Customer experience is central to creating value, and it is even more important in times of crisis when brands need to fight harder for customers. Great customer experience should meet customer expectations across physical and digital touchpoints and deliver your brand’s values in order to drive brand growth. 

In the race to digitise, a growing disconnect between brand promise and customer experience means that peoples’ emotional needs are being increasingly undermined or forgotten. And the impact of recession throws into sharp relief the difference between brands whose customer touchpoints are aligned with their brand promise and are therefore, more resilient, versus those who aren't and subsequently struggle to retain customers. Your brand’s CX may meet the peoples’ functional requirements, which can be great for convenience and efficiency, but limit how well it supports your brand’s equity.

Difference makes the difference

While consistently meeting expectations, being customer-centric and building trust are crucial factors for success, they aren’t enough. To bond with a brand, people need a brand experience that is different, or remarkable, as well as trusted and meaningful.

Moments that matter

Breakthrough brands deliver more than a solid functional experience - they offer a Meaningfully Different one at the moments that matter. These brands score strongly on trust via a clear perception of customer care and openness. They also go beyond being trusted and meaningful – they offer an experience, standing apart from others and is felt innovative compared to competitors, at the key moments of truth.

An authentic way that builds the brand

Mapping brand promise against customer experience in our Brand Authenticity Framework shows how aligned brand promise and customer experiences are. It shows where you are overpromising and underdelivering, helps you understand where to focus to build trust and how to design Meaningful Different experiences. 

For both brand and CX success, close the gap between your brand promise and customer experience by creating a strong emotive footprint rooted in your brand’s Meaningful Difference. Identify what makes you stand out from the crowd, and sell it.

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Get in touch with our experts

Corinne Mostaert, Innovation, CX and Sustainability Lead

Gino De Vooght, Director Customer Experience