Experience is the New brand.
In an IBM study in mid-2020, 84% of customers say the brand experience is as important as the product or service.
Boiling that down then: The success (pre-COVID) of Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, and Peloton has as much about the Experience as it is the product. Think of Peloton; the in-home delivery service is excellent, the videos are amazing, the app works wonderfully, and you have a substantial online community (you belong to Peloton).
Funnily, the above brands don't do the heavy sell. The Experience does the selling.
One of the worst experiences of your life has to be going to a car dealership.
The first auto-maker to solve this problem at scale will win.
Peloton still offers what gyms have been offering for years. The only difference is i) In-home and ii) The Online/Video/Tribe Experience. (Why couldn't have 24-Hour Fitness built this? Or Orange Theory?)
Airlines: the 800 mph Experience.
During my keynotes, I often talk about the airline industry and propose the question, "What's the difference between United and Virgin airlines?"
They have similar planes, similar maintenance plans, similar pilot training, and the food comes out of a similar kitchen (and probably the same peanuts). Yet Virgin's perception is better. (United Airlines had a brand experience crisis in 2017, in which $1.4 billion in value was wiped out overnight when a passenger's Experience went viral on social media.) Even three years later, the video hard to watch.
The race to own customer experience is on! Companies are recognizing the importance of delivering a Brand Experience that makes them stand out from their competition.
Who owns the Experience?
Just as there is an internal battle inside companies and brands as to who owns the Amazon relationship (Head of Sales or Head of Marketing), so to who is the owner of Brand Experience. Is it the CTO or the CMO?
The Brand Experience is as much internal as external. The Culture of a business defines the Brand Experience, and the wrong Culture can stop any corporate initiative.
If there is to be a single-threaded owner, it must be the CMO.
The CMO of a company can now build a brand from the Experience. Amazon, for example, has never been a big advertiser, yet they offer an incredible customer experience – and it all begins with their Leadership Principles.
These Principles are engrained into the daily business of the giant.
The Tribe. The Amazonians.
Be it customer service, product quality, or just the way the customers feel about the company is a part of the customer experience - and so too is the hiring process.
Today, 89% of companies compete primarily on the basis of customer experience – up from just 36% in 2010. But while 80% of companies believe they deliver "super experiences," only 8% agree.
I'll let that 8% sink in for a second.
Companies have a long way to go. And that means there is tremendous opportunity to disrupt a competitor or gain market share in an industry. That's why DTC brands are doing so well.
Can a CPG, auto company, or even a telco company deliver Brand Experiences? Yes? Think of auto. What is the most significant customer tension point? The Dealership. Solve that, and you've solved a massive customer experience problem.
Everything a brand does – the way it hires, its marketing, research, advertising, and more – all play a role in shaping the Customer's Experience.