns at your retail stores, and other ways to provide a seamless, integrated brand experience. Regarding the website, you’d consider navigation, design, ease of use, page load times, and so forth.
The next step is to analyze these contacts. Pull together people from all parts of the company. Go down the list and discuss whether each contact point is as good as it can be. Brainstorm ways it can be better. Finally, develop metrics around each one, and hang incentives for the employees who are involved in that touch point. Bonuses work wonders. And empowered employees increase customer satisfaction.
You’ll be frustrated to notice that certain of these touch points are not going to be controllable. What can you do when the UPS man cops an attitude with your customer at his doorstep? But with some creativity, you may find some ways to influence these fuzzy touch points anyway. Companies have come up with all kinds of clever ideas over the years to take charge of the brand image beyond the usual. (Some are riskier than others.) Prowling message boards, for example, and pointing out the benefits of your product when it’s relevant to the discussion. Or building the company image around a charismatic CEO, through advertising and PR. Or cutting special deals with your business partners to upgrade the level of service they provide your customers. Or organizing publicity stunts to call humorous attention to the company or product, which can add a coolness factor to tide you over occasional rough spots in your service levels.
Optimizing the total customer experience is not about the web marketing function, or the marketing communications function, or even the marketing function. The entire company interacts with the customer, or is influential in the result of an indirect contact with the customer. So everyone in the company has a marketing responsibility. Everyone is about customers. To be successful on the web, we need our companies to operate as nothing less than marketing cultures.