Anyone who’s ever watched Madmen knows that a great TV commercial used to be a sure fire way of standing out from the crowd. Big media budget + flashy advert = sales.
Those days are over.
Today, businesses all over the globe have realised the only way to stand out from their competition is customer experience.
Need convincing? Okay. Think about the modern brands you love. Some common favourites are Airbnb, The Iconic, Deliveroo, and Amazon.
Now ask yourself: Does their logo matter to you? Do celebrities endorse them? Would you mind if they changed their brand colours?
Your answers will all likely be "no" because branding has fundamentally changed.
In 2019, it’s customer experience which creates brand love and it’s customer experience that drives sales and gains market share.
And look, we’re not saying that sleek marketing and high-profile celebs won’t still work (just look at Fyre Festival). Instead, we’re saying that customer experience is now paramount (again, just look at Fyre Festival).
Be it product quality, customer service, or online user journeys, customer experience has risen to the top of whether or not the customer will engage, do business and fall in love with a brand.
In 2010, just 36% of businesses competed on the basis of customer experience. That figure today is estimated to be a massive 89%. That's an incredible jump in less than a decade.
What's more, only 8% of customers think businesses are offering excellent experiences - so there's still time for other brands to get involved and take over. And we believe that almost every sector has room for disruption.
The times they are a changin'
Like it or not, older brands and businesses have to work the hardest to keep up with this generational shift. Why? Because technology has become an equaliser.
Technology enables more businesses to go to market with fewer hurdles, forcing brands to differentiate using customer experience. Brands who want to grow must ensure their business does things a little differently.
In summary, you can longer just push products with a traditional marketing strategy. Instead, customers need an experience that reflects them and their behaviour. The experience must be seamless, offering the right service to the right people at the right time and in the right way.
The lesson? Businesses who put customer experience at the heart of everything they do will succeed. Their flashier competitors will likely fail.
