Some companies make the mistake of believing that perception of their brand is completely defined by their brand identity–the logo, typefaces, colors, voice, imagery, etc., they have chosen to represent themselves. In reality, your brand only gives half of the picture.
Your brand tells how you would like to be perceived, but it’s your customers – and their experiences – that will define you. How do you execute on the brand you’ve built? How do you clearly demonstrate your brand through the quality of the experiences you provide?
Careful consideration must go into creating a CX design that will not only complement your brand, but also delight your customers into coming back for more. It requires getting into the mindset of your target audience and figuring out how they think, what they want, and how they will feel about the interactions they have with your brand.
Here are a couple of thoughts to consider when shaping and aligning your brand identity and CX:
Your Brand is Made of Moments
The sum of every customer interaction is what will shape your brand and decide the fate of your business. What a brand claims to be must have parity with the experience it delivers.
Let’s say you’re driving to lunch and notice a new with a pizza paddle and an Italian flag on the sign and decide to try it out. You walk in only to find out that what looked like an Italian restaurant is actually a sushi bar. Now, maybe you’re flexible and decide that sushi also sounds good, but you can’t deny that the experience did not match the expectation the restaurant’s branding had set in your mind.
Whatever your brand stands for is what customers will expect from their interactions in-store, online, through an ad, or on a customer service call. If each of these experiences doesn’t consistently deliver on your promise and values you have a problem. Companies who have a great CX live it and deliver on it in every moment.
Also, remember that first impressions matter. 48% of consumers are more likely to become loyal to a brand during the first purchase or experience, so make sure that your first touchpoint with a new customer is putting your best foot forward.
Consistency is Key
Your brand’s message and tone, which you established as part of your identity, needs be delivered consistently across all channels. The tone and message that someone gets from your website needs to match the banner ad they see and the email they receive. And that needs to be consistent with the experience they have in store and on the phone.
The delivery of your brand through timing and across channels contributes to the consistency of your CX. The channels you choose, as well as the frequency of contact, create a cadence in your communication and help to deliver on your brand promise and values.
Conflicting messaging and tone leads to mixed messages. If your tone changes often, customers may develop differing expectations about their experience, making it more difficult to satisfy your customer each time they interact with your brand. This is dangerous because 42% of Americans will stop shopping with a brand after just two bad experiences, which may include unmet expectations.
Once you align your brand with an ability to consistently deliver on it – across channels, touchpoints, and customer segments – you can create meaningful differentiation and reap the rewards of customer loyalty.
To read more about how to align your brand and CX, take a look at our interactive guide.
